The Scarecrow's Hat by Ken Brown is a new favorite of mine. This little red hen sees something she needs and goes about making clever deals until she gets what she wants. You go girl! This will be the anchor book for September at Play Parade.
Anchor Book
With REAL Time Book
(Read - Explore - Ask - Learn)
Story Boards
The Scarecrow's Hat
The characters in the story before and after the swap. The Littles retell the story with the help of these props;
Life Cycle of a Chicken
I allow the Littles to practice which came before the roast chicken.
To go with the story of the little red hen
The Littles use the felt board pieces to help retell the story. These characters are clip art and graphics printed from the internet, laminated, and have a little piece of self-adhesive Velcro affixed to the back. Easy peasy!
Outdoor Play
Build a bird nest with sticks, leaves, and whatever's lying around using your beaks! Well, maybe not your beaks. We have outdoor pillows supplied for reading under the tree. The littles took the pillows and made a human nest. This could be fun indoors as well. Each Little take a few pillows and blankets and build a nest in a corner for quiet reading.
Don't forget to make the old stand-by pinecone bird feeders for the school yard and for each to take home. When the Littles are outside they can watch what birds come to eat their treats.
In the Classroom
Add a barn and some animals to the block area of the classroom. Have children build fences or even a barn for the animals. Be sure you've got chickens! Add hay and sticks for the chicken coup.
A few flannel shirts and straw hats will dress your little scarecrows up right!
Math
The Littles love counting games. Here's a simple one. I searched "corn field graphics", copied it and pasted it into a draw program. I again I laminated it. I laminate everything. Then I cut triangles (not very good ones but it doesn't matter) to represent crows. I also put googly eyes on them because they are more fun that way. Each child takes a turn rolling a die. Then they remove the same number of crows as is on the die. Easy as that. For older children I increase the difficulty. I use this fancy eight-sided die and to make it really interesting, at the end of the game they must roll the exact number on the die as crows left in the field.
Counting games with natural elements are always special. This one is a borrowed picture off the internet of a huge oak tree printed on a full sheet of paper and laminated. I titled mine but it's not necessary. "Counting Acorns" uses real acorns and might help the littles associate acorns with oak trees, yes, acorns are oak seeds. Surprising how many of the parents did not know where to find acorns when I asked if anyone could bring me some.
Simply lay the acorns at the base of the tree. The Littles take turns rolling the dice and picking up that number of acorns. When the acorns have all been retrieved the game is over. The winner might be the one that has the most acorns at the end of the game. The real winner is the one that can count all of his acorns!
Art
Scattered Scarecrow
I covered reclaimed cardboard (i.e., cereal box, pizza box) with burlap with Elmers Glue All. I recommend doing this in advance and giving it time to dry. Day one I laid out pieces of checkered fabric and pieces of denim cut from sacrificed jeans. Best to let this layer dry well before proceeding. Day two I offered the Littles straw, buttons, felt bats, pumpkins, spiders, and such. Each child got to place a hat and two bowls of cotton. I added googly eyes to each project. I'm sneaky that way.
Corn cob painting!
The Littles took a few dried corncobs, rolled them in paint then rolled them on paper. Later we will cut them into the shape of a corncob, added some silk (yarn or string), and some husks out of tan and green construction paper. Hope to have a picture later.
I bought little hats at Hobby Lobby. They are doll size, If I cold have found child size hats we would have decorated them as a scarecrow's hat. Now I have to decide if we decorate them as hats or turn them over and build nests. Stay tuned.
They're precious!
Sensory Bins
This one is birdseed, I think the cardinal mix with sunflower seeds, corn kernels, peanuts, and more. I've added fake fall leaves, tiny plastic acorns and pumpkins, farm animals, a farmer, tiny bales of hay, a tractor, real acorns, a scarecrow, and of course, "The Great Pumpkin".
The second one starts with hay. I've added a farmer and animals, a small tractor and barn, little pumpkins and hay bales, and some leaves.
Music and Movement
Just for fun, listen to some bird sounds HERE.
Create a Game!
I call these mixed-up scarecrows.
Copy and paste several scarecrow graphics from the internet to a draw program. I put two per landscape page. Print them on cardstock and cut them out severing the heads and torsos. Wait, I mean separating the heads from the shirts and the shirts from the pants. I laminated mine at this point. Put the fuzzy soft side of the Velcro on craft sticks (large tongue depressor size) and the rough side of the Velcro to the scarecrow parts. Note: a tiny piece of Velcro on the scarecrow parts is easier for the Littles to separate. Almost totally covering the craft sticks makes it easier for a child to place.
Let the Littles build their own scarecrow from parts. I'm working on a game to use these with. A flannel board may be used in lieu of craft sticks.
I have it! A game board for the scarecrows!
Printed on two pieces of paper, laminated, then taped together on the backside so it can be folded to put away easily, this game board has few rules. The Littles roll the die, count that number of spaces around the path using farm animal toys (or anything). If they land on a scarecrow part, they take that part from the pile. If they land on a shirt, they take a shirt (or for older children that exact shirt), if they land on a head, they take a head. if they land on a hay bale or if they already have the part they land on, their turn is done. The Little that completes her scarecrow first wins!
Add on Book
Mrs, Wishy-Washy's Farm
Read the book and scrub all those dirty farm animals! All you need is a tub or a few, some soap, and scrub brushes.
I should have brought out the dirty dishes!
We wishy-washied Tallulah too!
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