Blog

n

Get inspired by these literary activities and incorporate them into your lesson plans!

There are so many great books out there for kids and teens. With many classics being read and taught in schools, try incorporating some of these awesome book-themed activities & reading strategies to get kids engaged with what they’re reading. Who knows? You may help spark a student's love for reading with some of these reading & literary activities.

For Preschool

1. Goodnight Moon Sensory Bottle

Make a "Goodnight Moon" sensory bottle! This simple project is a great way to get your toddler interacting with books and will give them something fun to associate with one of their first books. This is a great project for the classroom because these materials are easy to acquire and more affordable in bulk!  Head to The Pleasantest Thing to learn more about this craft!

3. Press Here Movement Game

For your young readers who are always ready to get moving, try out this fun game movement game after you read the book! All you need to play are colored construction paper (cut into circles) and your classroom of eager players. You can play this literary activity indoors, or even take it outside. There's plenty of room for creativity! Learn about this game on Homegrown Friends.

for Kindergarten

3. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Bottle

Using alphabet beads and pipe cleaners, your students will spell out words from "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" and drop them in their Mrs. Butterworth's bottle. After you finish reading the book with your class, your students can see everything their “old lady” swallowed in their bottle! This is the ideal project for children who are learning how to spell and read. See this book-themed activity in action on Housing a Forest!

4.  Activities & Art Project

There's a huge list of fun Rainbow Fish activities to choose from here, but our favorite is project #3 — the tissue paper project. If your kids like getting a little messy and having lots of fun with color, this project will be a huge hit! Best of all, after you finish the craft, all of your students will have their very own fish friend to read "The Rainbow Fish" with. Get the instructions on Feels Like Home!

for Elementary School

5. 3 Pete the Cat Activities

For elementary grade level, you can make the popular "Pete the Cat" series come to life with bouncy popping buttons. The very first craft on Lalymom's 3 Pete the Cat Activities list, the popping buttons are easy to make and fun to play with. They really get their “groove” on when they’re bounced up and down!

6. Fairytale News Story

This project is great for getting kids thinking critically about what they’re reading. Using "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" as inspiration, have the children pick their favorite fairytale book. Using that book, have them create their own “true story” or a news story from another character’s perspective. See this lesson plan on Education World.

for Middle School

7. "Island of the Blue Dolphins" Travel Guide

A great way for students to take a creative look at this book is by creating a travel brochure of the island. They can use both their own understanding of the novel, as well as how they envision the island, to create a view of the island that is uniquely theirs. This project allows students to not only write about the books, but also use creativity to illustrate their imagination! Learn more about this enrichment activity on TeacherVision.

8. "Because of Winn-Dixie" Book-themed Movie Night

Having a project and a themed party to go along with this book makes the story exponentially more memorable. After reading "Because of Winn-Dixie," students can draw select scenes from the book onto paper that looks like a film strip. Cutting a square out of cardboard, students can then pull their film strip through each section and explain their artistic interpretation. Then, celebrate by eating food from the novel and watching the movie!

for High School

9. What's in a Name? "Animal Farm" Activity

While projects for high school students can’t be filled with pipe cleaners and cotton balls, they can still be fun and challenging! For the classic "Animal Farm," students can learn about the novel’s allegories by using a worksheet to compare characters to their real life counterparts. This will not only help them engage with the novel, but also delve into the historical figures the animals represent. Get more book-themed activity ideas from EDSITEment!

10. Scarlet Letter Alphabet Book

Here’s a great project for the student who still loves crafts! Students will recall their early days in school when they create an alphabet book tracking the themes in "The Scarlet Letter." Each page featuring a letter of the alphabet is an opportunity to chose a word or phrase beginning with that letter that corresponds to major elements or plot points of the novel. Students can also decorate and illustrate the entire book! Find more project ideas for the classic here.

Get more lesson planning tips and resources!

For more lesson planning ideas and tips, download our free lesson planning eBook! Packed with 8 printable templates, tips from teachers across the country, and direct links to lesson plan databases, this is the only lesson planning guide you'll ever need.

This post is a part of BookPal's 2015 Summer of Literacy. To support literacy education, BookPal is hosting book giveaways and providing exclusive teaching materials to our social media followers from July 1 through September 16. Learn more about the program and access our free materials by visiting the main webpage here.