Crafts are a great way to visualize stories! In the classroom or homeschool, use these 25+ crafts that were inspired by children's books!
Books are a huge part of our lives, we absolutely LOVE them! When I originally sat down to do this post I was only planning on sharing 25 titles with y'all...and well I guess it
Even as an adult, children's books are still one of my favorite things. I have many fond memories of “story […]
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Huge bundle of preschool printable activities based on 64 popular picture books, nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Kids will love learning math, literacy and fine motor skills with all of their favorite characters from their favorite stories! Pete the Cat, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Goodnight Moon, Brown Bear, No, David!, Pigeon series, Elmer, Corduroy, If you Give a Mouse series, Mouse Paint, 3 Little Pigs, Goldilocks & the 3 Bears, The Gingerbread Man, Humpty Dumpty, Itsy Bitsy Spider and so much more!
Teaching art to preschoolers doesn't have to be all about fingerpaints and crayons. These inspiring art books for preschoolers are tremendous for teaching many different styles of art.
These 15 picture book activities go great with your preschooler's favorite stories. Great hands-on activities that help to further explore the books!
Storytime too quiet at your house? Get the kids up and moving with these interactive books!
This storytime was for a preschool-aged group at my library. Today's storytime was brought to you by the letter "U." So on the board when the kids walked in was: Read Aloud Books One Big Pair of UnderwearWritten by Laura Gehl, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld There's one pair of underwear, but two bears. Or only two salty snacks, but three yaks. This counting book has amazing rhymes and teaches all about sharing. This was a great book to start with because it is on the longer side, but I'm glad it teaches more of a lesson instead of just looking at underwear. Of course, the kids just laughed and laughed at the size of underwear... Polar Bear's UnderwearWritten and illustrated by Tupela Tupela Polar Bear can't find his underwear. So his friend mouse has decided to help him. They certainly find a lot of other animal's underwear, but Polar Bear's is a mystery. This one definitely incited a LOT of giggles and, of course, Polar Bear was the star of my flannel and craft (see below). So needless to say, I enjoyed this book. And so did the kids and parents. Vegetables in UnderwearWritten and illustrated by Jared Chapman Different vegetables in all different kids of underwear. I actually ran out of time before I read this one since I spent so much time on the flannel, but I wasn't heartbroken about it. It would be another giggly one, though, for sure. Songs & Rhymes Hello Song Song: The Grand Old Duke of York Oh the grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men. He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up. And when they were down, they were down. And when they were only halfway up, They were neither up nor down! Fingerplay: Opposites Up and down, round and round put your fingers on the ground. Over, under, in between-- Now my fingers can't be seen! Hands in front, hands behind, now my hands I cannot find. Here's my left hand, here's my right, Hands and fingers back in sight Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and UNDERWEAR! Head, shoulders, knees and UNDERWEAR! Head, shoulders, knees and UNDERWEAR! Eyes and ears and mouth and UNDERWEAR! Head, shoulders, knees and UNDERWEAR! Goodbye Song Games & Activities Flannel: Polar Bear's Underwear Polar Bear has just done a wash with ALL of his underwear in all its colorful glory. I asked for volunteers and went around to the kids so they could pull out one pair of underwear from my handy-dandy washing machine prop (I built mine from foam core, but you could just use a tissue box or the like). Then we helped Polar Bear by organizing by color. I called out each color and whoever had that color of underwear would put it on the board... I then asked questions like, "What color does he have the most of?" "What color does he have the least of?" and we counted to make sure. Then, to be extra helpful (after giving Polar Bear a pair to wear), we planned his week for him. First we did a different color for every day. Then, we practiced patterns. "If Polar Bear where's purple on Sunday, then red on Monday, what will he wear Tuesday to repeat the pattern?" and so forth. Math questions are a great way to get kids ready for school and ready to learn. Any kids who didn't get a turn pulling out a pair initially helped me during play time at the end. It was a long flannel, and you could certainly just do one or the other (organizing or planning). But we just had so much fun with it! Craft: Unique Underwear From Polar Bear's publisher, I found some activity sheets to use for our craft. I had the kids design their own unique pair of underwear for Polar Bear with crayons, stickers, and glitter glue. There were some pretty cute creations! Other Book Ideas Aliens Love UnderpantsWritten by Claire Freedman, illustrated by Ben Cort (Freedman has a whole series of underpants books!) The Underpants Zoo Written and illustrated by Brian Sendelbach The Underwear Book Written and illustrated by Todd Parr
Do you have a little one who loves tools? This free printable tool book is a great preschool early reader and coloring book of tools!
I first used this craft as part of an “All About Me” themed session where we also made a fingerpainted house and created some fantastic self portraits on the painting table! It's really simple idea and craft but very often the most simple ideas are the best! It was such a popular craft for younger children that it’s one I’ve taken out and about again and again. Kids love to make their whole family so it’s worth printing out quite a few extra templates – and it’s a craft that can be used as a great learning tool for colours, families and body parts as well as exploring different textures. Older kids can also use it as a scissor practice exercise! This is what you’ll need Stiff a4 card Glue Pens or crayons A box of different materials – fabric, card, papers,wool, tissue…….. Firstly, print out the A4 template below onto card – like I say it’s a good idea to print out a few! You should hopefully be able to copy and paste this template and then resize it if needed - if not then you can download templates elsewhere or just draw your own person! Let your child get creative with the template, materials and glue – dress it, colour it in, add hair (or not!). You can either leave the person as he/she is on the card – or try cutting it out to make a cardboard doll!
How to create a retell literacy center in kindergarten. Plus a list of 20 famous stories and retell props (with printables) to complete this center.
The basic formula I use for our library's story hour uses books, music, movement, and transitions to create the sense of routine that young children crave. This article includes tips for storytime presenters and preschool teachers based on my experience.
A long list of 58 Books every preschool class should have. Must have books for preschool. Kids love to read here's more to add to your collection.
This list of books offers stories, educaitonal books, and poetry books that will delight your young child. Click to learn more.
We adore Eric Carle books in our house. One favorite that we have been loving for quite a few years now is From Head to Toe. There are a few things that I love about this
Enhance your circle time lessons with these activities tailored to some of our very favorite children's books.
19 great picture books about bugs. Your children will love reading about the fascinating world that surrounds the bugs around us.
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
The best preschool books for 3-5 year olds that have flown under the radar. These are essential preschool books for your classroom or home library
Are you looking for the best books for 3-year-olds? These are my top, must-read, best books for 3 year olds!
Fun free printable large trucks coloring pages for kids of all ages! You kids will enjoy coloring these large trucks and tractors whether on the go or during a long weekend at home. Free printable
Preschoolers and toddlers will love moving like things found on the farm with this free printable gross motor farm movement game! Print and play!
Download a free Super Hero math printable for Pre-K through 2nd grade.
These Mouse Paint preschool activities are great follow-ups to reading Ellen Stoll Walsh's story about three white mice and some jars of paint.
These diverse books about dance explore the different aspects of the art form, and all of the joy and beauty dance can bring.
The best read-aloud books for preschoolers. Examples of how to use interactive prompting to help your child learn how to read.
Teaching our little learners about fall is such a fun unit to get to explore this time of year! They'll love learning about the fall harvest, weather, leaves, and so much more! There are so many fun ways to go through this unit and watch them learn. It's even more fun as you read through
Another week down and I am still wiped! There is no kind of tired like teacher tired at the beginning of the year! { For sure!} I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to showcase my week. We focused on colors. There are so many good books and ideas out there about colors. It was hard to try to narrow down my activities. These are what I ended up with. We read 'Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?' To retell the story using these adorable bear puppets. The littles loved them! I got them from a fellow teacher in my building. She thought they were originally from Miss Kindergarten. Please let me know if this is not correct! We also manipulated play-doh to cover these brown bear mats. The little ones each had an animal from the book to cover with tissue paper squares to make our own brown bear class book. I love how these turned out! 'Dog's Colorful Day' was another story we read. We practiced gluing dots on this dog. The morning class had fewer dots to glue on since they are younger and less experienced. :) After reading 'Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes' the little learners worked on a cause and effect activity. First we completed the activity on an actor chart as a whole group. Then each little one had their own paper to complete. They did awesome! I love Labor Day weekend! My Tigers begin their football season AND the Kansas City Irish Fest is this weekend. Heaven :) I work part-time at Anthropologie, mostly because I have an addiction to that store. :) It is a great company. If you are a teacher from now until September 7th you can get a 15% discount by showing your teacher ID. Link up your week with Doodle Bugs Teaching. Thanks for reading! Have a great day. :)
Spring lamb tracing pages that are free