Eagle Craft and Activities

This craft is based upon Jane Goodall's wonderful children's book:

The Eagle and the Wren

 

In this book, all the birds decide to have a competition to see who can fly the highest.  The tiny wren wins by stowing away on the back of the great eagle.  When the eagle has flown as high as it can, the wren takes flight and flies even higher than the eagle!  Working as a team, the Eagle and the Wren have flown higher than any other bird.

The author, Jane Goodall does a reading of her story:

 

This book is based on a folktale and the Little Brown Wren page presents another version as well as links to still other versions of this tale:

How the Wren Became the King of the Birds

ACTIVITY

Once the story has been read, the kids set out on a bird collecting expedition.  The picture of a bird is held up on display:

 Large Bird Pictures to Display

 

 The kids must find the matching bird:

Small Birds to Find 

CRAFT

The craft is an eagle and wren to color and assemble on the end of a string.  I would pre-cut the eagle parts and pierce a small hole through which the string must be threaded.

Eagle and Wren Craft 

The top wing is glued to the bottom wing and eagle body.  The eagle is best balanced if the hole for the string is pierced where the small circle is on the upper wing:

The finished craft is an eagle with a wren on its back that can be hung somewhere on display:

Aside from The Eagle and the Wren, there are many great picture books about birds.  The Imagination Soup website presents:

Beautiful Bird Books for Kids (To Spark an Interest in Nature)

Elf Hat Craft and Activities

This is an elf's hat craft and activity based upon the book:

The Elf's Hat

 This book is available for free loan in PDF format from the Internet Archive:

The Elf's Hat at the Internet Archive

This is a story similar to Jan Brett's book The Mitten.  In this one an elf loses his hat and a group of animals crowd into it together to make it their home.  The last to enter is a flea which is just too much for the hat which pops out all the animals except the flea:
 

Storytime with Kare Bear does a reading of this book:
 

ACTIVITY

For the activity, the kids must find all the animals to go into the elf's hat.  A file of small hat animals is printed and the small animals cut out and scattered around:

Small Animals for Activity

Print out and display one by one the large animal pictures:

Large Animals for Activity

As you display the animals to find, you can sing the...

Elf Hat Song  

For this activity I use a larger hat made from two pieces of red construction paper that the kids can bring the animals to:

CRAFT

For this craft,  we first take a piece of red construction paper and fold it in half, cutting out the hat shape as shown:

We next fold it out and the kids can see how many animals they can fit into the hat, coloring and gluing them:

Once that hat is full of animals it can be stood up on display:

BOOKS

The Elf's Hat

This book is available for free loan in PDF format from the Internet Archive:

The Elf's Hat at the Internet Archive

The Bookroo website has a good selection of books about hats:

Hats:  Books for Kids

Where is Bear? Craft and Activities

Everyone is getting ready ready for winter, but where is Bear?

 ACTIVITY 

The activity is a search for all the animals getting ready to hibernate for the winter.  Bear has a flap to close so that he is doubly hidden!

 Animals at scatter around for kids to find
 

Large animals to hold up so kids know what they are looking for

Here is the song I sing to tell the kids what animal to look for:

Where is Bear Song

 

CRAFT

The craft is a forest scene showing all the animals getting ready to hibernate.  The animals should be pre-cut so the kids just have to glue them on and color them.  The bear has a flap so that he can be hidden somewhere in the scene.

Where is Bear Craft

Here is a sample of the finished craft and the hidden bear:

 BOOKS

My favorite read aloud book for the hibernation theme is...

Time to Sleep 

This book is available in PDF format to borrow from the Internet Archive:

Time to Sleep at the Internet Archive

The Bookroo website has a great selection of books about hibernation:

Hibernation Books For Kids

Turtle Craft and Activities

This is a stand up turtle craft with a bit of a bobble head!

ACTIVITY 

The activity for this craft involves again our friends the Letter People, or a least a few of them.  The Letter People who had their own TV show back in the 1960's.  For this activity the Letter People have lost their pet turtles and it is up to the kids to help find them.

Here is a file containing the pet turtles and the Letter People who have lost them:

Turtle Activity File 

Here is a song you can sing (to the tune of  "Where Has My Doggie Gone") so the kids have some clues for what turtles to find:

Where Can My Green Turtles Be?

 

CRAFT

The craft is a stand up turtle available both in color or uncolored so the kids can color it.  I always pre-cut the parts, leaving the kids to color and assemble the turtle.  The glue tab for the turtle's head is glued on the other side.
 

Turtle Craft in Color

Turtle Craft for Coloring

Here is an underside view showing how the legs, head and tail should be folded and glued on.  To give a more 3D appearance, I would crease the turtle shell and tail down their lengths:

Here is the finished craft.  For this one I printed the uncolored turtle parts on green card stock paper for added strength:

BOOKS

There are many great turtle books for kids, but for this activity I would usually read my favorite Franklin book:

Franklin is Lost

This book is also available for loan in PDF format at the Internet Archive:

 Franklin is Lost at the Internet Archive

The Fantastic Fun and Learning site provides an excellent selection of turtle books for kids:

 

Frosty the Snowman Craft and Activities

This is a stand up Frosty the Snowman Craft.

First read the story or sing the song or both!

Lyrics Page for Frosty the Snowman 

The book adaptation I preferred to read was the original Golden Book Frosty but there are many other versions available:

Frosty the Snowman 
 

The original Golden Book version is available for loan in PDF format at the Internet Archives: 

Frosty the Snowman Book at Internet Archives

ACTIVITY 

The Snowman activity involves finding snowmen shaped like letters.  Here is a file containing six little snowman letters to scatter around as well as six big letters to display so the kids know what they are looking for:
 

Snowman Letter Activity

SNOWMAN CRAFT

The craft is a stand up Frosty that the kids can glue the clothing and hat onto.  I would pre-cut all the pieces as well as gluing the back on the snowman at the head so that he will stand up.  He also stands up better if you cut the bottom of the snowman flat as shown for the finished craft below.  The snowman works best when printed on card stock, but will also work on ordinary paper:

Snowman Craft Pages

The kids will take the clothing and hat and glue them onto the snowman with a glue stick:

BOOKS
 

There are many great snowman books for kids.  The Fun With Mama site presents an excellent  selection:

One of my favorites from this selection has beautiful photographs and is a great choice for nature lovers:

Stranger in the Woods

The Stranger in the Woods is also available to borrow at the Internet Archive in PDF format:  
 

Stranger in the Woods at the Internet Archive

Toboggan Craft and Activities

WINTER FUN ACTIVITY

For the Winter Fun Activity the kids must find all the things for winter fun.  

Here are the small pictures to cut out and scatter around for the kids to find:

Small Pictures of Things to Find

And here are the big pictures to hold up as you read the text below:

Big Pictures to Hold Up

Here is a suggested Winter Fun text to read:

Winter Fun Text

TOBOGGAN CRAFT

Print the toboggan craft page and fold along dotted line:

Toboggan Craft Page

 

 Cut around the figures and the glue tab at the bottom:

Open out the toboggan people and they are now ready for the kids to color:

Take a strip of colored construction paper two inches wide and at least nine inches long.  Use a pencil to roll up one end to be the front of the toboggan.  Use a glue stick to place glue on the two glue tabs and glue them to the toboggan, and you are finished:
 

BOOKS TO READ ALOUD

Curious George in the Snow

 

This book is also available in PDF format to borrow from the Internet Archive:

Curious George in the Snow 

at the Internet Archive 

The excellent Pre-K Pages website provides a great list of...

Winter Fun Books for Pre-Schoolers