Hi,
It's me, flannelgraph. Yes, that flannelgraph, the Sunday School board that you used to put flannel shaped characters like Noah and Moses on to tell Bible stories.
What have you been up to? It's been a long time since we've seen each other. You look good. Have you been working out? I hear good things about that P90X program but you know me, I'll always be soft around the edges.
I haven't been doing much lately, but I was going through some of my old VBS pictures the other day and it made me think of you. We had some wild times back then didn't we? I was on top of the church world back in the late eighties. Seriously, I don't know if they keep a chart of top-selling church supplies but if they did, I owned first place like INXS's album “Kick.” Remember that one? That thing was packed with awesomeness, kind of like me. "New Sensation,” “Devil Inside,” “Need You Tonight," every song on that album was a winner.
They even had the perfect slow jam, "Never Tear Us Apart." That one hurts to listen to a little right now because something has torn us apart. Something came between you and I. Come on, stop walking away, I just want to talk. Let’s stop playing games. We both know what it is. There's no use pretending. We both know what wrecked our relationship.
Whiteboards.
I get it. I do, I do, I just didn't see it coming. I understand they're easy to draw on, you can project a computer image on them and kids can draw all over them in Sunday School, but are they soft to the touch? Are they fuzzy fun? Can you tell me they really make you happy? Are you cool with having your hands get all smudgy with ink? Don’t make me quote Justin Timberlake Jr., Jesse McCartney, and ask you, “how do you sleep?”
You’re not even listening. I don’t even know why I came here today. Do you know where I spend most of my time? Inside a box at the bottom of the supply closet next to the secret bathroom at church. It's dark in here. No one ever really visits the supply closet. A few weeks ago a teenager looking for a Frisbee found me and with complete and utter confusion said, "What is this old thing?"
That “cut like a knife,” if I could borrow a line from Canada’s John Cougar Mellencamp, Bryan Adams. I'm not relevant any more. Look at me, babbling with 80s references. I'm not postmodern, whatever that means. Kids these days are growing up without flannel. Doesn't that make you sad? It doesn't? OK.
Well I won't bother you anymore. I'll leave you alone with your shiny new friend Mr. Whiteboard. Just promise me you won't forget what we once had. When you're ready to come home to Flannel Country, please know that like Richard Marx sang, I'll be "right here waiting for you."
Forever offering the softer side of Sunday School,
Flannelgraph
Love it; except I did clean out the children's dept supply closet last week and there was everything but a flannel board. Sorry to report....you are a dinosaur....hide!
ReplyDeleteI love the flannelboard. I have been using it in my CRE (Christian Religious Education - Christians have the legal right to go into primary schools in Aust for 1/2 hour per lesson and teach children about Jesus) classes with my Gr 2 kids. And they love it. Especially if they get to play with it after the story.
ReplyDeleteI haven't forgotten you, flannelboard!
Loved it. My wife gets all tingly when she pulls out the flannelgraph.
ReplyDeleteHaha! Great post! I remember the "fuzzy fun". My mom used it almost every day way back when when she daycared. Now, she uses it as a flat board to put together puzzles!
ReplyDeleteKids still love that stuff if you pull it out. I remember it was so much fun to be the kid who put Jesus on the board. Jesus ascending was the coolest; you could just stick Him anywhere.
ReplyDeleteGreat and funny post. My mom used to be the flannelgraph queen of Sunday School.
ReplyDeleteThis post was like the warm hug I needed for a Monday morning.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I had forgotten about the good ol' flannelboard.
So, I've never seen a flannel board... I just graduated college, and still, no clue.
ReplyDeleteOh Flannelgraph, I miss you too! I now get confused with OT Bible Characters due to a lack of Flannel People, but I still love you.
ReplyDeleteI almost hate to admit this among all the flannelgraph love going on, but I never was that into him... :)
ReplyDeleteCan't believe we had to wait so long for this post!
ReplyDeleteWas it just me or did Noah and David and Abraham and everyone else have the same size and shape body? Even the women?
The flannel board will never be truly replaced until interactive smart screens make it into the church world. When that happens I will personally use them for a bonfire during which I shall tell the story of the flannel board just like the kids from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. It will be awesome
ReplyDeleteReasons why I love flannelboard:
ReplyDelete1) The only fat people in the whole set were the Pharisees. And really, didn't they deserve it?
2) I love the smell of the paper people (with the flannel stuff on back).
3) My earliest memory, literally, is of flannelboard. I don't really remember a lot, but I do remember the smell and I remember playing with the pieces while sitting on the hardwood floor at our house in 1967ish. My mom really is the flannelgraph queen and used to have a bunch of neighborhood kids over in the afternoon to listen to Bible stories and have a snack (I'm sure it was some sort of Kool-Aid that I don't like. You know, green. And fake cookies, but I don't really remember that part.)
My mom still has and uses flannelgraph every single Sunday school with her grade 1-3 class. I'm sure they love it because I always did.
*sniff*
I love you flannelgraph! I used you all through my Cubbies AWANA class last year, remember? Some of us haven't forgotten your clingy yet soft ways. I could never hope to sketch out the Creation scene with mere dry erase markers. Only you and your vibrant colors and weird looking Adam and Eve flannel on our big green board could teach the kids about Eden so effectively.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up. Don't be sad.
Congratulations. Wasn't referring to Richard Marx a certain number of times one of your New Year's Resolutions? I tried looking it up, but I couldn't find it. Oh well. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteI have two questions:
ReplyDeleteIs flannelboard what we Brits call "fuzzy felt"?
Is flannelboard the same as flannelgraph?
Well, I use the Flannelgraph, the white board, puppets, dress up characters, dramatization, but I try not to use any of them more than once or twice in a quarter.
ReplyDeleteFlannelgraph is the whole thing-figures, scenery, stories to go along with. Flannelboard is the board the backgrounds are/go on. Green for grass, green at bottom and blue sky on top, desert, Sea of Galilee, creation sky (also plays as stormy sky and night sky), and Calvary hill.
ReplyDeleteTotal awesomeness.
Let there be hope!
ReplyDeleteOutside of a church setting, where pre-schoolers roam (we're talking Library storytimes), the flannelboard still rocks the house.
Personally, I just purchased a new flannelboard easel (I admit with a magnetic whiteboard on the back, but I have no intentions of letting the kids have markers; I only wanted it for the magnetic properties) to use with my Play Groups for story/circle time.
I even spend a certain amount of time, nearly every week, making flannel creations (or laminated with a bit of sandpaper on back) that go with the story I am going to read or for a new activity.
So, never fear, the flannelboard is here to stay!
(If you want to see a flannel board, check out the toddler/pre-schooler storytime at your local library: there is a good chance they'll be using one in new & exciting ways.)
Ah yes, the days of Flannelgraph, INXS, Richard Marx and those endless summer nights...
ReplyDeleteDo you get points for Richard Marx references in the comments section?
Savinggrc: thankyou for the explanation. Sea of Galilee? Creation sky? Sounds wonderful. I think I've missed out. BTW Wikipedia says fuzzy felt is similar to but not the same as flannelgraph.
ReplyDeletewv: habsess: He had a hawful habsess on his harm.
Ha-lar-ious!
ReplyDeleteAt our wedding, one of the pastors teased us about having my husband turn his back to the congregation and doing the gospel story in flannelgraph on his back. During the ceremony, he leaned his black book enough for us to see inside. He had the flannelgraph figures clipped and ready to go. We both nearly laughed out loud!
To the Cheeseburger Song tune:
Cuz your his flannelgraph, his fuzzy flannelgraph. He'll be back for you-ou...
I love the flannelgraph! Kids at our church still doses of it. I pulled it out a couple years ago and three year old Brady exlaimed, "This is great! It's just like TV."
ReplyDeleteOf course my flannelgraph guys "walk" and have "voices," almost like 2d puppets. :)
One of my friends and I were talking yesterday about how since I didn't grow up in the church and became a Christian in college I missed out on a whole lot of Christian culture. But we decided your blog has been the perfect place to teach me all of the Christian culture references I would have missed out on. So thanks. Now I don't feel like an idiot when people who grew up in the church are talking about absurd cultural references like flannelgraph. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI miss you flannelgraph. We had fun. Now the drawing of Noah are never the same with that shiny white board. Have you seen your cousin color forms? There was a Snoopy scene I wanted to put together.
ReplyDeleteSad face
We used those in preschool as well as church. I got that thing 3 or 4 times a week sometimes!
ReplyDeleteHey there flannelgraph! We've never actually met--my church didn't have you back in the 80s. Now that I work at a church, we don't get to work together either...but we don't work with Mr. Whiteboard either. In my education classes in college, I saw you from across the room & always thought you seemed nice. I'm sorry you've been ignored for sometime but if the world of fashion is any indication, you're due back in style very soon. Maybe we can meet up then. High-5, sb
ReplyDeleteWhy do the three year olds get to have all the fun? Wouldn't it be awesome if the pastor used the flannelgraph during the sermon?
ReplyDeleteToo funny! When I went into church on a Wed. night a couple weeks ago, there was a board up at the front, and my first thought was "FLANNELGRAPH!!" But then, as I got closer, I realized it was, in fact, a white board. Sad times.
ReplyDeleteI once had my eye poked by a flannelgraph character. But I still have nothing but love for 'em.
The flannelgraph will always have a special place in my heart. Whiteboards are versatile and all, but you can't move a colorful 2D Zaccheus across it in the same way. It just ain't happenin' for me.
ReplyDeletein church from 3yo on up, and never saw anything like this until I was too old to be "allowed" to appreciate it. I did play with one one day when nobody was looking (except God, and it's kind of hard to escape His gaze) and had lots of fun.
ReplyDeleteAh, Kick, fantastic album. I put it and Listen Like Thieves on the same level.
I do believe the love of the flannelgraph from the 70's and 80's led to the grunge movement of the 90's. Teens and young adults, bereft of their beloved flannelgraph goodness, cleaved unto themselves a way to be permanently surrounded with flannel. Not exactly the same thing, but looking like a billiards table was a tad outlandish (except on St. Patrick's Day).
WV: spinsthe: a gangster spinster
We used to play with my grandma's flannelgraph characters at her house all the time! We would tell our own versions of the Bible stories using her couch as our background. Thanks for the trip down memory lane :)
ReplyDeleteVeggie Tale's "King George and the Ducky" (David and Bathsheba) has a flannelboard. It's my favorite part!! Nathan uses the flannelboard to tell King George the story about the poor man's sheep.
ReplyDeleteDust yourself off and head on down to the local long-term care center for ministry opportunities! A friend of mine, who was the greatest flannel board story teller in her younger years, did exactly that and the response of our seniors was absolutely great. Of course, she is an amazing storyteller without any helps, but it was much more fun this way and a trip down memory lane!
ReplyDeletethis makes me cry.
ReplyDeleteoh my gosh, this is great! I can't believe you got to #617 before mentioning the flannel board though. Those were classic!
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't have tons of memories of flannelgraph from my childhood, I am happy to report that the children's Sunday School class that I currently volunteer in uses it! No way that a whiteboard could be as good as flannelgraph.
ReplyDeleteI still love you Flannel board. You smelled good. And little Zaccheus, you were a wee litle man, but on Flannel - up in that tree - you were awesome..even Jesus wanted to go to your house for the par-teee!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what kids are doing these days, but I always think about the sad graduation from children's sunday school. Oh, it didn't seem sad at the time, it seemed cool to be moving to youth. But think about it -- Sunday School was the BEST, with flannelboard, arts and crafts, snacks, songs, oh let the fun begin! And we actually learned Bible stories and facts.
ReplyDeleteIn youth it was just "God loves you, be good and don't do drugs/sleep around". And after that it's these homogenized studies in book form and lots of subjective discussion... visually boring and unfortunately I don't think we learn as much as we did when we were kids! Let's bring back some stone cold Bible learning and some fuzzy soft flannelgraph illustrations! Adults can dig it!! Plus we can go do all the stories that were avoided as not-child-friendly as kids... Jael and her tent-peg, Rahab, Job, maybe even Song of Solomon...
Last year in one of my college Bible classes each person had to do a presentation and the Prof decided to make a contest out of who had the best presentation. The guy with the flannelgraph story won. Hands down, the best presentation on the Sanhedrin I have ever seen! Go Flannelgraph!!
ReplyDeleteMy mom totally broght the flannel board back to our house. She made one for my kids with all sorts of flannel fun...cars, games, birthday cakes and candles. My 3 year old loves it. It really should make a mainstream comeback. We love you flannel board! We love you!
ReplyDeleteHeh, when I was a kid, I thought the word was "Flan-o-graph". Wasn't until later that I realized fuzzy fabric=flannel.
ReplyDeleteMy friend and I taught a club where we were ready to ROCK THEM WITH OUR NEWNESS. It went swimmingly and we felt justified in our disdain of old ways. And then, one day, in desperation we tried the flannel board.
ReplyDeleteThe children were SO amazed. "How does that stay up there?" They were entranced and we were humbled.
michele
When our church still did Awana, my husband would use flannelgraph to tell the stories. One time he didn't have the right people for the Good Samaritan story, so he used our daughter's Ken doll (whose head always fell off) as the guy who got beat up (did I mention his head fell off? A lot? Appropriate, don't you think?) Someone got upset and had words with him, because apparently "Ken" wasn't as spiritual as flannelgraph.
ReplyDeleteStill, I miss the flannel guys. Even their heads don't fall off.
"Oooo, flannelgram!" (quick, name that veggie tales movie!)
ReplyDeleteMy mom had her church buy a NEW set of flannel board figures when she was teaching Sunday School in 2000 or so because she couldn't find one in the supply closet. That thing had every obscure Bible character and piece of scenery a Sunday School teacher could possibly want. The kids loved it... much more than the cheesy paper cutouts they give you with the cirriculum. :P
(wv: sicadend eg. I sicadend cheap paper doll apostles, gimme a flannelgram.
We never had flannelgraph at my church but there was a man we called the "Jesus Man" who would come to my (rural Oklahoma) elementary school and use the flannelgraph to tell bible stories to each of the classes about once every few months. So I always associate flannelgraph with Jesus Man!!
ReplyDeletei work at a childcare, and most of the teachers are required to go to a flannelboard class. that's right, they teach classes on how to use flannelboard. there's even an advanced flannerboard class. whoa - i'm so not there yet.
ReplyDeleteI did it!
ReplyDeleteDear flannelgraph,
ReplyDeleteI think my church go rid of you.
I miss you soft fuzziness and ability and fall and change a bible story.
Amy
Dear Flannelgraph,
ReplyDeleteYou could never be replaced in my heart. Your shapes, cut so perfectly, were things of beauty on your soft background.
Whiteboards have nothing on you. Sure they're bright and shiny but seriously? Markers dry out. And we have to trust that those in posession of said markers can draw. I mean, animals marching two by two onto the ark in felt compared to animals drawn with a green and red marker? Have you ever seen a green giraffe?
Will I sound catty if I point out how the light reflects off of whiteboard? Glaring. It's not attractive.
Dear Flannelgraph,
ReplyDeleteI am in possession of your most recent correspondence. Unfortunately, the flannel side of the letter was stuck to the glue side of the envelope. When I removed the letter, the flannel was violently ripped from the sheet of paper in places. I am truly sorry for that. I hope it was not a relative of yours.
I for one am glad you brought up this important subject. I have missed you also.
When I think about you.
Which, to be completely honest, just isn't very often.
About a year ago I was cleaning the craft closet and spied you playing by yourself in the far corner. At that moment I had a brief recollection of the good times we had when I was a child. I even thought about using you for my next lesson. But when I looked closer, I noticed your flannel was a bit disheveled and a slight rip had appeared at one corner.
I thought about giving you a face lift, but then my I-Phone rang. Next thing I know, I was checking out my Bible App and decided to incorporate it into my next Sunday School lesson.
I really haven't forgotten you. Please don't go away completely. I can feel your love and, like a prodigal shepherd, I'll return someday to claim my forever furry friend.
Until then,
I am almost yours,
The Sunday School Teacher.
Check out my blog at
http://lifewithrachael.blogspot.com/2009/08/faith-of-child.html
You never cease to amaze me. I don't see how you come up with this stuff. You keep me laughing bro!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, Mr. Flannelgraph. When I become a CEO I promise to use you in my board meetings.
ReplyDeleteHey, totally unrelated to Flannelgraph, but I just saw that you're rated in the top five of Kent Shaffer's Church of Relevance's top 100 Christian Blogs. Way cool!
ReplyDeleteDelightfully enough, it was only about 2 years ago (maybe 3, now) that my college minister pulled out the felt/flannel board Bible timeline and turned it into a contest to see who could figure out what each felt piece was (he made them himself, that afternoon) and when it belonged. Mine was the bronze snake, only when he asked me what it was, and I said "bronze snake" he only heard snake, so he asked me what it was made of. I thought bronze was the wrong answer, so I said hesitantly "...felt?" We couldn't stop laughing, That night is easily one of my favorite memories from college ministry, ever! Thanks, felt board!
ReplyDeleteAh, but you are not dead! There are a group of ladies out there, flogging your wares, and I am one of them. Check out http://csmith.storytimefelts.com
ReplyDelete...and then, when the lesson was over, and the teacher had closed in prayer, we would walk up to the flannelboard, pick up the characters, and make them all stand on their heads.
ReplyDeleteIt was a compulsion. We had to do it each time.
When I was a kid, the Christian bookstore in town had a flannelgraph board in the section with all their Sunday School curriculum, and I would go play with that for ages while my mom went shopping.
ReplyDeleteIt was almost as good as the ball pit at the fabric store, but I think I made more instant best friends at the fabric store than at the bookstore.
When I was in college, I worked in the kids' ministries department at my church, and one of my jobs was pulling the flannelgraph pieces for the stories in various classrooms each week.
The pieces were stored in a tall cabinet, with shelves about 1" apart. The pieces were each numbered and placed on a numbered tray, which went into the corresponding shelf. To pull pieces for a story, I'd find the story in a thick book, which listed all the pieces (people, scenery, props, etc) needed for that story, and then I had to find them according to piece and shelf number.
And if they weren't put away properly at the end of the lesson? Madness and mayhem ensued! Or, at the very least, an unhappy me, the next time I had to find those particular pieces.
are flannelgraphs strictly a christian luxury?
ReplyDeletebecause i do remember the flannelgraph from church, but am now just realizing i've only ever seen one in church.
wv - unfinso : the way your 12 year old daughter says "i don't think so"
We just finished a 5-part Sunday morning sermon series, "Stories from Sunday School". All the visuals were authentic 20th century Betty Lukens' flannelgraph characters and backgrounds, scanned 21st century-style for video projection.
ReplyDelete(Betty Lukens is the Queen of Flannel, if you didn't know.)
We had David, Goliath, the sling, Goliath's sword, the Ark, animals, the parted Red Sea, the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, the golden statue...all on green flannelgraph. It was awesome.
Although, I discovered that Moses and Noah are the same flannel character.
Thanks, Jon!
I was in college when Kick came out. Lucky me!
ReplyDeleteI didn't grow up in church so I wasn't very familiar with you Mr. Flannelboard. In our small church, you are all the rage! I actually got to see my pastor's wife use you to teach the kids...they love you and I think I do too! You have to come visit us at youth group one day. =)
ReplyDeleteOk, so I just saw this and felt compelled to comment...I have been giving my mom grief for at least 15 years about still using her flannelboard to teach kids in Sunday School, 3rd world countries, etc. ALL children LOVE it....I don't know what it is, but...they love it! Wish she appreciated your blog...it's all about her. :) Thanks for the reminder about the "flannel people"
ReplyDelete