Flannel Friday: Baby Rattlesnake’s First Rattle

I love using folk and traditional tales for flannel sets!  Something about them just grabs and holds my crowd like no other kind of story can do.  “Baby Rattlesnake’s First Rattle” is a wonderfully engaging Pawnee tale with lots of repetition and humor.  It follows the story of a young snake who is told by everyone he’s too young for a rattle- except for Grandpa.  One he gets his rattle he of course causes mischief, hiding behind rocks and jumping out to scare passerby, until the day he meets his match in the chief’s daughter.

I had the audience help me with lots of the sounds in this one.  We previewed the actions and noises beforehand (e.g. “In this story, we’re going to meet a rabbit.  How do rabbits move?  They hop hop hop.  We’re going to have to hide very quietly.  Show me how quiet you can be!” etc.)  We also practiced shaking our shakers when I said the words “chhh chhh chhh.”  I’ve found previewing the expected participation beforehand really helps, that way the kiddos know what to expect and the caretakers know how they can be supportive.

I based my text off the tale as found in Margaret Read MacDonald’s Shake It Up Tales, but I’ll probably re-do my flannel set based on the gorgeous illustrations in this picture book adaptation of Baby Rattlesnake.

Happy Flannel Friday y’all!  The rest of the Round Up can be found right here at Storytime in the Stacks.  Have a great weekend!

Flannel Friday: The Great, Big, Enormous Carrot!

This week’s Flannel Friday is a fun adaptation of the traditional Russian folk tale “The Great, Big, Enormous Turnip.”  The original tale can be found many places, but my favorite beautiful flannel pattern for the original comes from Judy Sierra’s Flannel Board Storytelling Book.  Inspiration for this fun story also comes from Perry Public Library.

Before starting the story, we practiced how the different movements would go.  We hit our knees for each animal- what do you think a bunny hops like?  What about a squirrel?  A turtle?

Here’s how my version of the tale went…

Once there was a brown bunny hopping along one day- hop hop hop.  He was VERY hungry.  His tummy went rumble-rumble-growl.  So he went to the garden where he saw some tall green leaves.  “That is one BIG carrot!” he cried, and he grabbed onto the top.  He PULLED- mmmmph!– and he PULLED- mmmmph!  But the carrot wouldn’t come out.

Along came a grey squirrel- skitter scatter scamper.  “Do you need help?” she asked.  “Oh yes please,” the bunny said.  So Bunny grabbed onto the top of the carrot and Squirrel grabbed onto Bunny’s tail and they PULLED- mmmmph!– and they PULLED- mmmmph!  But the carrot wouldn’t come out.

Along came a green turtle- step…step… step…  “Do you need help?” he asked.  “Oh, yes please,” the bunny and the squirrel said.  So Bunny grabbed onto the top of the carrot and Squirrel grabbed onto Bunny’s tail and Turtle grabbed onto Squirrel’s tail and they PULLED- mmmmph!– and they PULLED- mmmmph!  But the carrot wouldn’t come out.

(That must be a really BIG carrot.  Bigger than big!  What are some more words for big?)

Bunny was so sad and hungry he started to cry sniffle-sniffle-snuff.  Along came a little white mouse.  “Do you need help?” she asked in her high squeaky voice.

“How can YOU help?” laughed Squirrel.

“You are TOO SMALL,” Turtle said.

“And this carrot is way TOO BIG!” Bunny added.

“Let me try,” said Mouse.  So Bunny grabbed onto the top of the carrot and Squirrel grabbed onto Bunny’s tail and Turtle grabbed onto Squirrel’s tail and Mouse grabbed onto Turtle and they PULLED- mmmmph!– and they PULLED- mmmmph!  And sure enough, the BIG ENORMOUS CARROT CAME OUT!

“Oh, thank you!” cried Bunny, and he shared his BIG ENORMOUS carrot with all his new friends.

___

Credit: adapted from the traditional folk tale as told by Judy Sierra in the Flannel Board Storytelling Book

Pattern: click here

*Note the pattern includes a snail- I ran out of time to make one, so I snagged a mouse from another set instead!  Also the tail of the original squirrel as pictured ended up ripping off pretty easily, so I am going to make a new squirrel with a “thicker” tail based on the pattern included in the download.

This was a HUGE hit with the preschool crowd!  I just loved the synonyms they came up with for big- my absolute favorite was “beastly.”

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the full spring-themed storytime preschool plan and don’t forget to check out the other Flannel Friday fun at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  You can also check out the Flannel Friday website, Pinterest, or Facebook page!