One of the hardest parts of changing jobs was leaving behind lots of great flannel boards. There were lots of great ones that I depended on that I am slowly beginning to re-create. One of my favorites was the tree flannel board.
Fall leaves is one of my favorite themes and I really missed this flannel board. So, I had to make my own!
I love flannel boards that can involve all of the children. With this one, I will hand out the leaves to the children and ask them to help me create our tree. But before we do that, we sing a leaves song such as Leaves on the Tree to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus.
The Leaves of the Trees
(to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”)
The leaves of the trees turn orange and red
orange and red, orange and red
The leaves of the trees turn orange and red
All through the town.
The leaves of the trees come tumbling down
tumbling down, tumbling down
The leaves of the trees come tumbling down
All through the town.
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish,
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
All through the town.
There you have it! Be sure to check out Cate at Storytiming for the full round up! Have a great Thanksgiving.
Posted by molliekay on November 19, 2011 at 1:11 am
Beautiful job! It’s always been a fear of mine that I’ll make all of these awesome flannels and then have to leave them behind.
Posted by Library quine on November 19, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Love the flannel and the rhyme! Did you cut all those leaves by hand? Awesome.
Posted by Flannel Friday Round Up 11.18.11 « on November 19, 2011 at 8:41 pm
[...] Sarah Holtkamp of AWESOME STORYTIME (and a former classmate of mine, hi Sarah!) offers this awesome autumnal sing-along. [...]
Posted by Krystal on November 21, 2011 at 6:34 pm
I love using this song! I haven’t used it as a group activity like this though. (Definitely something on my list to try now. Thanks!)
I usually pass out leaves to the children (2 each – one for each hand) and then we talk about leaves being green in the Summer and changing when the weather turns cold in the Fall. I use added verses to help illustrate the idea of leaves changing…
We start with:
“The leaves on the trees are green, green, green”, etc.
The children with green leaves wave them in the air. Then we continue with leaves turning red and orange, then yellow and brown, then falling from the trees. (The children make their leaves “fall to the ground”.)
The second added verse is “The leaves on the ground go crunch, crunch, crunch.” The children pat the leaves on the floor. They love the sound this makes.
We end with the swishing verse where the children move the leaves back and forth in a swishing motion. Lots of learning happens along with all the physical movements! This is one of my MOST requested songs!