- The tried-and-true home for flannel boards is as the accompaniment to a story. Librarians often use them with folktales, creating a visual for a story that might typically have been passed down via oral tradition. Flannel board activities are perfect for progressive, patterned or surprise-ending stories, such as "The Carrot Seed," "The Mitten," "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Too Many Tamales." Use flannel board cut-outs to illustrate stories that incorporate foreign languages or nonsense words.
- Second grade mathematics is the perfect setting for using a flannel board. Create cut-outs that are copies of manipulatives you want children to use, and students can copy what you model. For example, show skip counting by fives with flannel pieces cut out in groups of five. Children can use counters or other small objects to copy this activity. Then, they can extend the pattern in table groups. Use flannel board activities to show connections between addition and subtraction and, later, multiplication and division. They are a natural for showing fractions, too.
- A classroom with learning centers or stations for independent work time can feature a flannel board area as one of the options. Set up a thematic activity for children to explore on their own, such as creating a rain forest habitat or building a robot using flannel pieces. Children can translate their flannel inventions to drawings or posters that they label, describe and report about to the whole class. You can create smaller flannel boards for larger group uses by covering a stiff piece of cardboard or smooth-edged wood with flannel and adhering it with a strong glue or sturdy staples, being sure to cover the staples with duct tape. Then, student groups can work with felt cut-outs simultaneously.
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