Friday, May 25, 2012

Flannel Friday: This Little Train

This is most definitely an "Inspired by Flannel Friday" post. A few weeks ago Roving Fiddlehead gave us a bunch of songs and rhymes to use in conjunction with the train templates that Melissa from Mel's Desk shared with us. I knew that I wanted to design my own pieces, so that my engine would match the crafts that the kids were making at the end of story time. Then the rest of the train cars had to match the engine and... you get the point. 


But I pondered for a long time which rhyme or song I would use. I settled on "This Little Train." The link that Roving Fiddlehead provides, to the BCSL Children's Wiki, was more than I wanted to navigate while I tried to fit planning story time in to the rest of my day, so I found this version and mixed and matched versions until I got one that worked for me.*


This little train
painted green
it goes chugging
full of steam


This little car
painted blue
it has seats
for me and you


This little car
painted yellow
see it shimmy
and shake like jello


This little car
painted red
it is headed
off to bed

With a choo, choo
toot, toot
hear the whistle blow
This little train goes chugging home.


*"Worked for me" might be an exaggeration. Not only did I forget the tune to "this Old Man" and have to ask for help from the other adults in the room, I also forgot what the red caboose was supposed to be doing. I ended up singing "He's not standing/ on his head."

UPDATE: Here are patterns for the train cars I made.

4 comments:

  1. Lol! I'll bet everyone was just fine with your mistakes. I find that most adults at my storytimes are just so glad that I do the program that they are more than willing to overlook any mistakes. In fact, they seem to enjoy the comic relief! I always say that if I can get up in front of them and make mistakes then they can definitely join in the singing and dancing and silliness that is a part of our programs. LOL!

    Thanks for sharing your song. I am starting to want to make a flannel train since so many Flannel Friday-ers are sharing such fun ideas for it.

    I hope you are enjoying your weekend!
    K

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    1. Given that I'm completely tone AND tune deaf, I often tell parents that me getting up there and singing is proof that they can do it too.

      I often have to have someone else start a song for me. The most embarrassing was when a 3 year old corrected my "Wheels on the Bus."

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  2. Thanks for sharing this! I have some train enthusiasts among my storytime children who would love this! Did you use templates for your train cars, or did you draw them?

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    1. I drew them, they're based on Ed Emberley's train drawing book. I've updated the blog post with a template I made off the completed pieces. Hope it helps!

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