Flannel Friday: On Mother's Lap

On Mother's Lap by Ann Herbert Scott and illustrated by Glo Coalson

I think I heard about this older title from Heather McNeil at an OLA/WLA storytime workshop (It was a fabulous workshop, by the way). I put it on hold and when it came in I loved that it was a bit of a quiet story with a nice refrain. A little boy adds more and more things to his mother's lap, but isn't sure there is room for everything he wants AND the baby - something a lot of families in my toddler storytime can relate to. It would make a great Mother's Day read, but it's also what my co-worker calls a "happens to be" story; the characters are Inuit but it isn't the focus of the story. A nice way to add some diversity to any given storytime.
I made flannel pieces of each of the things the little boy, Michael, adds to Mother's lap. I photocopied and enlarged images I thought would translate well to flannel, then used packing tape to tape them to their various colors. I cut out each piece using the lines of the illustration as a guide. The tape makes for clean lines but it doesn't seperate well from cheap flannel. Be warned. I added a bit of pink marker to the baby and doll, a couple french knots for eyes to the dog, used sharpie to give the blanket the look of fur, and viola!
I didn't include the rocking chair, Mother, or Michael, but obviously you could. Each time Michael added a new thing to Mother's lap I put it on the flannel board. When the book was over we revisited each item and noticed that there really is a lot of room on mother's lap. My group of twos was totally rapt and they were particularly rambunctious the day I tried it.