Materials
- Freight Train by Donald Crews
- Empty boxes (cartons that held reams of paper are perfect)
- Large white paper
- Glue or tape
- Crayons or washable markers
- Hole punch
- Scissors
- Sturdy yarn or string
What to do
1. Ask the children if they have ever seen a train. Did the train have many cars attached to it?
2. Explain that trains that carry people are called passenger trains. Trains that carry things are called freight trains.
3. Show the children the book you are going to read. Tell them that the pictures in the book are so wonderful that it won a Caldecott Honor Award for the illustrations.
4. Read and discuss the book with the children.
5. Make your own freight train with the children.
6. Before this activity, cover boxes (without tops) with white paper.
7. Divide the children into small groups and assign each group a train car to make. If you follow the book's examples, make a red caboose, an orange tank car, a yellow hopper car, a green cattle car, a blue gondola car, a purple boxcar, a black tender, and a black steam engine. Encourage the children to color their train cars the appropriate color and add additional details.
8. Punch holes in the front and back of the boxes and string sturdy lengths of yarn through the holes to join them.
9. Take the freight train on a trip around the room!
-Nancy Dentler, Mobile, AL
Instructions
1. Collect enough mittens so there is one for each child. (Gather mittens from
the Lost and Found.) Hide all of the mittens. At group or circle time, recite
the following verse.
Three little kittens lost their mittens, and they began to cry,
"Oh Mother Dear, we sadly fear, our mittens we have lost."
"What, lost your mittens? You naughty kittens, then you shall have no pie."
"Meow, meow, meow, we shall have no pie."
2. Ask the children to each find one mitten. When every child returns with a
mitten, recite the next verse:
The three little kittens, they found their mittens, and they began to cry,
"Oh Mother Dear, see here, see here, our mittens we have found."
"You found your mittens, you good little kittens, now you may have some
pie."
"Meow, meow, meow, we can have some pie."
3. For snack, give each child a piece of chocolate cream pie. Ask the children to
wear the mittens as they eat their pie. (Take lots of pictures!) When snack
time is over, ask the children to keep their mittens on. Recite the following
verse:
The three little kittens put on their mittens and ate up all the pie,
"Oh Mother Dear, we sadly fear, our mittens we have soiled."
"What! Soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens!" Then they began to sigh,
"Meow, meow, meow," they began to sigh.
4. (Before doing this activity, fill large tubs with soapy water and place them outside.)
Go outside with the children and ask them to wash their mittens in the
tubs. (Hint: Use baby shampoo because of splashing.) Give the children plenty
of time to play with the bubbles they create. Take more pictures!
5. When the water time is over, give each child a clothespin to hang a mitten on
a low clothesline. As the mittens blow in the breeze, recite this verse:
The three little kittens washed their mittens and hung them out to dry.
"Oh Mother Dear, see here, see here! Our mittens we have washed."
"What, washed your mittens? You good little kittens, but I smell a mouse
close by."
"Meow, meow, meow, we smell a mouse close by."
6. Encourage the children to say the rhyme with you.
