Friday, October 5, 2012

Flannel Friday: 5 Little Ducks

This is an old favorite, obviously; I'm sticking to the tried and true lyrics because I love them. (I grew up listening to Raffi's version of this one over and over and over.) I would love to figure out a way to make this flannel board with more bells and whistles: for example, finding a way to make the ducks "swim" across the board, plucking them off one at a time once they disappear around the back. Ooh, magic! [insert jazz hands here] Alas, I'm going to have to save that for some future story time.

Five little ducks went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mother duck said, "Quack, quack, quack, quack!"
But only four little ducks came back.

(Repeat with 4, 3, 2, etc.)

For the last verse, I use:

Sad mother duck went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
Mother Duck said, "Quack, quack, quack quack!"
(dramatic pause)
Uh oh... I don't think that was loud enough. Can you all help Mother Duck quack a little bit louder?
(LOUD QUACKING ensues)
And all of the five little ducks came back!

For the actual flannel pieces, I used our ellison machine to cut ducks out of craft foam, then added some orange foam for their beaks and feet. Then I decided that this bunch of ducks loves to play dress up, and so each of them got a different accessory. (Aaaaand I am linking this to the Halloween flannel board post because... you know. Costumes! Totally relevant! Easy way to jazz up an otherwise non-Halloweeny flannel board!)

 There's my whole crew! Flock? What do you call a group of ducks?

Haha, and obviously I had to look that up. According to wikianswer: A group of ducks is called a badelynge, bunch, brace, flock, paddling, raft or team. Also, one might call it a dover of ducks. If it's a group of ducklings (i.e., they've recently hatched and are being looked after by their mother), it is called a brood. The more you know! I think I might like "paddling" the past. Look at that paddling of ducks paddling about! Dover is rather charming, too.


 
 Superhero Duck and Sir Royal Duck


 The Court Jester!

 Santa Duck and Ballerina Duck (I know, it's barely even October yet, but I figured a Santa hat was nice and recognizable.)
 
 
 And here we have poor Mother Duck! She's a sort-of-puppet. Her head is turnable, but that's the extent of it. She's huge and fluffy though, so she gets to sit on my lap and lead the quacking.

And that's it from me! Hope you liked my ducklings.

7 comments:

  1. I love your twist on an old classic - costumes! This s a 'must make' for me!

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  2. This is "Spectacular"! Sooooo much fun!

    Thank you for sharing a simple but very unique and fun twist. Such a great way to introduce the idea that costumes are just for fun and Halloween doesn't have to mean scary. I can't decide which costume I like best. They are all so delightfully fun! Did your storytime friends have a favorite?

    Thanks for sharing this week! Love it!
    ~ K ~

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    1. Thanks! Hah, my story time friends this session are VERY young (lots of just-barely-twos, I think), so I started into the song pretty quickly, as opposed to spending much time discussing the costumes each duck was wearing. If/when I do it again with an older group, I'll definitely make it more interactive, but with this particular crowd of mine, it seems to be a better idea to get the song going quickly.

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  3. Would you be able to rig something like this (http://misssarahsstorytime.blogspot.com/2011/09/flannel-friday-five-snowmen.html) up to make them swim horizontally?

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    1. I've definitely been using that one as food for thought, hah, as well as this 5 in the Bed flannel board that Miss Sarah did: http://misssarahsstorytime.blogspot.com/2011/11/flannel-friday-five-in-bed.html (I'm lucky enough to work at the same library she does, so I get to see all of her fancy flannel board creations in person!) Part of what's tripping me up is finding a way to make the five little ducks reappear. It's one of those things where I'm sure there IS a solution, I just haven't had time to go through the trial and error required to find said solution, hah.

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  4. This is a clever way to add to pieces we've made. I do believe my ducks will be wearing costumes as well. Just want to add - my five little monkeys that jump on the bed have Halloween costumes as well as birthday hats and holiday gifts for under the bed. Over the years...I just make seasonal additions for their continued participation in story time! We could do this with the ducks too! Thanks for sharing ~ jane

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    1. Oh, I love the idea of the holiday gifts under the bed, that's so cute!

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