Fountas & Pinnell Blog

Choose a classic fairy tale. Brainstorm ideas for a new solution and ending to the story. Ask the child to create the alternative ending through writing.

Instruct the child to write lists of animals. Discuss the lists together, focusing on the features of the animals. Look for patterns within each category such as color, size, and traits like legs, tails, wings, etc.

Play the game Sunshine and Clouds with the child. At the end of the day, share your "sunshine" moments, or positive experiences, and your "cloud" moments, or negative experiences.

Share with the child the classic nursery rhymes of the three little kittens, the three little pigs, and the three billy goats gruff. Have the child create their own illustrated animal tale using the number three.

Ask how other animals move, and have the child suggest movements for each (for example, slither like a snake, hop like a bunny, waddle like a duck, pounce like a tiger).

Discuss with the child different situations in which they might feel sad, lonely, scared, or angry. Ask: “When you felt that way, what made you feel better?” Talk through the child's responses together.

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Read a story and ask the child to create a picture card for each major character. Have the child retell the story using the picture cards as an aid.

Have the child write down, “I feel happy when:" They can fill the page with words or pictures of the people, places, things, and actions that make them feel happy. Continue the exercise with other emotions.

Talk with the child about some of the animal homes with which they are familiar. Using craft supplies, have the child create an animal home, like a nest or barn.

Play with perception and imagination in drawing. Work together to turn a circle into the wheel of a truck, or turn a triangle into the tip of a rocketship.

Talk about the way an illustrator or artists uses drawing to show their thinking on paper. Have the child look carefully at an object and talk about what they notice. Then, gather art supplies for the child to draw the object.

Choose a few songs that your child knows by heart and sing them together. Point out the rhyming words, and ask the child to think of other words they know that sound the same.

Talk about the different sights and sounds you might discover on a farm. With a variety of found objects of different shapes and sizes, work with the child to represent the elements of a farm -- like a barn, animals, a pond, paths, etc.

Brainstorm books in which the illustrations help to tell the story. Gather art supplies and invite the child to create pictures to tell a story of their own.

Discuss with the child the different animals you might find on a farm and the way these animals move. Create a set of movement cards with each card showing a different farm animal. Pull a card from the pile, read it out loud, and have the child perform the movement.

Ask the child to write out instructions for how to make a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. Prompt them to list the ingredients needed and the step by step instructions.

Talk with the child about the different types of media that artists use when illustrating books. Share some examples of different styles. Ask the child which style they like best, and why.