Keep reading for some fun preschool activities based on Ish by Peter H. Reynolds. These activities are part of our Storytime Club, which includes activities inspired by 12 books to keep your little one learning ALL year long! To learn more about our Storytime Club, click here!
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ISH BOOK ACTIVITIES
One of my favorite books is Ish by Peter H. Reynolds. The first time I read this book, it totally made me tear up! I love the message behind this story, and I think it’s one that every child (and adult!) should read.
In this story, Ramon LOVES to draw! He draws anywhere and everywhere, and it brings him joy. One day, his older brother makes fun of his drawings, and Ramon is crushed. He’s ready to give up on his art altogether, but his younger sister is able to show him that his art is perfect, just the way it is.
If you’re looking for a book to teach little ones about having a growth mindset or how to “just be you,” then this book is just what you’re looking for!
Click on the picture below to learn more about this book!
Check out these fun activities to bring this story to life for your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten littles. These are great to use at home with your own kiddos or in your early childhood classroom. If you’re interested, all the printables can be found here.
Click here to check out the song I sing before reading this book!
LITERACY: SHORT VOWEL SLIDER
One way to prepare your little one for kindergarten is helping them have a strong understanding of letter sounds. When teaching vowel sounds, start with short vowel sounds first before you move on to long vowel sounds, which are typically introduced at the end of kindergarten/beginning of first grade (so there’s no reason to rush!)
In this activity, your little one will slide a strip of pictures up and down on the art easel to reveal one picture at a time. They will have to determine the vowel sound they hear in that picture’s name and then move the strip of letters on the paint palette to show the correct letter.
If your little one is having a hard time hearing the vowel sound in the word, they may need help breaking up the word into all of its sounds (which is called segmenting). Then you can help them find the vowel sound, which is in the middle of each of these CVC words. To learn more about segmenting and breaking words up into sounds, check out this video.
MATH: PAINTING PATTERNS
Patterning is one of the main math standards on the Pre-K Exit Goals. According to preschool standards, students should be able to recognize patterns in the real world, fix simple patterns, duplicate/extend/create patterns, and describe similarities and differences in patterns. So this math activity is all about patterns!
Your little one will have a few different ways to practice patterns for this activity. They will duplicate patterns, extend patterns, and create different patterns using paintbrushes and tubs of paint. Perfect for this art-inspired story!
You could also challenge your little one to create their own patterns out of the pictures, or they could start a pattern for you and ask you to extend it. So many possibilities!
Teaching your little one about colors? Check out our favorite color-themed books here!
FINE MOTOR: COLOR BY NUMBER
As our little ones get ready to write, we want them developing the muscles in their hands, fingers, and wrists, and coloring is a great way to do this. Combining coloring with number identification also sneaks in some early math skills, too!
This activity comes in a few different ways:
- Color words written in the correct color (to help our littlest learners)
- Color words written in black
- Color words blank (so students can choose their own colors for each number)
- Entire picture blank (so students can choose where the numbers go and which color goes with each number) You could also put addition or subtraction problems in the spaces instead of numbers and have them color based on the answer to the problem!
GROSS MOTOR: SIDEWALK CHALK HOPSCOTCH
We love taking learning outside as often as possible. Getting our littles up and moving will help solidify the information they’re learning. One of the easiest ways to do this is with a hopscotch board!
Once you create your hopscotch board outside, you can decide which skill you’d like to practice with it! The possibilities are endless, but here are a few ideas: letter names, letter sounds, number identification, skip counting, addition, subtraction, shapes, vocabulary words, opposites, and synonyms.
CRAFT: WATERCOLOR REVEAL
The craft idea inspired by Ish is simple but fun! Have your little one color a picture on a white piece of paper with a white crayon. Then have them color over it with watercolors and watch the picture reveal itself!
Another idea would be for you to draw or write something secret and have your little one paint over it to reveal it…what a fun surprise that would be!
SNACK: PAINT PALETTE CRACKERS
For our Ish book-inspired snack, I decided to create a simple (and delicious!) paint palette cracker. All you need are crackers, frosting (or cream cheese), M&Ms, and pretzel sticks. We also used an edible black marker to color the tips of the pretzel sticks to look even more like paintbrushes!
We loved the sweet & salty combo of these snacks, plus they inspired imaginary play, too!
READING RESPONSE: JOURNAL WRITING & BOOKMARK
To wrap up this unit, you can have your little one write and draw about their favorite part of Ish. I’ve also included a bookmark that your little one can keep forever to remember this story and the main message: Do what you love and just be YOU!
ISH PRINTABLE PACK
All of the activities in this post can be found in my Ish Activity Pack, which can be found in my shop here!
Have you read Ish yet? Do you have any fun activities that would be great to add to our list? Comment below or find me on Instagram [@littleslovelearningblog] and let me know!
love these ideas? pin for later!
To check out more book-inspired activities, head over to our Storytime Club!
Happy Learning!
