Keep reading for some fun preschool activities based on Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. 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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SCAREDY SQUIRREL ACTIVITIES
Scaredy Squirrel is such a fun book for kids! The author uses humor to share the best lesson about being brave and trying new things. Have you read it yet?
In this story, Scaredy Squirrel stays up in his tree all day every day. He’s scared of bees, martians, sharks, germs, AND tarantulas!
But after he accidentally knocks his emergency kit out of his tree and jumps to catch it, he realizes he’s a FLYING squirrel! That’s when Scaredy Squirrel begins to change his routine and add in some more adventure to his day.
Click on the picture below to learn more about this funny 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: WHERE’S THE SQUIRREL?
One of the ways we help preschoolers get prepared for kindergarten is through developing oral vocabulary and following directions. This activity, which practices positional words, works on both of these key areas.
Positional words include words such as above, below, under, over, inside, outside, behind, etc. Knowing these words not only builds our little ones’ vocabulary and ability to follow directions, but it also sets the foundation for future math skills as well. Win win!
For this activity, students will put the squirrels where they belong on the tree mat. They can also tape the squirrels to the large tree on the wall that you’re going to make as the craft for this story! (More on that later in this post!)
MATH: COMPARING ACORN NUMBERS
Comparing numbers can be a tricky skill for our little ones to master, especially if we’re asking them to use the greater than, less than, or equal to signs. I love the way my friend Storie teaches her students to compare numbers using this strategy. This helps our kids develop number sense, which is another key area for kindergarten readiness.
For this activity, your little one will choose two numbers, count out the correct number of acorns, and then use the correct sign to compare the numbers.
Looking for more activities? Check out my Fall activity pack!
FINE MOTOR: EMERGENCY KIT
Before our little ones become comfortable with writing and drawing, we want to build up the muscles in their hands using a variety of activities. This Scaredy Squirrel printable asks your little one to cut and paste, giving their hand muscles a chance to work!
Have your little one cut and paste the items into Scaredy Squirrel’s emergency kit, which will also give them a chance to retell the story in order. Then they can brainstorm which items they’d put in their own emergency kit if they were Scaredy Squirrel.
GROSS MOTOR: SQUIRREL SCHEDULE
Let’s get our kiddos up and moving! This gross motor activity combines locomotor activities with practicing the days of the week, which is going to be so much for your kiddos!
First, you’ll want to tape the days of the week cards all around the room. Then, you’ll choose a card and call out the day. Once your little one gets to that day, they have to perform the action that’s listed on the card! So simple but so much fun!
I’ve also included 4 squirrel friends that your little one can use with this activity, too!
CRAFT: TREE ON THE WALL
I mentioned this craft earlier when I was describing our Literacy Activity for this story, but here’s a picture of it! How much fun will it be to create your own tree on your wall to go along with this story and use with the positional words activity?! You can make yours look just like Scaredy Squirrel’s tree if you want!
SNACK: GRAHAM CRACKER TREE
After making Scaredy Squirrel’s tree on the wall, you can also make an edible version of his tree! This delicious snack only needs three ingredients: graham crackers, kiwi, and raisins. Simple and delicious!
READING RESPONSE: JOURNAL WRITING & BOOKMARK
To wrap up this unit, you can have your little one write and draw about their favorite part of Scaredy Squirrel. I’ve also included a bookmark that your little one can keep forever to remember this story and the main message: Don’t be afraid to try new things!
SCAREDY SQUIRREL ACTIVITY PACK
All of the activities in this post can be found in my Scaredy Squirrel Activity Pack, which can be found in my shop here!
Have you read Scaredy Squirrel 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!
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To check out more book-inspired activities, head over to our Storytime Club!
Happy Learning!