Literacy Activities for the Early Years

Written by Jane Welsh

Picture Puffin books provide teachers with a readily available source of materials for ‘Shared reading’ sessions and Literacy Groups. Teachers are forever searching for good literature that will be suitable for rotating group activities. The daily Literacy block puts pressure on teachers to provide exciting, stimulating tasks for those children not participating in a Guided Reading session. Here are some ideas enjoyed by many children in Prep to Year Three classes.
	The Terrible Underpants Kaz Cooke
These activities can be adapted to suit any primary grade. Ask the children to design a pair of super fantastic underpants. They can draw them or you can provide them with a template. They can then write about the special affects these undies have on their lives! They might be able to run faster, jump higher etc. Older children can design whole outfits with the same intention. They can write about the special powers or the advantages of wearing these clothes. Ask them to write a short piece that they can then use to 'spruke' their outfit to the class. Groups could be given newspaper and garbage bags and asked to make their outfits to model.
	The Jolly Postman Books Janet & Allen Ahlberg
After reading these books over a number of sessions . . . Ask the children to design their own letterhead paper and envelopes on the computer They can take digital photos of each other for 'business' cards. Have a 'Letter making box' for a Literacy group. I have pens, different papers and an envelope pattern, stamps, paper punches etc for the children to use when writing letters or cards. Brainstorm with the class or a group lists of people they could write to and why. Try to include authors, newspapers and journals. Use a mini book format for the children to write little stories or poems. It is amazing how much they love writing in tiny books! Devise a 'What are you...?' questionnaire, such as: What are you reading? What is your favourite music? What makes you sad? Where do you like going on holidays? Who would you like to sit next to on a long plane journey? The children can take digital photos of staff members and ask their questions. Make up the photo and information collected into poster form for display around the school. Most staff are very happy to participate in this fun activity however, it is always best to check first.
	A Nice Walk in the Jungle Nan Bodsworth
I use this book when I'm doing an integrated unit called Feathers, Fins, Skin and Scales. Ask the children to list as many animals as they can find in the illustrations of the book. They are then sent to research a favourite animal or group or animals. Make a python from calico. The children can paint it and use it in a dramatisation of the story. Posters from your city Zoo can be cut up, laminated and used for jigsaws. Mini facts can be collected on little cards and struck on photos of animals or if you are lucky enough, on large stuffed toys from the Zoo shop! Design a jungle menu. One group can design a menu for carnivores and another for herbivores. The children can have a jungle picnic and invite school buddies. They have to bring food from their special jungle menus.
	The Birdsville Monster Doug MacLeod
Children can design their own monsters and build it out of boxes and kitchen paraphernalia. They can write about their monster, name it and write a limerick.   These books are wonderful to incorporate into an integrated unit about ‘Our Senses.’
	Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Bill Martin, Jr
Use bear book cut-outs to allow children to write their own Brown Bear book. Photocopy bear onto brown A4 cover paper, fold in half and make a little book with white A4 paper inside. The book can be cut out to make the bear shape. Children are asked to re-write the story of Brown Bear. They can change the animals, the colours and what the animals see. Children paint or collage the animals then match the text to the paintings. The teacher types the text out and blows it up on the photocopier. Make a colour chart using the animals in the book. Children draw self-portraits. Write captions such as ‘Children Children, What Do You See?’ The children write ‘I see a __________ looking at me.’ Ask them to add a colour to give an answer such as ‘I see a blue butterfly looking at me’. And a shape to give an answer such as ‘I see a round, red beetle looking at me’.
	Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? By Bill Martin, Jr
Make animal masks or draw animal onto a card to hang around neck for role-play activities. Tape children reading and making the animal noises. Play it back for a ‘Guess the animal’ game. Ask children to paint or collage the animals for a wall story. Literacy groups can write new captions, changing what the animals might hear. Re-tape the new noises. Listen to a commercially produced ‘Sounds tape.’ Literacy groups can listen to this tape on a listening post. A ‘match the animal to the sound’ sheet or an animal bingo board can be lots of fun! Ask the children to draw or paint new illustrations to go with the taped animal sounds. Children in small groups can create a sound chant, describing the sounds the animals make. Individual books can be put together using animal shapes. Children can write about animals they know about or have seen at the zoo and the noises they make. Teachers can write the text, the children then read it and respond with an illustration. Eg. ‘I can hear an elephant trumpeting in my ear’. Children can write the text then pass the book to a partner who illustrates the text and hands it on again. They love collaborative activities. This can be done on a concertina layout.
	The Red Woollen Blanket Bob Graham
Read the book to the whole class as a daily shared reading activity. Focuses could include discussion about speech bubbles, punctuation, text placement. Ask children to write new text into photocopied speech bubbles. Find all the places in the story where speech bubbles could be used. Give the children a series of speech bubbles so that they can write pre-existing text into them. Give each child several photocopied photo frames. Ask them to draw themselves at different stages of life. They can then write captions or you can give them captions that they cut out and add to their illustrations. They can write about what they remember about their first days at Kinder, school, football club, scouts etc. Give each child a small piece of red felt. Hand out a sheet with a map or instructions. eg. Cut your blanket into four pieces. Put your name on each piece. Hide your blanket pieces in the classroom or garden. Write (for older children) or draw a map explaining how to find the blanket pieces. Partners can search for the blankets and put them back together. Discuss ‘first week’ feelings. Chart emotions. Ask the children to write about what they would have liked to have with them to make them feel more comfortable. This can be a secret story, read only by the teacher or the children can be asked whether they want to share their thoughts. A class book can be made to send to local kindergartens, outlining what the school children think the kinder kids need to know about their first week at school.
Happy Families Allen Ahlberg All the Happy Families books can be used for shared reading. They are a wonderful introduction to single sounds, alliteration, rhyming and phonic activities.
	Mr Tick the Teacher
How many words begin with ‘t’? Write them down and add to the class ‘word wall’. Children look at newspaper layouts and create their own. They become journalists, interviewing teachers in their school. They could brainstorm a series of questions to ask. Eg. what would you do if this school closed down tomorrow? Responses are written up and circulated in a class or small group newspaper. Photocopy photographs of staff members, including ancillary staff. Give each group several photos and ask them to create a dossier on each adult. You may need to give a list of prompt questions, eg. How old do you think this person is? How long has this person worked at this school? Has this person got a special hobby or pass time? What job does this person do? What is this person good at? (The children will need to ask permission to carry out this activity, they could write a letter to the Principal and the teacher concerned.) Use the Internet to contact another school in another part of the country or in the world. Each group could choose a different class to write to. Share information, projects and letters. Ask the children to write stories about their school, their families and themselves to bind into a book to send to the sister school. There are so many schools around the world wanting to become involved in this sort of project. Have a try – you’ll be surprised at the excitement generated by this long-term project.
	Mrs Plug the Plumber
This is a wonderful book to use with an integrated unit called ‘Tools for work and play.’ Try to find an old handbag or carpetbag. Fill it with different tools for children to discover, handle and discuss. Photocopy pictures of tools that plumbers, doctors, chefs, gardeners, vets, and others use. Children can label the tools or cut them out and categorise them under headings. Play ‘Describe this tool.’ Children take a tool from the bag, draw it, describe it and tell who would use it and for what job. Photocopy pictures of a ‘useful bag’ (any large bag would do) You will need one for each child in the Literacy group. Place in plastic pockets. The children choose a character, plumber, vet, doctor, teacher, chef, etc. and draw the tools that person will need. They will need to label the tools and place them in the plastic pocket. For younger children, type labels out, Children then cut them out and stick them to the tools. Give the group some homemade or used airline tickets. To make tickets, cut coloured A4 paper in ½ lengthways, cut a window in the front. Place 2 pieces of paper inside for the children to write on. Photocopy details from a real airline ticket onto A4 paper. Children fill in where they are going, how much luggage they have, what time the plane leaves etc. Children can also write lists of what they will need to take on the journey. Give each group a set of atlases. They will need to decide where they are going to travel. The children can use the index to find the correct map. They could draw the map freehand and then label it. Provide lots of travel brochures for the children to browse through. They can then design their own brochures, or travel sheet, describing the place they have chosen to travel to, their map, some cultural details they have researched and perhaps a homemade ticket. This activity could take a couple of weeks and could be integrated into a special unit.
	Mrs Lather’s Laundry
Ask the children to list all the items that the Lather family would not wash and suggest some that they might feel happier to wash. Set up a mock washing line across the room. Children cut out pairs of socks, vests, pants, tablecloths, dresses, shirts and hankies. They read the photocopied name labels and stick onto the clothes. Sing the song ‘Wet Washing Hanging On The Line’. Make a chart, cut the song up and ask the children to put it back together, in the correct sequence. Set up a water trough so that children can wash dolls clothes and hang them out to dry. Children can write bubble poems to hang amongst the wet washing. Children cut out a body and follow instructions on a procedural text sheet to help dress the body with photocopied clothes. Invite children to write a new ending to Mrs Lather’s Laundry. What happened after the six elephants?
	Mrs Wobble the Waitress
Bring a range of recipe books to school for the children to browse through. Ask children to design their own menu after reading and looking at menus collected from local restaurants. Have children illustrate and display their menus in the classroom. Give children a photocopy of a shopping list or model your own list on the board. Ask them to write a list and choose one item to cook. (This can be done at home or at school depending on the help you have in your room.) Cooking is a wonderful activity as it allows children to follow procedural text. Provide children with recipe books to use as models to write their own recipe. Encourage children to create a class recipe book to share with their parents and other classes. Create a procedural text activities book. Each page asks the children to make or do something that requires them to read and follow instructions. Eg. Make fairy bread, fold a napkin, squeeze some orange juice. Provide children with table cloth, napkins, knives, forks, spoon etc and a sheet with directions to set the table in a particular fashion. Provide them with small note books so that they can then take orders for each other using their own menus. Ask the children to suggest ways to help Mrs Wobble from wobbling.
	Miss Dose the Doctor’s Daughter
Set up a doctor’s surgery with prescription pads and play medical tools, for writing activities. Give groups a photocopy of a doctor’s bag, medical equipment and labels. Children can label the equipment and slip their work into a plastic pocket. Give each child a concertina book. Ask them to create a story with a partner about spots. The spots could be on animals, people, plants or a variety of things. Each page could be completed by a different child and then passed on. Younger children could cut out captions for their pages, for example ‘A leopard has spots’, ‘A butterfly has spots’, ‘I have spots’. They would read the text and illustrate each page. Give each child a plastic bottle. (They need to be clear plastic, specimen bottles are a perfect size!) They need to invent a medicine and write up the instructions for taking it. Eg. Fill the bottle with hundreds and thousands, smarties, jelly beans, confetti and provide a large, sticky label for the children to write their instructions. The children love to display their bottles in the classroom, some can be very inventive!
	Miss Jump the Jockey
Try using this book at Spring Carnival time. Use pictures from the newspapers of the different silks worn by the jockeys. Children can design their own combination of silk colours, name their horse and the race that they will, of course win! Tape some races to play on the listening post. Children can write and record their own commentary using their group’s horses. Design a cup and a speech to present to the winner. Have the children list pets owned by members of the class. Children can write the questionnaire and design a graph to represent their findings.
	Master Money the Millionaire Allan Ahlberg
Literacy group activities. Tell the children that they are very rich. Ask them to write down all the people that would like to help now that they are ‘rich.’ What would they buy them and why would it help? What would they buy for themselves? Would the money last very long? Older children could be given a factious sum of money and asked to buy shares, using the newspaper to ‘play’ the stock market. (this can become a wonderful Maths activity) Divide each Literacy group into two. Half will be rich, the other half will be reporters from the newspaper. Ask the children to interview the rich children. These reports could be written up and published in a ‘real’ newspaper. Questions will be brainstormed in small groups. The groups will swap so that each child is given the opportunity to write an article. Ask all the children to become kidnappers. After reading the story again ask them to write a ransom letter to the newspaper. Draw a map to show where to place the ransom. Make some ‘bank bags’ from calico. Fill them with gold, chocolate coins. Each group will be given a bag. The groups are given free rein to decide what to do with the money. eg Do they use it to buy something that could be used by all the children? Do they donate it to a worthy cause? Whatever they decide they must justify by writing . The coins can also be used for treasure hunts involving written instructions or mapping directions.
	Little Cloud Eric Carle
This is a lovely story to use when talking about the weather with small children. Take all the children outside, lie down and watch the clouds. Talk about what they can see in the clouds Talk about what the clouds look like. Back in the classroom ask the children to draw what they saw and then write about it. All children love to paint. Let them paint the clouds. Let the paintings dry then draw over them with crayon. Their writing can be attached or they can write into they painting about clouds or just the weather. Photocopy raindrops onto pale blue card. Discuss how rainy weather makes us feel. Model your own feelings about rainy weather. One of my children wrote, ‘Rainy weather makes me feel like curling up with hot chocolate and marshmallows.’ When it rained the week after I made sure we had enough marshmallows to go around! The children can write about how they feel when it rains. Hang up an old umbrella and display the raindrops falling from the spokes of the umbrella.
	Bears In The Park Gwenda Turner
Laminate the poster at the back of the book and display in a ‘Teddy corner’ in your room. Children can write invitations to their classmates and perhaps buddies to join them for a Teddy Bears Picnic. Ask the children to make a list of all the foods that they like to take on a picnic. Using procedural text cards the groups can make fairy bread, hedgehog, celery and peanut butter, fruit salad etc to take on the picnic. Ask the children to devise some party games to play with their teddies at the picnic. These can be written down and placed in a Teddy Bear’s Picnic book along with photos and stories about the event. Go on a Teddy Bear’s Picnic. Take lots of photos for Literacy group activities later in the week. Make a special book to record, food, games, photos and stories written about the happy day. A diary could be kept leading up to the day as well. Give each group a selection of photos and ask them to write captions for them. They could be displayed on an outside notice board for everyone to enjoy!
	Mr McGee and the Blackberry Jam Pamela Allen
Use this book for shared reading with a whole class Ask all the children to write a retell of the story. These can be very funny. Act out the story in small groups. Find several recipes for marmalade and different jams. Give each group a selection of recipes and ask them to make shopping lists for making jam or marmalade. Ask the children to write their own procedural text cards using the recipes. Set aside a day to make blackberry jam and homemade bread. Blackberries can be bought frozen from the supermarket. Supply shop bought strawberry jam and ask the children to write a survey about who liked which jam. This can then be presented in graph form. Talk about feeling grumpy. Model your own piece of writing, about how you feel when you get out of bed on the wrong side. Children love hearing our stories, it makes us ‘human!’ Ask them to write about their feelings, what makes them grumpy, what makes it worse, how they overcome their grumpiness.
	Don’t Forget the Bacon! Pat Hutchins
Play ‘ I went shopping’ memory game with every child adding an item. It is not as easy as it sounds! I went shopping and I bought an apple. I went shopping and I bought an apple and a pair of socks etc Ask children to write a short shopping list for their partner. It can be full of funny requests. Each child has to go away and memorize their list. Write it down, recite it, draw the items and label them. Children can create a board game to play with their group based on the oral shopping game. They move forward or back according to whether they remember their shopping list item OR it could be fashioned on supermarket shelves. The children pick up items to add to their shopping lists.
	Lucy and Tom Go to School Shirley Hughes
I have used this book with Year Two children who love to look back on their 'early school days.' After reading the book, ask the children to list all the things they remember about their first days at school. Make lists of good and bad things and ask them to write about how the 'bad' things could have been improved. Ask the children to map and label the playground for use in an 'orientation day' poster for the new children coming to the school. Groups can make booklets about starting school to read to the Pre-Prep and Prep children. They could include drawings, maps and stories about their own experiences. This is a good 'buddy' task. Ask them to re-read the book and make a list of differences and similarities with their school. Just look at the playground! This book can be used for discussions about appropriate school ground behaviour. The groups could then spend time writing a behaviour code for their classroom or if highly motivated, for the school.
	Stories From Our Street Richard Tulloch and Julie Vivas
The three stories in this book can be use separately, as shared reading material, or groups can be given the three stories to work with. Give each group a copy of a street directory. Ask them to plot their streets. They can then join the maps to illustrate their wall directions to every person's house in the class. Ask the children to take photos of the special areas in their street and build up a profile of each street for a wall display. Individual books can be made with stories and descriptions of areas of interest in their street. Go for a walk around the school area. Give the groups profiles on the different architectural styles in the area: is the area predominantly Californian Bungalow, Edwardian, pre/ post war, modern or any other style. Ask the children to list the features that they see on the houses and compare them with their own home. Photograph some different houses and ask the children to label them. Models of the houses can be made using clay, cardboard toothpicks and icy-pole sticks. Ask the children to write a questionnaire for their neighbours asking them about their favourite aspect of the street. These questions and answers can then be written up and presented to the group or class. Children can pretend that it is 100 years from now. Get them to redesign their street and write about what they see will be the differences. They can redesign the houses and the gardens, justifying why they have changed.
	King Change-a-lot Babette Cole
Ask the children to read and then write a re-tell of this story. Younger children can write about their favourite part of the book and make wall stories. Find an old chamber pot (a large bowl will do!) and ask the groups to fill it with written wishes. Groups can re-write the story, changing the characters and what they do. What else could Prince Change-a-lot have wished for? What would you wish for if you were in his shoes? How would you change the Kingdom? What sort of King/Queen would you be and why? How could you get all the 'bad' creatures to work for the kingdom instead of against it? Groups can act this story out using character boards hung around their necks instead of costumes. They can write the script as a group or in pairs and then edit it during conference time.
	A Lion in the Night Pamela Allen
A great book to help your children draw up story maps. Lots of variations can be used. Ask the children to re-tell the story using a story map. Ask them to change the characters. Why did the baby choose a lion? Ask the children to write about their dreams. Children re-read pages about breakfast with the lion and then write a list of foods that they like for breakfast. Write a menu for breakfast with a lion! Groups can play the memory game, 'I had breakfast with a lion and I ate… (each child adds a food as they go around the circle) In pairs children can give directions to their partner directing them to draw a castle. See how their listening skills improve over time!
	Bertie and the Bear Pamela Allen
Provide photocopied pictures of all the musical instruments, the noises that each made and the people or animal that made the noises. Ask the children to match them up. If you have a large classroom and some support you can give the children musical instruments and ask them to act out the story. Ask the children to re-write the story using different characters. How would the story change if Pamela Allen had used a duck instead of a bear? Who would bang the drum? It could turn into a farmyard story with a few twists. Provide each child in the group with a piece of stiff card or heavy paper. Ask them to listen to the story on the Listening Post and then draw about it. They then draw the outline of a jigsaw puzzle with thick black texta and ask their partner to put the story jigsaw back together. Keep them in envelopes for later.
Jane Welsh Jane Welsh is a Primary Teacher with fifteen years experience. She has taught all year levels but has specialised in the lower primary years. She has a Dip.Ed and B.Ed in Primary education with major studies in Language and Literature. She has been involved in the implementation of the Early Years Literacy Programme at a Victorian Private school.
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