A deliciously educational unit of learning.
This kit gives you everything you need to teach an engaging program of activities all based around The Gingerbread Man.
ABCs and 123s: fun letter and math activities for children
The Best Alphabet Books for Children
Spring Sorting Games for Letters and Words
Rainbow Themed Literacy Activities
Alphabet Letter Sorting with Monsters
Rainbow Letter Sorting Alphabetical Order
Magnetic Alphabet I-Spy Bottle
Sticky Alphabet Upper and Lower Case Letters
ABCs and 123s: fun letter and math activities for children
Make Your Mark :: 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion
Rainbow Themed Literacy Activities
How to Make Colored Salt for Salt Trays
Toddler Reading and Writing Activities
Make Your Mark :: 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion
Gingerbread Man Storytelling with Play Dough
Rama and Sita Puppets :: Diwali Storytelling
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities
Learn to Read with Speech Bubbles
Goldilocks and the Three Bears Storytelling Kit
ABCs and 123s: fun letter and math activities for children
Gross Motor Games for Sight Words
Spring Sorting Games for Letters and Words
Rainbow Themed Literacy Activities
Rainbow Words to Learn Spelling
Rainbow Writing Spelling Printable
Butterfly Sight Words Printable
Make Your Mark :: 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion
Rainbow Journal Free Printable
ABCs and 123s: fun letter and math activities for children
Make Your Mark :: 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion
Treasure Hunt with Free Printables
Learn to Read with Speech Bubbles
Using Maps for Reading and Writing
ABCs and 123s: fun letter and math activities for children
Make Your Mark :: 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion
Baby and Toddler Discovery Baskets
Gingerbread Man Storytelling with Play Dough
Learn to Read with Speech Bubbles
Garden Picnic DIY Spelling Board Game
Spring Sorting Games for Letters and Words
Outdoor Book Nooks and Books about Nature
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities
Spring creative writing prompts
Spring poetry writing printable
Autumn Letter Games with Leaves
Ginger and Cinnamon Salt Tray to Learn Spelling
Pumpkin House Storytelling Play
‘I Am Thankful For…’ Printable
Father Christmas Printable Puppets for Storytelling
New Year Resolutions Word of the Year
Winter Literacy Activities with printables
Rama and Sita Puppets :: Diwali Storytelling
Make Your Mark :: 30 projects that promote a love of writing, self-confidence and compassion
Help your child to make their mark with these wonderful projects that help develop a love of writing, creative storytelling, self-confidence and compassion – along with six sets of bonus printables.
Welcome to our online tween book club! If you have children aged 8-ish to 12-ish, join us and read along with our book choices each month.
Here you’ll find ideas for how to set up a book club for children, and a tween reading list. I have a year of suggestions for great books for a children’s book club and I’ll be sharing discussion prompts and additional resources each month, so sign-up for updates in the box below.
Looking for some The Very Hungry Caterpillar activities and ideas to add in lots of fun and learning? Here are some of our favourite ways to use one of our all time favourite story books.
Following on from yesterday’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft ideas for caterpillars, today we have a selection of butterfly crafts.
The designs are all very simple again, making them easy for very young children to try.
Working with the idea of butterflies gives the opportunity to talk about symmetry and with older children you might want to encourage them to focus on creating matching patterns, as part of a more mathematical activity.
With young children though I think the main purpose behind these crafts is to invite them to enjoy the colours and see what patterns they can make – so I wouldn’t worry about strict directions about making sure both sides match.
This idea is a childhood classic – painting on one side of a piece of paper, folding and squishing the paint, and then opening it up to reveal your butterfly.
I particularly love this technique because it’s open to all children – even babies. Everyone can join in: finger painting, smearing colour around, making hand prints, using brushes or sponges to apply the paint. And my kids really love the surprise reveal when the final pattern is peeled open and revealed.
Two tips I’d share:
1. It might be hard for the children to understand the idea of painting at first on one side of the paper only, and you won’t want to pester them all through the activity to stop painting on the other side. If you fold the paper over so the side to be kept clear is underneath and only the side that needs painting is presented to them (see above), then they can go for it, applying the paint wherever they like, without any restrictions. When they’ve finished you can fold it the other way to make your print.
2. I’d do a demonstration of the folding and squishing first before using their own art work – some children can be very upset if they think you’re spoiling their design, so best for them to be happy with the plan before you try it.
These twirling butterflies were inspired by an idea Amanda created for Make and Takes. Amanda’s children made ladybirds, but I think they’re also beautiful with a butterfly design, and the kids can paint, pattern or collage any design they choose.
Make and Takes has a step-by-step guide to assembling them.
A tip I’d add: if you laminate the pieces of card before assembling them they’ll withstand a little rain so you can have them twirling in the garden.
We used a wooden clothes peg to make a butterfly mobile: here’s our step-by-step guide showing how we made it.
Kicking off our celebration of Eric Carle’s birthday this week we’re sharing three The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft ideas.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is our favourite of Eric Carle’s books and is the first book I ever read to both my girls. It’s masterpiece of a children’s story, a joy to read and look at, and bursting with possibilities to use as a spring board for lots of crafting, exploring and learning.
Mr. Carle is celebrating his birthday this week and Kate at An Amazing Child blog is hosting a week of fun, linking up many early years bloggers who are sharing ideas for activities and crafts linked to Mr. Carle’s books. We’re sharing some caterpillar craft ideas today and some butterfly crafts tomorrow. On Thursday we have a post full of ideas you can use to explore The Very Hungry Caterpillar with links to the EYFS.
Eric Carle is famous for his signature style, combining colour and texture and The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a perfect book to use to inspire children to try some art and crafting. When creating with young children I always like to give them plenty of opportunity to explore materials their way. Even though these projects are all designed to result in a caterpillar there is plenty of scope for each child to experiment and add their own style to the creations. The caterpillar crafts are all very simple to follow, inviting even very young children to have a try. [Read more…]