Who doesn’t love playing with puppets? Puppet crafts are so much fun for children to make and to play with! I love when we are able to make a scene on a paper plate for stick puppet to explore. Make this cute turkey stick puppet craft with your little one and enjoy watching your puppet explore the straw and fall leaves in this scene. This interactive craft is tons of fun and lends itself well to imaginative play.
Print off the turkey scene stick puppet craft template (free PDF download). Color the turkey, rolled up straw bales, haystack, and fall leaves. After coloring, cut out your pictures. I try to keep things simple by cutting a border around the pictures rather than exactly along the lines. Once you glue them onto a white paper plate, you really can’t see the white borders around the pictures anyway.
Have an adult use a box cutter to cut a slit along the smooth center of the plate. The slit in the example is a little less than halfway up the plate. Before slicing, make sure that the craft stick will be able to stick up through the proposed slit and move around. The slit should go all the way along the smooth part of the plate, stopping before both ridged outer edges.
Now that you have colored all of your pictures, glue them onto your plate. Check to make sure that all of the pictures are glued down tight so that your turkey stick puppet doesn’t get stuck under any edges that may be sticking up.
Glue your turkey to end of a craft stick and let’s play! Slip your puppet through the slit and move your puppet around so that your turkey can play in the straw.
This owl headband craft is a perfect way to have some crafting fun together and get in the autumn spirit. I love how cute these headbands turn out! This fun activity is great for preschoolers, kindergarten, and early elementary aged children. The free craft template includes the adorable owl and two bands for making the headband.
Print out the free owl headband template and color the owl. We colored the bands too!
Cut out all of your pieces.
Glue or tape the bands to the sides of the owl. If using glue, let your project dry. Then wrap the bands around your child’s head and then glue or tape the bands together at the back of your child’s head (forming a circle).
Add some autumn-themed math fun into your preschooler’s learning with this harvest graphing STEM activity! What is harvest graphing? Harvest graphing is recording how many times a picture shows up each time you the roll the di on the bar graph included in this set. The purpose of this activity is to introduce young learners to the concepts of probability, recording answers, and counting. Once you have completed your graph, count how many times you rolled each food.
Start by printing this free template. The harvest graphing template includes the di, colored tiles, and graphing chart. I used regular printer paper; however, if you use cardstock, then your di will be much sturdier.
Begin by cutting out the di. Once fully cut out, gently fold the tabs inward. Then begin to fold your squares into a cube shape. Add some glue to the tabs and glue them onto the underside of the squares as you form your cube. The very last tab is hard to glue and might require tape. Once your cube is formed, set it aside to dry.
Cut out all of the colored tiles. You will have 8 of each color–red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Each color corresponds with one of the harvested foods. Here’s the color scheme: tomato=red, pumpkin=orange, corn=yellow, peas=green, grapes=blue, and eggplant=purple.
Let’s Graph!
Now it is time to begin harvest graphing. Ask you child to gently roll the di. Which food picture is on top? Is it a red tomato? Take a tile of the same color and set it on the graph above the corresponding-colored harvested food picture. Keep rolling the di and setting tiles in the correct columns until you reach the top of the column.
The best part is you can use this activity over and over again since there is no glue involved. Try this harvest graphing STEM activity again and see which fruit or vegetable makes it to the top this time!
Why STEM?
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. It is important to introduce these concepts to preschoolers in a fun way so that as they get older, they are excited about STEM subjects. What are preschoolers learning in this activity? Preschoolers are learning their colors (science)! They have to identify the color on the di, find the same color on the chart, and then correctly add the same color tile to the graph. Preschoolers are learning how to graph, an important math concept! Add some extra math into this activity by counting how many of each color tile is on your graph and how many tiles your have altogether. Preschoolers are also learning about engineering as they help build the di!
More STEM Activities
If your child enjoyed this graphing activity, I made a free blank di template so you can customize it with your own pictures. You can add computer images, stickers, or draw whatever you want on the dice and graph for your child to practice more graphing skills.
Are you ready for a fun, interactive Halloween craft? Check out this super cute hidden cat pumpkin craft! I love that the pumpkin opens, revealing the hidden cat. It was pretty easy to make and turned out great! I think your preschooler will love this one.
After you print the template, color the pumpkin and the cat. Be creative! We added a jack-o-lantern face to our pumpkin.
Cut out the cat and the pumpkin. Once you have your pumpkin cut out, cut along the dotted zigzag line, making your pumpkin into two pieces.
Stick the brad through the dark circle (on the left side) of the top pumpkin piece. Then stick the same brad through the dark circle of the bottom pumpkin piece. Close the brad. Now you have created a hinge that allows your pumpkin to open and close.
It’s time to attach the cat! Add glue to the front side of the cat’s body and then stick it onto the backside of the bottom pumpkin piece. Make sure to leave the cat’s head sticking up so that you will see it when you open the pumpkin. Let your project dry before having lots of fun opening and closing your pumpkin.
I was looking at Halloween images on Canva and I came across these cute pictures of children dressed up for Halloween (and the cat too!). They were too adorable to ignore so I turned them into a Halloween stick puppets craft! Stick puppets are one of my go-to kids’ crafts. They lend themselves well to imaginative play. I love seeing children act out adventures with the there stick puppets! Are you ready to make your own stick puppets?
I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. I may get a small percentage of the sale if you purchase something through the Amazon link I provided. Best part, there is no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! Happy crafting 🙂
More Crafts:
Do you like puppets? My son and I think puppets are a lot of fun! We’ve made quite a few together. Check out some more of our puppet ideas:
Sing and dance along to “If You’re Happy and You Know It” Fall edition! Get ready to catch leaves, crunch leaves, and sweep up leaves in this fun fall leaf song. There are four verses to the song that will get your preschooler into the fall / autumn spirit!
Verse 1:
Fall Leaf Song
If you’re happy and you know it, catch the leaves. (clap hands)
If you’re happy and you know it, catch the leaves. (clap hands)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. (point to smile)
If you’re happy and you know it, catch the leaves. (clap hands)
Verse 2:
If you’re happy and you know it, crunch the leaves. (stomp feet)
If you’re happy and you know it, crunch the leaves. (stomp feet)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. (point to smile)
If you’re happy and you know it, crunch the leaves. (stomp feet)
Verse 3:
If you’re happy and you know it, sweep the leaves. (make sweeping motion)
If you’re happy and you know it, sweep the leaves. (make sweeping motion)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. (point to smile)
If you’re happy and you know it, sweep the leaves. (make sweeping motion)
Verse 4:
If you’re happy and you know it, do all 3. (clap, stomp, sweep)
If you’re happy and you know it, do all 3. (clap, stomp, sweep)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. (point to smile)
If you’re happy and you know it, do all 3. (clap, stomp, sweep)
I’ve gathered 20 great books featuring foxes! Preschoolers will love hearing these fantastic fox stories. These stories are perfect to read all year round. While foxes are often paired with fall decorations, I’ve also included stories about foxes in winter, as well as plenty of books that can be read anytime of year.
In this beautifully illustrated book, we meet a young fox named Fletcher who is unaware that some trees lose their leaves in the fall. Fletcher is determined to save the leaves from falling off of his favorite tree. Unfortunately each one of his ideas fail to keep the leaves on the tree. After the last leaf falls off the tree, Fletcher carries the little leaf home to his den. He puts it into a nice cozy bed for the night. When he returns to his tree in the early morning, a beautiful sight is waiting for him. His tree is covered in sparkling icicles! His tree reassures him that all is fine and that Fletcher is free to enjoy the beauty in front of him without worry for his tree. Love Fletcher? Then check out his winter and his spring stories too!
Warning, this silly, rhyming book will result in tongue-twisting giggles! The funny rhymes and bright pictures will keep preschoolers engaged throughout the story. This book is on the long side, but the silliness should keep preschoolers entertained as you rhyme your way through this one.
We love this series! Fox is hilarious and very imaginative. In this story, Fox wants to be a tiger, so he adds some stripes to his fur and sets out to show his friends, Rabbit and Turtle. Rabbit and Turtle want to pretend to be something else too. Everyone puts their imaginations to work and has lots of fun playing pretend. In the end, however, they are happiest being themselves. Be sure to check out Fox’s other stories, especially Fox Versus Winter!
This is a great book for exploring emotions. Look at each scene and think about their expressions and what they are doing to figure out each emotion. Also, each fox wears a different color, so preschoolers can practice their color identification. The story is short and packed with rhyming silliness to keep your child entertained.
In this sweet story, Lawrence and his dad head out into the woods to collect leaves for Lawrence’s show-and-tell project at school. Dad shares the names of the trees with Lawrence as the young fox collects leaves of various shapes, sizes, and colors. The beauty of nature is expertly captured in this story, as father and son take in the quiet wonder of the trees around them.
I love this this book about a mother fox who reassures who her little one that she will always be his friend. Like human children, little fox finds it hard to stop playing when his mother tells him to. He gets mad and says, “I’m not your friend anymore!” Who hasn’t heard this from their frustrated child before! Little fox has to test boundaries (and patience) before realizing that he wants to be “friends” with mommy again.
Lonely little fox decides to make a friend, but not in the way you might expect! The fox builds one out of sticks, rocks, and fruit. Unfortunately the new friend falls short of fox’s expectations as it does not move or talk. But soon, curious animals come to check out fox’s creation and help him make friends in the process.
This book had my son’s full attention! A sneaky fox is making its way to the hen house. The story starts with 1 sly fox, then shows 2 eyes, followed by 3 plump hens. My son was practically on the edge of his seat as the fox enters the hen house. The story makes it up to 10 before the fox is chased away. Phew, the hens are safe! The book ends with a disclaimer that no foxes or hens were harmed in the making of this book 🙂 This story is masterfully told with sparse, but strategic words and great pictures.
This is one of my favorite fox stories. It is a sweet story that teaches kids about how animals spend the winter. As the first snowflake falls on the fox’s nose, fox wonders what he is supposed to do in winter. The other forest animals tell him how they prepare for winter. Some fly south, others store food, and some hibernate. Unfortunately none of these ideas will work for fox. Finally, another fox comes along and shares what foxes do in winter — they dance in the falling snow! With such beautiful illustrations, kids will love looking over the pictures and seeing the two foxes twirling about in the snow.
My son loves books about parent-child relationships! In this heartwarming story, mother fox tells her young fox everything that she loves about him. Short, rhyming text with bright pictures will keep preschoolers interested. Mother fox continuously reassures her little fox that no matter the behavior or emotions her young one exhibits, mommy loves him!
Denny and Penny, two foxes, have complete opposite tastes in food. One day, Denny runs out of his favorite sweet treats and asks Penny if she has any. But Penny likes to eat fish and vegetables, not sweets. Will Denny be brave and try something new? At the time of writing this, the eBook version is free on Amazon.
This wordless picture book provides a great opportunity for children to interpret the story. In this book we see a little girl take her stuffed animals fox to school with her. On her way, a real fox takes off with her toy! She and a friend from school chase after the fox, but lose sight of it in the forest. The children stumble upon an archway that leads them into a fantastical village filled with miniature houses for the forest animals. You’ll never guess where they discover fox and the stuffed animal!
Get ready for cuteness overload! In this sweet story friends, Porcupine and Fox, explore the world around them, enjoying each other’s company. Everything from playing to enjoying a picnic is better when the person (or animal) who makes you happy is by your side. Sing-songy rhymes are accompanied by adorable pictures. This story is sure to make you say “awww, how sweet!”
My preschooler loves these finger puppet board books. Not only is the fox puppet cute, but it helps bring the book to life. The text is short, but contains great facts about foxes such as they live in a burrow and come out at night to play.
Best friends, Jasper and Ollie, set out to see who can build the best fort. Jasper, the fox, builds really quickly and soon his fort is complete. Children will laugh at Jasper zooming around and all of the pizzazz that goes into his fort. Meanwhile, Ollie, the sloth, slowly constructs his fort. It is missing all of the flashiness of Jasper’s fort, but offers a cozy spot where the friends can hangout together. The story is sweet tale of friendship as this odd-couple come together to enjoy each other’s company.
My son has become interested in detective stories and mysteries, so this was perfect for him. In this book, Fox looks out his window at bedtime and discovers the moon is missing! He jumps out of bed to investigate this strange disappearance. Turns out his friends are looking for the moon too; everyone except rabbit. They head over to rabbit’s house to find that rabbit has the moon. Read this one to find out why rabbit took the moon!
Fox discovers a radio abandoned in the forest. After some trial and error, fox and his friends get the radio to work and the forest is filled with music. The author takes the reader through a moving journey about how the power of music effects our feelings. What happens when the batteries run out and the forest is quiet again? Fox and friends begin to appreciate the sounds of nature and realize that there has always been music all around them.
When I learned that Dan Santat illustrated this story, I had to check it out. I love Dan Santat’s artistic style and the humor he captures so well in his illustrations. I was so happy to find that this story is about a father and son who use their imaginations to have an epic adventure filled with a car race, a robot squid, and lots of books! This story is funny and full of heart 🙂
Siblings realized mid-snack that they forgot their jump rope at the park. They rush back to get it, but find that foxes have discovered it and are having a great time playing with it. One of the foxes explains how she made a wish for a new game to play and then the foxes stumbled upon the jump rope! Not wanting to spoil the fox’s delight in a wish come true, the little girl lets the foxes keep the jump rope after getting a promise that everyone will play together again soon. Beautiful pictures and a thoughtful tale of sharing and kindness will make this book a great choice for bedtime stories.
The artwork on the cover of Fox and the Box had me intrigued! The story is told mainly through the pictures, with just a couple key words per page. A fox at the beach, watching all of the ships in the water, wants to turn his crate into a ship and join in the fun. Fox’s determination and wild sea adventure will delight young readers. Everyone will love the happy ending!
Please check your public library for these fox stories. If you choose to purchase them, please note that I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of my website. So if you buy something through one of my links, then I get a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! Happy reading 🙂
Paper Plate Fox Craft!
Fox Paper Plate Craft: turn a paper plate into a fox with some orange tissue paper, googly eyes, and a black pompom for a nose.
Hedgehogs are one my favorite animals, so I was excited to read hedgehog picture books with my son 🙂 Here is a list of 6 of our favorites. Some are older titles and others are more current, but we were able to find them all at our public library. Check your library for these and other great hedgehog picture books.
Jan Brett is a fantastic storyteller and illustrator! This is a funny hedgehog book featuring Hedgie, a reoccurring character in several of Jan Brett’s books. In this story, Hedgie’s friend Henny keeps getting her eggs stolen by a child. The child returns every morning to steal an egg and Henny needs help protecting her eggs. Hedgie replaces the eggs with other things to eat, such as a strawberry, a mushroom, and even a potato. Still the child keeps coming back! Finally Hedgie comes up with a great way to stop the egg thief — Hedgie hides in the chicken’s nest and gives the child a handful of prickles!
Are you ready to meet Horace and Hattie, two of the cutest hedgehogs ever!?! These two hedgehogs are best friends and love to do things together. In fact, they pretty much do everything together except hug. How are two spiky hedgehogs supposed to be able to hug each other? The two friends try all sorts of different ways (cue preschooler giggles), but nothing is working. Then, they stumble upon some laundry drying in the sun and get the best idea! Brace yourself for a super cute hug 🙂 Horace and Hattie have more adorable adventures, so be sure to check your library for the others in this series.
3. Ouch by Ragnhild Scamell (republished as Apple Trouble) —
In this story, an adorable hedgehog gets an apple stuck its back. Now hedgehog can’t fit into its den and winter is coming. The hedgehog’s animal friends try to help and get the apple off, but each attempt ends up with more things stuck to the poor hedgehog. After squeezing, and swimming, and rolling around, hedgehog and friends are running out of ideas. Fortunately, along comes a goat with a big appetite and eats all of the things that are stuck on hedgehog!
This book is perfect for fall! Friends, Hedgehog and Rabbit are enjoying the day when the wind comes through, sending leaves twirling in the air. Rabbit thinks he sees a monster! He yells and runs for safety in a hollow log. Hedgehog didn’t see anything scary, but hearing Rabbit yell, Hedgehog runs to the log too. Mistaken identities and silliness ensues as Rabbit and Hedgehog each try to scare away the monster! Despite being afraid, both Rabbit and Hedgehog muster up enough courage to help each other in acts of true friendship.
It’s time for hedgehog to hibernate, but hedgehog wants to stay awake and experience the beauty that winter brings. All of the other animals tell hedgehog about icicles and glistening snow and fun winter activities that happen while hedgehog is asleep. Determined not to miss out this year, hedgehog tries his best to stay awake with the help of a nice girl. Fortunately a snow storm comes and turns everything into a winter wonderland just before hedgehog falls asleep.
I love that this story is filled with factual information about hedgehogs! We learned that hedgehogs are nocturnal, like to eat bugs, and what they do to prepare for winter. The story itself, isn’t very long, but it is a fun read-aloud. Filled with cute pictures and lovely background colors, you and your child will definitely enjoy this book together.
Please check your public library for these books. If you choose to purchase them, please note that I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of my website. So if you buy something through one of my links, then I get a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support! Happy reading 🙂
For more fall animal stories, check out my SQUIRREL BOOKS post.
Paper Plate Hedgehog Craft —
paper plate hedgehog craft
Make this cute hedgehog and let your little one and practice scissor skills!
Supplies needed are:
–1 paper plate
–water color paints
–scissors
–googly eyes
To Make:
-Cut a plate in half. Trim one of the halves to look like it has a hedgehog profile.
-Paint your hedgehog with water colors and let your project dry.
-Kids can practice scissors skills by cutting along the outer edge of the plate to make spikes. After cutting, gently push and pull spikes to separate them.
-Add googly eyes, and then you have a cute little hedgehog.
Add some spooky STEM fun into your preschooler’s learning with this Halloween graphing activity!
Halloween Graphing Activity:
Start by printing this free template. The Halloween graphing template includes the di, colored tiles, and graphing chart. I used regular printer paper; however, if you use cardstock, then your dice will be much sturdier.
Begin by cutting out the dice. Gently fold the gray tabs inward. Then begin to fold your squares into a cube shape. Add some glue to the tabs and glue them onto the underside of the squares as you form your cube. The very last tab is hard to glue and might require tape. Once your cube is formed, set it aside to dry.
Cut out all of the colored tiles. You will have 4 of each color–red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Each color corresponds with one of the Halloween pictures. Here’s the color scheme: witch=red, pumpkin=orange, moon=yellow, Frankenstein monster=green, bat=blue, and spiderweb=purple.
Now it is time to begin Halloween graphing. Ask you child to gently roll the di. Which Halloween picture is on top? Is it a purple web? Take a tile of the same color and set it on the graph above the corresponding-colored Halloween picture. Keep rolling the dice and setting tiles in the correct columns until you reach the top of the column. Since you are not gluing the colored tiles to the chart, you can use this activity over and over again. The witch was the first to reach the top for us. Which Halloween picture made it to the top of your graph first?
Why STEM?
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. It is important to introduce these concepts to preschoolers in a fun way so that as they get older, they are excited about STEM subjects. What are preschoolers learning in this activity? Preschoolers are learning their colors (science)! They have to identify the color on the di, find the same color on the chart, and then correctly add the same color tile to the graph. Preschoolers are learning how to graph, an important math concept! Add some extra math into this activity by counting how many of each color tile is on your graph and how many tiles your have altogether. Preschoolers are also learning about engineering as they help build the di!
More STEM Activities
If your child enjoyed this graphing activity, I made a free blank di template so you can customize it with your own pictures. You can add computer images, stickers, or draw whatever you want on the dice and graph for your child to practice more graphing skills.
I’m obsessed with owls and crafts, so why not combine them into a cute pompom owl craft! This craft is fun and easy for little kids to make — all they have to do is color and glue. Print off the free owl template and then let your child’s creativity design a cute owl craft.
First print the free owl template. Color your owl completely as the background will show between the pompoms.
You can draw your own eyes or use googly eyes. Preschoolers tend to love googly eyes (my son does) and look for any excuse to use them! We found these orange-colored googly eyes at Michaels craft store.
Glue your pompoms all over the owl’s body. Mix and match colors and sizes, make patterns, and have fun using your creativity! Depending on how much glue you use, your pompom owl craft might take a while to dry.
