Flannel Friday & Storytime Swap: Mouse Paint

Several summers ago, I was a librarian in Iowa and had the privilege of attending a summer reading workshop for the CSLP theme "Be Creative." Now, I know Iowa gets a bad rep sometimes, but I gotta tell you, the youth services librarians there are awesome. FF's own Roving Fiddlehead is just one of them!


Anyway, the ladies presenting demonstrated this set, which we immediately made for our library, and which I duplicated after I moved back to Minnesota. Now K down in Florida will have one to share with her kiddos!

The story is an adapted version of Ellen Walsh's Mouse Paint, and the finger puppets are based off some super cute, professionally made ones you can get at Artfelt. They also have a cute animated video demonstrating how it works.

Paint cans I found at The Container Store, but I imagine you could probably get a local hardware store to donate some. I used this pattern for the puppets (minus the face piece).

You start with three white mice.

Inside the red can are a red mouse and a purple one for later!

Inside the yellow can are a yellow mouse and an orange one.

Inside the blue can are a blue and green mouse.

So basically, a white mouse goes into each can and comes out a primary color. Then, they get jealous of each other's colors and try to turn into them. So the red mouse jumps into the yellow paint and comes out orange, etc. Its very fun to do in storytime because the kids think its magical. Works best if you have a flat surface to put the cans on so you're not trying to juggle them in your lap.

I can't take all the credit for this set; my wonderfully talented mom did all the assembly on the finger puppets. In place of sewing the pieces, you could always just glue.

Enjoy!



CONVERSATION

12 comments :

  1. This is AWESOME! I just love the mice!

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  2. I love this! I'm using "Mouse Paint" in my upcoming story time. This is going to be so fun!

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  3. I LOVE the paint cans! I need to revamp my current flannelization of this!

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  4. I love this so very much! I have pinned it on Pinterest, printed the template, and I am going to make my own set RIGHT NOW.

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  5. I actually did this several years ago, though I used foam for my puppets.Video how to on YouTube:
    http://www.youtube.com/embed/gganWXjswjk?fs=1

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing the video. I haven't worked with foam very much, but I know some other FFers who love to use it.

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  6. Love the idea & what fun to introduce the colors in paint cans ... love it!

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