Spring Activities Archives -Imaginations Running Wild-

Awesome Butterfly Stories

March 8, 2023March 8, 2023 Jennifer

Bugs are one of my favorite springtime preschool themes! Preschoolers are so fascinated by bugs in general, but butterflies are definitely a favorite! Here is a list of 10 awesome butterfly stories that are sure to please your preschooler! Check out the butterfly crafts at the end of this post for some fun things to make! Also, listen to this read-aloud to Senorita Mariposa with author Mister G: https://youtu.be/h-s4plLc1OM

10 Butterfly Stories:

1. Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert–

Lois Ehlert is an amazing author and illustrator. This is a sweet, gently story about a flower garden awaiting the arrival of the beautiful butterflies. The book uses a rhyming format to teach about a butterfly’s life cycle in short, but informative text. My son and I love the pictures throughout this book. They are so bright and vibrant! This book not only uses color well, but it also utilizes paper as an artform within the book. There is a smaller book inside the book, and less wide pages that utilize the larger pages’ artwork. — this makes reading this book more of an experience. At the end, there is a section that shows each caterpillar, it’s chrysalis, and matching butterfly. My son and I love to look at this part — it’s perfect for young entomologists!

2. Pinkalicious and the Little Butterfly by Victoria Kahn–

Pinkalicious’ teacher brings caterpillars to the classroom so that the students can watch their amazing transformation into monarch butterflies. One of the best things about the Pinkalicious stories is that Pinkalicious is always so enthusiastic about learning new things and she is full of wonderment! After making friends with one of the caterpillars, Pinkalicious learns about metamorphosis, explaining in it is preschool friendly way, and is delighted when it emerges as a butterfly!

3. Bob and Otto by Robert Bruel–

Friends, Bob (a caterpillar) and Otto (a worm) do everything together until one day when Bob climbs a tree and Otto stays in the dirt. Bob goes on to build a chrysalis and transform into a butterfly, while Otto stays being a worm. When Otto sees Bob’s beautiful wings, he begins to regret not climbing the tree and turning into a butterfly too. Fortunately Bob knows that worms play an important role underground aerating the soil so that plants and trees can grow, and he reassures Otto and that each of them are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. Not to worry, the two are still able to be friends and have lots of fun together despite Bob’s change in appearance. Overall a lovely friendship story that is filled with great science lessons!

4. Ten Magic Butterflies by Danica McKeller–

This lovely rhyming story has talking flowers, fairies, and butterflies, plus it incorporates counting! The flowers want to fly and ask the fairies for wings, so the fairies turn them into butterflies. They have a fun time flying about the night sky, but soon the butterflies realize that being themselves is best. The fairies change them back to flowers with more counting to ten and number groupings!

Check out the read-aloud with author, Danica McKellar: https://youtu.be/kBi_RoXKVo0

5. The Little Butterfly That Could by Ross Burach–

After reading about The Impatient Caterpillar who finally turned into a butterfly, now we get to read the butterfly’s story! Filled with humor and comical illustrations, readers will laugh their way through this book, while learning lots of great butterfly facts! Preschoolers will be able to relate to the butterfly’s skepticism at being able to travel so far in search of flowers as they too face tasks that seem insurmountable. But the butterfly shows up that perseverance is key in accomplishing one’s goals.

6. Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin, Jr.–

Short, rhyming text by Martin paired with Lois Ehlert’s amazing pictures, makes this book a preschool favorite! Each of the ten caterpillars have a little adventure, but it’s the tenth caterpillar that has the most amazing of all. The tenth caterpillar turns into a butterfly!

7. Butterfly Colors and Counting by Jerry Pallotta–

While there is no storyline to this book, it does have beautiful, bright pictures of butterflies! Each page has a number, a color, and a number of butterflies, making counting tons of fun. Also included are the types of butterflies depicted in each picture.

8. Bonjour Butterfly by Jane O’Connor–

Nancy and her best friend, Bree, love butterflies! In fact, they love them so much that Bree is having a butterfly themed birthday! However, Nancy isn’t able to go to the birthday party because she and her family are going out of town to her grandparents’ anniversary party on the same day. Even though she is disappointed not be with Bree, Nancy has lots of fun with her grandparents at their fancy party. The next day, Nancy’s grandparents bring her to the zoo to see the butterfly garden. There are gorgeous flowers and beautiful butterflies and Nancy gets to enjoy butterflies after all.

9. Butterfly House by Eve Bunting —

This beautifully illustrated story is filled with proper scientific terms for the stages of a butterfly’s life cycle. A young girl and her grandfather save a black caterpillar (her grandfather says it is a larva) from a bird and take it home to keep it safe. They create a butterfly terrarium for the little larva to live in while it undergoes its transformation in its chrysalis. Grandfather knows a lot about butterflies, including what they like to eat, so they head out to gather some plants. After some time, the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and it is time to release it into the wild. As the girl grows up, she remembers what grandfather taught her and creates her own butterfly garden to attract these lovely insects.

10. Clara Caterpillar by Pamala Duncan Edwards–

One day, a cream colored butterfly lays a little egg on a cabbage leaf and names it Clara. Clara is very comfortable in her egg, but other caterpillars bug her to come out and join them. A mean red caterpillar named, Catisha, picks on Clara for being plain, but Clara doesn’t pay her any attention. After a while, it is time for them form chrysalises and turn into butterflies. When all of the little butterflies emerge, Clara has cream colored wings and Catisha has bright crimson wings. The bright wings caught the attention of a crow! Clara comes to Catisha’s rescue and tricks the crow by camouflaging with some cream colored flowers. Turns out that being a cream colored butterfly is pretty great!

For more bug books check out my other posts: BUG BOOKS and LADYBUG STORIES

Check your library for these and other butterfly stories. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book through one of my links, then I may get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy Reading 🙂

More Butterfly Stuff!

–Bug Crown Craft: print and color these bug pictures and glue them onto your own construction paper crown to make a Bug Crown!

–Butterfly Note Holder Craft: Create a cute butterfly note holder on a clothespin and then write a name, a message, or draw a picture on the note to customize it.

–Mosaic Butterfly: make a beautiful mosaic butterfly from scraps of construction paper.

-Watch and learn about a butterfly’s lifecycle (5 minutes): https://youtu.be/O1S8WzwLPlM

-Watch PBS Kids’ Nature Cat and learn how to create a butterfly garden (2 minutes): https://pbskids.org/video/nature-cat/2365604474

–I Spy Butterfly Worksheet — print this free worksheet and then let your preschooler count how many of each picture they see in this “I Spy” challenge.

Animals, Spring

Bug Books

March 3, 2023March 1, 2023 Jennifer

Here are a dozen great bug books for your preschooler to enjoy! Preschoolers love bugs and exploring outside. Feed their natural curiosity with these stories about butterflies, ladybugs, ants, bees, caterpillars, dragonflies, lightning bugs, and other insects. There are so many cute bug stories available, that I made additional booklists for LADYBUGS and BUTTERFLIES! At the end of this post are some fun bug crafts that you can make at home 🙂

12 Bug Books

1. Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Green —

When my son was 3 years old, this was one of his favorite books! He still loves ladybugs 🙂 This book hits all of a preschooler’s requirements for an entertaining read–it has a rhyming story, bright pictures, and stuff to touch! The story starts with 10 ladybugs, but one by one, they wander off. Read this and find out where they are all going.

2. Leo the Lightning Bug by Eric Drachman —

This story about a little firefly named Leo who is having a hard time getting his “light” to come on. He practices and practices, only to be ridiculed by his friends. However, Leo is determined and sets out to practice again. A a storm comes and lightning strikes across the sky. Leo mistakenly thinks that he made the light!

3 A Good Place by Lucy Cousins —

Four bug friends–a bee, a ladybug, a beetle, and a dragonfly–are looking for a good place to live. Each bug has different requirements for their home. The bee wants flowers, the ladybug wants leaves, the beetle wants dead wood, and the dragonfly wants water. The friends keep trying different spots, but nothing is quite right. Will they ever find a good place to live? You betcha! Butterfly comes along and brings to an amazing garden that has everything they need. Great pictures and humor make this bug book a winner!

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle —

This story is a preschool favorite! The fantastic illustrations coupled with one of kids’ favorite bugs captures little ones’ attentions. The caterpillar eats more and more each day until it eats so much that it gets a tummy ache! Soon the caterpillar prepares for its transformation into a butterfly. Get ready to be wowed by the beautiful butterfly picture at the end. This is a must read if you haven’t read it yet. Borrow it from your local library or watch this read-aloud from Brightly Storytime Eric Carle has several other bug stories to enjoy too: The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Grouchy Ladybug, and (even though not technically a bug, but kids call spiders bugs) The Very Busy Spider.

5. Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert —

Lois Ehlert is an amazing author and illustrator! This is a sweet, gently story about a flower garden awaiting the arrival of the beautiful butterflies. The book uses a rhyming format to teach about a butterfly’s life cycle in short, but informative text. My son and I love the pictures throughout this book. They are so bright and vibrant! This book not only uses color well, but it also utilizes paper as an artform within the book. There is a smaller book inside the book, and less wide pages that utilize the larger pages’ artwork. This artistic style makes reading this book more of an experience. At the end, there is a section that shows each caterpillar, it’s chrysalis, and matching butterfly. My son and I love to look at this part — it’s perfect for young biologists.

6. The Honeybee by Kristen Hall–

This is a truly educational book wrapped up in gorgeous pictures. In this book preschoolers will learn about the importance of bees, how honey is made, and a year in the life of a bee. In addition to all of the great things your preschooler will learn about bees, this book also provides a great look the four seasons and lends itself well to conversations about changes in weather and hibernation. The end of the book provides bee facts for further discussion.

7. Ant and Grasshopper by Luli Gray–

This book has bright, exciting pictures that will capture preschoolers’ imaginations! Based on the Aesop’s Fable of the same name, this book shows that it is important to work hard and plan ahead, but that it is also important to be a good friend and enjoy some fun!

8. The Bug Book by Sue Fliess–

Preschoolers will love this rhyming book filled with fantastic, real bug pictures! Sue Fliess managed to pack a quick fact about most of the bugs into this short book. The pictures are the real seller here — children can see up close how many legs bugs have, a look at wings, and different camouflage.

9. Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner–

With bright, bold pictures and short, rhyming text, young children will really like this book! Learn the names of several different kinds of bugs and something special about each bug. I love that the end of this book sows the bugs in actual size, as well as a spread about how many legs each had, whether they can fly, and whether they can sting. This is a quick read, but be prepared to read this one multiple times!

10. Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni–

An inchworm convinces the birds not to it by proving its usefulness in measuring various parts of the birds. When the inch worm meets a hungry nightingale, the bird asks the inch worm to measure its song. How is the inchworm supposed to do that? Check this one out from your library to find out the inchworm’s cleaver plan!

11. What the Ladybug Heard by Julia Donaldson —

This is one of my son’s favorite stories! He loves ladybugs and was really excited to read this story about two robbers who are outsmarted by the ladybug. All of the farm animals follow ladybug’s plan and the two thieves are stopped! This book is so funny and has great pictures that my son loves looking at.

12. The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach —

Preschoolers can relate to caterpillar who is finding it very hard to be patient when good things are to come. This is such a funny story about a caterpillar who just can’t wait to turn into a butterfly. The book provides a good look at the metamorphosis process that caterpillars go through to turn into butterflies.

Check your library for these and other bug books. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book through one of my links, then I may get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy Reading 🙂

More Bugs!

Bug Crown: print and color these bug pictures and glue them onto your own construction paper crown to make a Bug Crown!

Egg Carton Ant: paint an egg carton and add some pipe cleaners to make your own cute ant craft.

Mosaic Butterfly: make a beautiful mosaic butterfly from scraps of construction paper.

Toilet Paper Roll Bee: your preschooler will love making this cute bee craft out of an empty toilet paper roll!

Butterfly Note Holder: Create a cute butterfly note holder on a clothespin and then write a name, a message, or draw a picture on the note to customize it.

Animals, Spring

12 Spring Stories for Preschoolers

January 31, 2023February 3, 2023 Jennifer

Spring is so beautiful with all of the greenery and pretty flowers popping up everywhere! Here is a list of 10 spring stories that are perfect for preschoolers. For more spring books that preschoolers and kindergarteners will enjoy, check out my list of BUNNY BOOKS and GARDEN STORIES to share with your little learner!

12 Lovely Spring Stories:

1. Little Blue Truck’s Springtime by Alice Schertle —

Our favorite blue truck is back in this lovely springtime book. Baby animals, green grass, and beautiful flowers are found on every page. In this gentle, rhyming story, Blue and Toad venture out on a beautiful spring day. Who do they see along the way? Open the flaps to see all of the cute baby animals!

2. Wee Little Bunny by Lauren Thompson —

A baby bunny sets out to explore on a beautiful spring day. Bunny is super busy chasing dragonflies, making new friends, and checking out the world around it. When mama bunny calls, baby bunny races home to tell mama about its fun adventure. This book is not very long and has fantastic illustrations, making it a great choice for wiggly preschoolers.

3. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Frog by Lucille Colandro —

The silly old lady gets spring fever and she begins swallowing all sorts of things, starting with a frog. After swallowing dirt, seeds, rain, sunlight, gloves, and a rake, she burps everything back up and gets a garden! With rhyming text and silly pictures, preschoolers will enjoy this book. A great look at sequencing. Try asking: What did she swallow first? What are the steps to create a garden?

4. I See Spring by Charles Ghigna —

With cute illustrations and rhyming text, preschoolers will definitely enjoy this book. This book provides a nice overview of the season. The illustrations show rainy days, rainbows, pretty flowers, birds building a nest, kites flying in the breeze, and lots of kids having fun! A quick, but enjoyable read.

5. When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes —

This book provides a fantastic look at the transition from winter to spring. Henkes is a great storyteller and his use of alliteration really captures the coming of the spring season. Adorable pictures will keep preschoolers glued to the pages.

6. Olaf Waits for Spring by Victoria Saxon–

Olaf the curious snowman from the movie Frozen, can’t wait to experience spring! His friends tell him about all of the wonderful things that happen in the spring — the ice thaws and they can go sailing, yummy fruit grows, flowers bloom, and baby animals are born! Olaf decides to sit atop a mountain and wait out the winter storm for spring to come. Fortunately, Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff come along to explain that spring happens gradually and we have to be patient.

7. And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano–

A child patiently awaits the arrival of spring. Slowly, green begins to appear outside as grass sprouts up and leaves unfold. The changing of the seasons is a time to be patient as nature slowly reveals the first shoots coming up from the seeds and the arrival of spring. There’s something really soothing about this text and with Erin E. Stead’s illustrations.

8. Spring is Here by Will Hillenbrand —

This cheerful book about friends, Mole and Bear, is perfect for preschoolers! It has lots of word repetition, short text, cute pictures, and humor. Bear is still hibernating and Mole wants him to wake up. After trying all sorts of ways to wake Bear with no luck, Mole hatches a new plan. Mole decides to bake a special treat whose alluring aroma will surely wake Bear!

9. Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring by Kenard Pak–

Kenard Pak’s seasons series is fantastic! In this springtime edition, a boy and his dog head out into wilderness to explore. They are greeted with signs of spring. Birds are chirping and ice is dripping and green is popping up all around them. The illustrations are gorgeous and show the gentle changing of the season from winter to spring.

10. Hopper Hunts for Spring by Marcus Pfister–

Author of the classic children’s story, The Rainbow Fish, brings you a new friend, Hopper the young hare. This little hare is on a mission to find spring, who he hopes will be his new friend. He looks in a hole and cave and the hollow of a tree, but he can’t find spring. Along his travels he meets new animal friends, a mole and a bear, but still no spring. Back home with his mother, Hopper learns that spring isn’t just one thing, but changes in the world around him. While Hopper didn’t meet spring in the way he thought he would, he did make new friends and get to enjoy the changing of the seasons.

11. Dr. Seuss’ Spring Things —

Thing 1 and Things 2 from Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat have a spin-off board book series. Each book features a very short rhyming story, bright pictures, and holiday/seasonal images. In this spring book, Thing 1 and Thing 2 explore the outdoors and find ducklings, baby chicks, frogs, a spring rain storm, flowers, muddy puddles, and more! Ask your child what their favorite spring thing is! Also, check your library for more Thing 1 and Thing 2 adventures.

12. The Spring Book by Todd Parr–

Todd Parr leads readers on a colorful journey through springtime. Bright illustrations show flowers in bloom, lots of greenery, animals awakening from hibernation, and babies being born. Parr briefly touches on some of the springtime celebrations, holidays, and activities such as gardening and cultural festivals. This book is a great choice for children who can’t sit still very long, as there is little text and engaging pictures.

I hope you enjoy these spring stories! Check your public library for these books and other preschool spring stories. I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. If you buy something through one of my links on Amazon, then I may get a small percentage of the sale (no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy reading

Spring Crafts:

Spring Wreath Craft: create a cute paper wreath to decorate for spring!

Toilet Paper Roll Bee: your preschooler will love making this cute bee craft out of an empty toilet paper roll!

Hatching Chick: turn an paper plate into a hatching chick craft.

Uncategorized

Awesome Vegetable Books

June 6, 2022June 8, 2022 Jennifer

It can be hard to get preschoolers excited about vegetables. Here is a list of awesome vegetable books to help your child view vegetables in a positive light.

10 Vegetable Books:

1. Supertato by Sue Hendra—

There’s an evil pea on loose and it is terrorizing the other vegetables! Who will stop it? Here comes Supertato to the rescue. No pea can match Supertato’s speed, strength, and determination! In this funny supermarket battle between the vegetables, Supertato defeats the pea and locks it back up in the freezer so all of the other vegetables can live in peace. Full of jokes, action, and bright illustrations, you and your child will enjoy reading this book together! Fortunately there is a whole series staring Supertato and his vegetable friends so the fun can continue 🙂

2. Grandma’s Garden by Mercer Mayer —

Little Critter is a preschool favorite! In this story, Little Critter and Little Sister help Grandma grow a vegetable garden. They pick their seeds and carefully plant them. Little Critter learns that plants need water to grow and that he has to keep the weeds away so that the little veggies have room to grow. Wow, gardens take a lot of work! In the end, all of their hard work pays off and they get to enjoy a yummy meal made from their garden! Like the other Little Critter stories, this one is full of good intentions gone wrong and the author’s trademark humor to leave preschoolers giggling.

3. I Will Never, Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child—

Lola is a fussy eater, but her older brother, Charlie, comes up with all sorts of funny names for the foods that Lola believes she won’t like and Lola is convince Lola to give them a try. For example, she won’t eat carrots, but she will eat orange twiglets from Jupiter! So far Charlie is able to convince her to everything except tomatoes. After trying all of the foods that Lola declared she would never eat, the only thing left at the table is the tomatoes. She points to the tomatoes and asks Charlie to hand her one. Charlie is in shock! Lola takes a tomato and says, “Moonsquirters are my favorite! You didn’t think they were tomatoes, did you Charlie?” My son loved the illustrations and the collage art style!

4. Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman–

In this short book, vegetables model an assortment of underwear. My son laughed at potato’s small undies and at the beet’s funny underwear! Everyone wears underwear, even babies, the book says. Wait a minute…babies don’t wear undies! Cue the giggles 🙂 With bright, silly pictures of veggies in undies, this book will make your preschooler laugh.

Eating the Alphabet: fruits and vegetables from A to Z

5. Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert—

We love Lois Ehlert’s books! In this yummy book, Ehlert takes the reader on a journey around the world to learn about fruits and vegetables. She includes a pronunciation guide in the back so you can look up how to say each one. As I read this one to my son, I like to say “Oh, I love broccoli” or “okra” and have him tell me which ones are his favorites to eat. This book is great for learning the alphabet, as well as incorporating some healthy eating habits.

6. Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert–

Lois Ehlert teaches young gardeners the steps to growing their own vegetable soup! With bright illustrations, and not a lot of words, this books shows the necessary tools to tend a garden, planting seeds, caring for your garden, and then harvesting your vegetables and preparing the soup! Ehlert’s art style will keep your preschooler enthralled with the garden process and pique their interest in growing their own vegetables. The book also includes a recipe for vegetable soup.

7. Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens–

A clever hare with a family to feed convinces a lazy bear, who owns lots of land for growing yummy veggies, to split his the crops in half — tops and bottoms. Bear chooses “tops,” so Hare plants root vegetables. This leaves bear with useless “tops.” Next time, Bear picks “bottoms” so Hare grows corn! The book is filled with humor and opens vertically, to better illustrate tops and bottoms.

8. The Turnip by Jan Brett—

In this retelling of the Russian folktale, Jan Brett provides beautiful illustrations and her trademark humor to tell a story of a family who grows a turnip so large that they can’t pull it out of the ground. One by one, family and friends try their hardest to free the turnip, but without success. Finally the rooster comes along and proclaims that he can get the turnip out of the ground! Out pops the turnip, but was it really the rooster who freed it? Pay attention to the pictures of the bears along the sides of the book and watch as they become the real heroes.

9. Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies by Jorge Lacera —

This is a humorous story about a young zombie who loves vegetables, not brains. The little zombie comes up with all sorts of schemes to get his parents to eat veggies! Will his parents finally try vegetables? A little bit spooky and a whole lot of fun, this book is perfect for young monster-lovers.

10. Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming —

This one of my favorite “vegetable books!” Mr. McGreely has dreamed of planting a vegetable garden. Finally, this is year that he is going to do it. Three little bunnies are excited about the new vegetables he’s growing and they sneak in to eat the yummy food each night. Mr. McGreely builds fences, walls, a moat, and finally a fortress around his vegetable garden to keep the bunnies out. It looks like the bunnies are finally locked out of the garden. Mr. McGreely does a happy dance and carries his basket into the fortress, across the moat and over the wall to pick his vegetables. But who is that hiding in the basket? It’s the bunnies! Muncha, muncha, muncha!

Check your library for these and other vegetable books. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book 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 🙂

Vegetable Worksheets:

Which ones are vegetables? Color the pictures of vegetables. Circle your favorite veggie.

2. Living or Non-living? Cut out the pictures below and then paste them either in the living column or the non-living column. What vegetables do you see?

Animals, Concepts, Math, Spring, STEM

Bug Graphing

May 17, 2022May 15, 2022 Jennifer

Add some STEM fun into your preschooler’s learning with this bug graphing activity!

Bug Graphing Activity:

Start by printing this free template. The bug 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 bugs. My printer’s ink turned out to be darker than how it looked on my screen, so the blue and purple on the bugs were a little hard to distinguish. Here’s the color scheme: ladybug=red, butterfly=orange, bee=yellow, grasshopper=green, dragonfly=blue, and ant=purple.

Now it is time to begin bug graphing. Ask you child to gently roll the di. What color bug is on top? Is it a yellow bee? Take a tile of the same color and set it on the graph above the corresponding-colored bug. 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 grasshopper was the first to reach the top for us. Which bug 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.

Check out my STEM activities: https://imaginationsrunningwild.com/stem/

Bug Stuff!

My son is really interested in bugs and I’m sure a lot of your kids are too! We have made some great bug crafts together and enjoy playing with these bug finger puppets. The finger puppets look pretty life like and allow us to exam bugs without having to hold real ones! You can your own set through the Amazon Affiliate link posted above. I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to help cover the costs of my site. If you buy a product through one my links, then I may get a small percentage of the sale at no additional costs to you.

Spring

Garden Stories for Preschoolers

April 20, 2022April 24, 2022 Jennifer

Gardens are a lot of fun to do with your preschooler. Whether a vegetable garden, a flower garden, or both, gardening takes a lot of work to get a good result. Check out these garden stories from your library and get ideas for your own gardens and see what steps are involved with creating and caring for a garden.

Seven Garden Stories

1. Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn —

I love the Lola stories! They are perfect for preschoolers because they are not too wordy, super cute stories, and great illustrations. In this Lola book, Lola and her mommy read garden poems, which inspires them to plant their own garden! They go to the store and get everything they need. Lola demonstrates what is involved with planting seeds and helping them grow.

2. Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming —

Mr. McGreely has dreamed of planting a vegetable garden. Finally, this is year that he is going to do it. Three little bunnies are excited about the new vegetables he’s growing and they sneak in to eat the yummy food each night. Mr. McGreely builds fences, walls, a moat, and finally a fortress around his vegetable garden to keep the bunnies out. It looks like the bunnies are finally locked out of the garden. Mr. McGreely does a happy dance and carries his basket into the fortress, across the moat and over the wall to pick his vegetables. But who is that hiding in the basket? It’s the bunnies! Muncha, muncha, muncha!

3. Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert —

We love Lois Ehlert’s books! They always have great pictures. In this book and child helps mom plant a flower garden in a rainbow of colors. The book shows a great step-by-step guide to the planting process for children. Once the flowers bloom, each color is highlighted in its own spread and the names of the flowers are given.

4. A Green, Green Garden by Mercer Mayer —

Little Critter learns that gardening is a lot of work! The Critter family demonstrates the steps that go into planting and caring for a vegetable garden. Preschoolers will like this short story that ends with a bunch of colorful vegetables for the family to enjoy! This book presents a nice opportunity to name the vegetables and gets kids excited about growing their own garden.

5. My Garden by Kevin Henkes —

In this fanciful story, a girl helps her mother with a garden, then the girl grows all sorts of interesting things in her imagination. She grows chocolate rabbits, tomatoes as big a beach balls, and jellybeans. And one of the coolest parts is that the flowers change colors just by wishing them to change! A nice look at what is involved with a real garden, as well as enjoyable, imaginary place.

6. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Frog by Lucille Colandro —

7. The Curious Garden by Peter Brown —

In an ugly, greenless city, a curious little boy named Liam discovers a few wildflowers trying to grow along the railroad tracks. Liam takes it upon himself to care for the plants and nurture them into a thriving garden. The garden grows restless and begins to expand along the railway. Liam tends to the growing garden throughout the spring and summer. When the snow falls, Liam uses the time to gather supplies to revive his garden in the spring. The curious garden comes back to life in the spring and begins spreading throughout the city. The plants loved all of the old and abandoned places! Soon, other people begin helping tend the garden and the city is transformed into a beautiful place.

Check your library for these and other garden stories. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book 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 🙂

Spring

Earth Day Tissue Paper Craft

April 18, 2022April 11, 2022 Jennifer

Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22. Add some Earth Day fun to your preschooler’s day with this Earth Day tissue paper craft. Ball up the tissue paper and glue in onto the Earth template!

Supplies Needed:

You don’t need very many supplies to make this! I love that I had everything on hand so we could immediately start crafting.

Earth template (free PDF)
blue and green tissue paper
glue stick

How To:

Print off your Earth template. We used regular printer paper. However, if you want it sturdier, use cardstock.

If your tissue paper is not already in small pieces, cut it into 1″x1″ squares. You will need a lot! My son and I decided to start with the water first. We both scrunched up the blue tissue paper squares together — great for preschool fine motor skills. After we had a lot of of tissue balls, my kiddo covered part of the ocean in glue and then glued on the tissue. We continued gluing the blue tissue until all of the water area was blue.

We repeated the process with the green tissue. The green areas took slightly less tissue balls than the water area. By this point, however, we were squishing them into little balls so fast! My son knows what city, state, and county we live in, but this project gave me a great excuse to talk about the oceans and the continents. I explained that we live in North America by the Pacific Ocean.

Once you have your land and oceans covered in tissue paper, let your project dry before showing it off.

Animals, Spring

Tissue Paper Sheep Craft

April 14, 2022April 9, 2022 Jennifer

My 3 year old was inspired to make a tissue paper sheep craft after reading Mem Fox’s Where is the Green Sheep? This craft is perfect for going along with sheep stories and a great addition to preschoolers’ spring craft fun.

Supplies Needed:

white paper (we used cardstock)
pencil
tissue paper
construction paper
googly eyes
glue stick

How To:

I drew a “cloud” shape on a piece of white card stock and told my son it was a sheep.

My preschooler wanted to make his sheep green, just like in the story, so he grabbed a bunch of pre-cut green tissue squares. If you don’t have the pre-cut squares, you can cut your large tissue paper sheet into 1″ x 1″ squares or tear it into small pieces. He covered his sheep shape with a glue stick and then stuck on the squares to make the sheep’s wool.

Next, I cut out 4 rectangles from green construction paper and my son glued them on as his sheep’s legs. Then I cut out a head for him to glue on.

My son loves googly eyes and always wants to use them for his crafts. He added his 2 googly eyes and called his project done. Use your creativity to give your sheep a smile or a cute little nose.

Looking for more fun crafts to make this spring? Check out my SPRING CRAFTS page.

Animals, Easter, Spring

Hatching Chick Craft

April 13, 2022April 12, 2022 Jennifer

With so many animal babies being born in the springtime, this hatching chick craft is a great way to incorporate some of that baby-cuteness into your preschooler’s activities. Use a brad to connect the top and bottom pieces of the plate to turn this into a moveable craft. Gently pull the top of your plate and watch your chick hatch!

Supplies Needed:

paper plate
scissors
yellow construction paper
glue stick
feathers
googly eyes
brad

How To:

First turn your paper plate into an egg by cutting a zig-zag line across your paper plate. Connect the two plate pieces with a brad on one side. This allows the plate to open and close so you can pretend the chick is hatching! Movable crafts are tons of fun and a great way to show “hatching.”

Next, cut an oval shape out of your yellow paper. This will be your baby chick. Glue feathers onto your chick. Our feathers were large and covered a lot of the chick so we didn’t need a beak. My son added two googly eyes and called his chick done.

Now that you chick as feathers and eyes, glue the bottom part of your chick onto the back of the bottom plate piece. Let your project dry before showing off your hatching chick craft.

For more fun spring crafts try:

Paper Plate Bunny— print off the free template, color and cut out the pieces, and glue them all onto a paper plate to make a bunny.

Mosaic Egg— use left over scraps of paper to make a beautiful mosaic egg.

Torn Paper Nest–tear up construction paper and use the pieces to make a nest.

Animals, Spring

Sheep Stories

April 13, 2022November 22, 2022 Jennifer

8 Sheep Stories

1. Baa, Baa Black Sheep by Jane Cabrera–

Jane Cabrera’s nursey rhyme books are the best! I love the illustrations, her sense of humor, and the positive portrayals of some dark stories. The sheep keeps generously giving its wool to the girl and other animals, allowing everyone to have something cozy to wear or snuggle into. Eventually, however, sheep runs out of wool. Now what is going to do? The little girl comes up with an idea to repay the sheep’s kindness. She knits a sweater for sheep to wear!

2. Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton–

This is a whimsical, humorous story about a sheep who can’t fall asleep. Russell struggles at bedtime, thinking maybe it’s not dark enough. Perhaps he’s too hot or too cold. Maybe he needs to adjust his pillow! We’ve all felt like Russell at some point. Finally Russell decided to count things in hopes that he falls asleep. Hmm, what should Russell count? Why sheep, of course! This does the trick and soon Russell is fast asleep.

3. Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep by Eric Barclay–

This book is so funny! My son and I just cracked up reading it. This book is about a whimsical, but clueless sheep and the sheepdog who tries to protect her. Sheep is a self-declared expert at watching sheep. When the dog arrives to take over the position, sheep decides to help sheepdog do the job properly. Sheep pins back the dog’s hair from its eyes, finds some binoculars, and gets a map. While sheep is being “helpful,” the dog has to save her from predators, as well as her own mishaps because she is not paying attention. After both go through so much trouble to help the other, sheep realizes that she is NOT a sheep watching expert. What is she supposed to do now? Dog suggests that maybe sheep is dog-sheep. Of course! Everyone knows that sheep is an expert at watching dogs.

4. Sheep in a Jeep 5-Minute Stories by Nancy Shaw–

My son loves all of these sheep stories. His favorites are “Sheep Take a Hike,” “Sheep Blast Off,” and “Sheep Go to Sleep.” Each story is silly and the sheep always seem to accidently cause trouble! Preschoolers can relate to good intentions going wrong. Get ready for lots of giggles as you read this set.

5. Time for Bed by Mem Fox–

Although not a book solely about sheep, I had to include this beautifully illustrated and rhythmic bedtime story. Darkness is falling, the stars are out, and its time for young animals to go to bed. The term for each baby animal is given as each little one snuggles in with a parent. In this sweet book, the parents provide love and comfort and wishes for sweet dreams to each animal. The story ends with a mother putting her child to bed. Good night.

6. Wee Little Lamb by Lauren Thompson–

Little lamb is just a baby and too shy to leave its mother’s side. Preschoolers will be able to relate to the longing to try something new and the trepidation that often comes with venturing out on one’s own. Little lamb meets lots of animals, but isn’t ready to go off and play yet. It’s okay to do things are your own speed and comfort level. When a little mouse and its mother come along, little lamb finally feels brave enough to step away from mom and play with its new friend!

7. Where is Green Sheep? By Mem Fox–

Preschoolers will love this rhythmic story featuring lots of fun sheep. They’re swinging and sliding, playing and traveling, near and far, and some are even in space! But where is the green sheep this whole time? Read this one and find out! My son loves this book and says that you have to check it from your library because it is so good 😊.

8. No Sleep for the Sheep by Karen Beaumont —

In this silly story, poor sheep is trying to sleep in the barn, but all of the other animals are noisy. One by one, they all come to the barn quacking, mooing, neighing, clucking, and oinking while sheep is trying to sleep. Preschools will enjoy the rhymes and the funny illustrations of sheep growing more and more exasperated with each new visitor. Check this one from your library and find out if sheep ever gets to sleep!

Check your library for these and other sheep stories. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book 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:)