So this is not a new concept. I know Lisa of Read, Rhyme and Sing #FF’d this a few weeks ago. I was all excited to make this out of actual felt when I remembered item I purchased in a clearance bin about a year ago:

Sesame Street foam puzzle matts

At $3, I thought they were a great find for our toddler playtime toys. Then one of my co-workers told me that (at the time) these types of foam puzzle mats (EVA foam mats) were being pulled from shelves for containing unsafe levels of formamide. Now some might call Ms Debbie a “safety nut”. I don’t know about you, but I think “safety nuts” are pretty awesome to have as coworkers when you work in a busy children’s department.

I didn’t have the heart to throw them away, and they’ve been sitting on a shelf for a more than a year. Flash forward to earlier in the week when I was opening a case of coffee from costco, and I noticed the box makes a perfect “feed the _____” storytime prop. If you look at the image below, you’ll notice there’s a big window/opening on the side of the box so you can reach in and grab a pod.

The box comes perforated in an almost-perfect mouth shape. I immediately thought of the cookie monster puzzle mat. When I held it up to the box it was a nearly perfect fit. I just had to cut little bit on the bottom to fit his giant smile. So I glued the puzzle pieces together (leaving the mouth to pop in and out, of course). I also wanted to cover the box somehow.  So I grabbed a roll of blue duct tape and went to town.

Since this story prop is a little bulky, I wanted to make it flexible. I used velcro to attach Cookie’s face to the front. This way I can use 1 box for a whole slew of different eat-it-all-up stories/activities: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, The Fat Cat, etc.  **BTW: does anyone know if there is an actual name for this type of story. If not #FFers should develop one, right?** 

I couldn’t find any flannel cookies earlier, so here’s a picture of Cookie Monster eating a popsicle.

Yum!

But maybe CM will get tired of eating cookies and decide to eat some letters, numbers, colors, shapes, fruit, etc.

Oooo! The letter C! C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me! Cookie cookie cookie starts with C!

And if you search pinterest for “feed the monster” you get about a zillion results. Now, that may seem a little ho-hum, but what’s amazing about the “feed Cookie Monster” concept is that there are a million ways to expand/alter/reuse the concept to keep it interesting. 

Oh! and I almost forgot. I stopped by Michaels for some glue, and as I was running through the impulse-buying section, I spotted these amazing little monster zipper pouches.

These are perfect for some sort of storytime activity involving monsters eating stuff. I don’t have a specific idea for how to use them yet, but for a $1 each I had to snap them up. I bought 4 of them, and can’t wait to think put them to work!

Happy FF! Sharon is hosting a very special #FFRU this week in many FFers are waxing philosophical  this 2yo blogging tradition: What Does Flannel Friday Mean To Me?