Learning Fun w/If You Take a Mouse to School

The final If You Give a....Book that I will share with you (for now) is actually the first one we read in honor of Back to School - If You Take a Mouse to School.

We made our adorable Tape Resist Mouse M's 

(click link to see full post)

The Lil Divas completed a cute Color by Number of the Mouse

via Making Learning Fun who has lots of fun printables for the series.

This was a great "following directions" activity for my kindergartener.

The Lil Divas worked on a same/different activity and identified Initial Sounds of Back to School items with Clip Cards from 2 Teaching Mommies' Back to School - School Supplies Themed Printables

We also worked on the target sight words: help, jump, for, we, play

Activity 1: Read it, Build it, Write it!
In this particular activity the Lil Divas had to:
1. read the sight word
2. build the sight word with letter tiles
3. write the sight word

Activity 2: Magnetic Letter Sight Word Play

Books:

We had so much fun with the books in this series and I wish I could share everything we did (believe it or not there is more!) but there is just not enough time for me to blog it all. :(

I am really looking forward to checking out the new book - If You Give a Dog a Donut
- I might sneak it into our Pets Theme along with If You Give a Cat a Cupcake :)

Next up: Apples, Apples & more Apples!

Bern

ABC Fun M is for Mouse - Tape Resist Letter Art

To go with our If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to School Fun we completed this fun Tape Resist M is for Mouse Craft to add the letter M to our Alphabet Books. I had been wanting to do some tape resist art and this was the perfect time to sneak it in to our book fun and spice up our ABC crafts.

ABC Craft: Tape Resist Mouse M

What You Need:

White Construction Paper

Tape 

Paintbrush

Watercolors

Cup of Water

2 Wiggly Eyes

1 Black Pipe Cleaner

1 Small Pink Pom Pom

1 Small Piece of Pink Foam 

(I used a scrap piece I had saved)

Glue

Prep:

1. Cut 2 small triangles out of the pink foam (ears)

2. Cut pipe cleaner into 4-6 pieces (whiskers)

What To Do:

1. Help child make Letter M using tape and tape onto white construction paper.

2. Have child paint entire surface of paper with watercolors - encourage them to paint all white spaces especially those near the tape. This will leave a clear white Letter M when tape is removed.

3. Carefully peel tape away to reveal the letter M.
Note: the Lil Divas were anxious to do this and did NOT peel very carefully so we had some paper peel off. Painter's tape would probably work better but I didn't have any on hand. I will be sure to stock some for next time.

4. Glue on pink pom pom nose, wiggly eyes, whiskers, and triangle ears (see photos of completed Mouse M's below)

They came out so cute! You could add a pipe cleaner tail as well but the Lil Divas opted not to.

Books:

Bern

If You Give a Pig a Pancake - Preschool/Kindergarten Fun

If you give a pig a pancake......you will have lots of fun! :)

Ok, that's not exactly how the story goes but we sure enjoyed ourselves.

Here's What We Did:

Pigs & Pancakes Addition:

I found free pancakes and pigs clip art and used it to make a simple addition sheet.

The Lil Divas had to add the pancakes or pigs and write the total.

This was great practice at number writing and simple addition/counting.

M vs P - Initial Sound Sorting:

Once again I found free clip art of words beginning with m and p and made a simple sorting mat. The Lil Divas had to sort the pictures and glue them onto the appropriate side according to their initial sound. 

Easy Shape Pig Craft:

The Littlest Diva really wanted to make a pig while her big sis was doing her homework. I hadn't planned on it & didn't have time to put anything elaborate together so I came up with this simple shapes craft instead - easy, cute & well received by the Littlest Diva.

What You Need:

pink, black & white construction paper

glue

markers

Prep:

1. Cut the following out of the pink construction paper:

1 large circle (face) 

an oval (nose) 

2 triangles (ears) 

2. Cut the following out of the black construction paper:

2 small circles (inner eyes)

2 smaller circles (nostrils)

2 small triangles (inner ears)

3. 2 small circles (eyes) out of white construction paper

Let your child put the pig together (see photo of finished pig above)

Feed the Pig - A Sight Words Review Game 

This was so easy to make/prepare and such a hit w/the Lil Divas!

What You Need:

brown construction paper

marker

scissors

plate

spatula

toy pig

Prep:

1. cut circular shaped pancakes out of the brown construction paper.

2. write out target sight words on each pancake.

How to Play:

1. Position the pig in front of the plate - she is ready & waiting for her pancakes!

2. Lay out all the pancakes/sight words and give child the spatula

3. randomly call out sight words and let child find them & feed them to the pig by putting them on the plate.

4. when I only had a few left I let her read the words to me and add them to the plate.

The Oldest Diva really enjoyed this game and it was a great way to review all the sight words we've been working on.

Kid Friendly Food: Pancakes & Bacon

(It was actually turkey bacon but shhh!, no one needs to know that)

Book:

Bern

If You Give a Moose a Muffin - Preschool/Kindergarten Learning Fun

Muffin Counting #1-12: Preschool

What You Need:

construction paper

white paper

markers

number cards (#1-12)

muffin clipart or drawings

What To Do:

Prep:

1. I made a number mat resembling a placemat with a plate, fork and knife and wrote the words "Put ___ muffins on your plate."

2. I found some simple muffin clip art online and used it to make a sheet with a dozen muffins which I cut out to use on the number mat.

3. I cut out small squares (small enough to fit on the line I provided for the number of muffins on the mat) and numbered them 1 thru 12.

How to Play:

1. I mixed up the number cards and gave them to my preschooler along with the mat and muffins.

2. Have child pick a number card to place on the mat and count out the corresponding number of muffins to place on the plate.

I found some great clothespin printables on Making Learning Fun to go with the story.

Muffin Count & Clip Cards

Upper/Lower Case Match Clip Cards

Missing Letter Clip Cards (ABC Review)

We reviewed how to write the letters M and m. I found a great M is for moose handwriting printable on First School.

I also had the Lil Divas practice writing the letters on their own on mini dry erase boards.

Playtime Fun: Sock Puppets

You simply can't read this story and not make sock puppets - so of course we did! The Lil Divas designed their girl puppets and I helped hot glue some of it on - I even have the hand burn & missing flesh to prove it! The girls put on a puppet show. I will try to add a small clip - they are so cute!

Snack: Bluberry Muffins

Finally, we made some muffins as a special treat to go with the story (of course!). YUM! 

We had a lot of fun with If You Give a Moose a Muffin & look forward to our next book.

Have you done anything fun with this book?

If so, please comment & share.

Bern