Favorite Books and Crafts - With Free Templates!

I've got a super fun project to show you today for the Back to School Event!

 The past couple of weeks have been our first weeks of Kindergarten. We've been working hard on how to follow the rules and learn school procedures, learn our names, and have been getting to know each other. One of the things I love to do those first few weeks is share my favorite books with my Kindergarten students and then let them make something that they can take home to help them remember what we read together. Making some sort of craft after reading a story can really bring that story to life for lots of kids. 

Even if you don't have a classroom, these are SO easy to do at home with your kids, too! I created all the templates for these usually the morning right before school so they are nowhere close to perfect, but they work fine for kids' crafts. Please use them for your own personal use. 

First up:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Craft

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Craft Template 

 There can't be a person in this world who doesn't love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. It's a Kindergarten staple and we read it in my classroom so many times my kids memorize it. You can also get this book on DVD, too. The "movie" is precious.

Since we've been working a lot on our names, I wanted to add in practice on that skill to this craft. 

 I have actually seen this saying at the bottom on some other teacher blogs, but I couldn't find a document for it so I just wrote one up really quick. There is a his and hers version.

(If someone finds one or if you are the original creator of this idea, let me know, and I'll link back to you!)

For this craft, the only extra thing you would need is your child's name cut out in pieces so they can place it in order and glue it on the leaves. 

For all crafts like these, I simply copy the templates onto construction paper on our copier at school, but if you are doing these at home, you could always print the templates on card stock and trace them onto the correct colors and then let kids cut them out. 

 If you have not read this book, go do that immediately. So sweet. 

Want some more activities to go along with this book?

Create some fun Felt Board pieces to retell the story and sew a Travel Felt Board!

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Craft

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Craft Template

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (and the rest of the "Pigeon books") by Mo Willems have got to be some of my favorite books. They are SO funny and the kids get to interact with the stories which make them even more involved in the story when it is read to them. 

For this craft, the students have to draw on the wing, the legs, and the eyeball (black circle) with a black crayon or marker. 

 Illustrators amaze me. 

Again this book was made into a DVD. Hilarious.

Watch it here. 

If You Take a Mouse To School Craft

 Mouse Craft Template

We read If you Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff and then made this super easy mouse craft. 

image source

The only extra thing the kids have to do for this craft is draw on the whiskers with a black marker or crayon. 

Wheels on the Bus School Bus Craft

Bus Craft Template

Bus template adapted from here

I found this sweet little board book: The Wheels on the Bus by David Ellwand at our local discount store, Ollies (my favorite stop for the BEST cheap children's books) and it is SO cute. 

So cute. They loved singing with it. I love all books that you can sing, too. If you look on the right side of this book it has a little speaker that plays the melody of the song when you push it. The room never got so quiet when I get ready to push that button. Ha. 

As you can see in the picture of the craft above, there are cats drawn in the window. We also read Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes this day and tied both books to our craft. If you just read Wheels on the Bus  or sing it and just want to make the bus craft, you obviously don't need to draw the cats. We also added a the front grill/bumper lines, front and back lights, and stop signs (all the kids' ideas).
Pete the Cat School Bus Craft

 Bus Craft Template
Bus template adapted from here

Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean is one of my new favorite stories. The rest of the Pete the Cat books are equally precious. I can't wait to share these stories with my class. This book is already a class favorite. 

 We may have read it almost every day since school has started. :)

I hope you've enjoyed these books as much as I have and will enjoy the templates to make the crafts. I hope you're inspired to create with your kids as you immerse them in great literature. 

Go see the rest of the Back to School projects here!

Go link up YOUR Back to School or school-themed projects here.