Back to School: Using Flannel (Felt) Board Stories

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Back to school! Planning, planning and then more planning. Looking over your curriculum and doing all of the necessary long range planning, you might decide that this year you would like to incorporate the Flannel Board Friday concept (or something similar) into the classroom routine insha'Allaah.

Flannel/felt board story sets are abundant on the Internet alhamdulillaah and you can make your own patterns very easily as well. The bathtub and squirrel with acorns flannel board sets are both largely made free-hand or from hand drawn patterns. 

Because you can make flannel/felt board story sets easily, this gives you the freedom to make up your own stories/rhymes to accompany the sets you make. For example, this felt story set, can be used at the beginning of the year to teach your students how to use the classroom/school/public library (mini individual books not shown). If you add a circulation desk and a computer that would expand its teaching potential insha'Allaah.

Click on the picture for larger view insha'Allaah

Also, alhamdulillaah, there are many books that lend themselves to being told on a flannel board. This story, هل أنت سمكة؟ (Are You A Fish?) is one of many examples.

Using clipart, you can easily make this flannel board set (download flannel board set here insha'Allaah).

Flannel/Felt Board stories have many benefits:

• they allow for learning in multiple intelligences (i.e. visual learning, tactile learning, auditory learning, etc.)
• they help children develop problem solving skills, math skills and they can help children begin to understand cause and effect.
• the limit of creativity is almost unrestricted. What you can design and what the children can imagine allow for many possibilities.
• they provide hours of fun for children.
• they are great for hands on learning
• they can help children develop the following skills:  retelling stories, sequencing, problem solving, patterning, hand-eye coordination and many others skills.
• they are inexpensive to make and/or buy
• they are safe for children to play with
• they are engaging. They help children connect with the story they are hearing and it also helps them recall the story from memory.
• they are ideal for involving children in their learning. Children enjoy coming up and placing the pieces on the board when invited to do so buy the teacher.
• they help bring life to the story. The story leaves the pages of the book and is in front of the children and they enjoy this.
• teachers/parent-teachers can teach a wide variety of subjects using flannel/felt stories.
• they are easy to store and they can be washed (hand wash gently).

You can visit this site for many free flannel board patterns. Some are not Islaamically appropriate but you will find a number of sets that are insha'Allaah. You can download the pattern for the boat here insha'Allaah (upper left hand corner).