Flannel Friday - Five Little Robins

Just in time for spring, I put together a flannel set to go with one of the rhymes we have on file with our "Bird"-themed storytime kit (unfortunately, I have no information on the original source to attribute it to). 

I was in a bit of rush to get this done in time to post on this week's "Flannel Friday", and it shows a little, so please overlook the imperfections. I had to finish it at home and did not have any Sharpies and used washable markers instead, which bled into the felt a lot more (lesson learned!). Also, I experimented with a couple of different ways of making them, and didn't have quite enough time to remake the one that I decided I didn't like as much, so that's why one is different. I found I liked cutting the body out of off-white felt, and using an orange marker to add a blush of orange color then adding dots with a black or dark brown marker. The head and wings were cut from medium brown felt, with details added using a black marker.

I just printed out some photos of baby and adult robins and cut them out to use as patterns, but the wings & bodies are basically teardrop-ish shapes, with a round-ish head. You are welcome to use my patterns, but I will say the scale is slightly off, so you might want to enlarge the adult slightly. I apologize for the picture quality; on my phone and computer they look fine, but when I upload them to my blog they lose resolution. If anyone knows how to fix these, please leave a comment!

"Five Little Robins"

Start with the 5 little robins in the nest, have the audience first exercise their counting fingers by wiggling them and bending them up and down, then count the baby robins together using their counting fingers, then keep up 5 fingers.

Five little robins watch Daddy (Mommy) Robin soar,

(put adult robin on board, hold up 5 fingers)

One leaves the nest, and now there are  (four) .

(remove 1 baby, and hold up 4 fingers)



Four little robins, high up in a tree,

(hold up 4 fingers)

One flies to catch a worm, and now there are  (three) .

(move 1 baby down to catch worm, hold up 3 fingers)



Three little robins had nothing to do,

(hold up fingers, shake head)

One tried out his wings, and then there were  (two) .

(help 1 baby fly away, hold up 2 fingers)



Two little robins frolicked in the sun,

(hold up 2 fingers, put sun on board)

One chased after a bug, and then there was  (one) .

(make 1 baby chase after a bug, hold up 1 finger)



One baby robin left all alone,

(hold up one finger)

Cried and cried until Daddy (Mama) came home!

(move adult bird down to nest)

Anytime I do these "five little somethings" rhymes, I do them twice. After the first time, I tell them to put the hand they just used behind their back and use the other hand the second time. This gives the neglected non-dominant hand some much-needed fine-motor exercise! Also, I will switch up genders if applicable, so for this if I said "Daddy" the first time, I'd say "Mommy" the second time.

Of course you could make this whatever bird you felt like and just change the wording, and this set could be used with any "Five Little Bird" rhymes or songs, like this one I found on KidSparkz and (modified slightly):

Five Little Birds In The Nest

Five little birds in a nest in a tree,

are just as hungry, as hungry can be.

"Peep!" said baby bird number one,

"Mother Bird promised she would come."

"Peep! Peep!" said baby bird number two,

"If she doesn't come, what will we do?"

"Peep! Peep! Peep!" said baby bird number three,

"I sure hope she can find our tree."

"Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!" said baby bird number four,

"She has never been this late before."

"Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!" said baby bird number five,

"When will our Mother Bird finally arrive?"

Well, here comes Mother Bird to feed her family;

now they are all as happy as can be!

[This makes me think of Owl Babies, one of my favorites. You could easily make flannel owls and a hollow tree nest, and say "hoot" instead of "peep".]

To see more Flannel Friday posts from other bloggers, go to this week's Flannel Friday Round-Up hosted by Lindsey at Jbrary. Visit the Flannel Friday Pinterest Board for past Round-Up's and tons of inspiration. For more information about Flannel Friday and how to participate, visit the Flannel Friday site.