The importance of instilling the concept of...
Children think about what it means to be big, bigger, and biggest in this language and fine motor skills activity--a perfect fit after reading Kevin Sherry's hilarious book I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean.
What You Need:
“I’m bigger than…” Writing Page printable (Free)
Children’s and nature magazines or any other magazines
Glue
Crayons
Pencils
Trays
Scissors
What you do:
Print the I'm bigger than... Writing Prompt Page and make one copy per child. Go through some magazines and pull out pictures that represent objects and animals that are smaller than the children in your class. Place the magazine pages on trays that children can browse through as they look for pictures to cut out.
This activity is an extension activity to go with the book I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry. After reading the book to your class, talk about the concept of big, bigger, and biggest to ensure that your students know what each word means. To further enforce the concept play the following game:
Ask each child to go choose an item from the classroom and bring it back to the circle. Make sure you choose an item as well. To expedite the process, you can count down from 10 or set a timer for 20 seconds. To demonstrate the game, show your item to the class and say, “My _______ is bigger than Sally’s _______.” Have Sally return to her seat and demonstrate a second way to make the statement: “John’s _________ is bigger than my _______.” Again have the child bring their item up to compare with yours. Choose a child to come up to the front of the class and say the statement. After everyone has had a turn, dismiss children to return their items and go to the next activity.
Have children sit in a circle. Place two different balls (tennis ball/soccer ball) inside the circle. First, pass the tennis ball around the circle. Next, pass the soccer ball around the circle. Ask, "Which ball is bigger?"
Two Balls that I Once Knew
by Jolanda Garcia, KidsSoup, Inc.
Two balls that I once knew,
a big one and a bigger one too.
The bigger ball rolled to (child’s name), (roll ball to the child)
and asked can it be…
name me something that is bigger than me. (Let the child name something that is bigger than the ball.)
Review the incomplete sentence on the writing prompt page and give each child a copy. Instruct children to draw a picture of themselves in the box provided. If you have non-writers or very young children, you can adapt the activity by providing the children with printed pictures of themselves to glue in the square. You also can be a scribe for your children as they dictate their sentence.
Explain to children that they will look through the magazine pictures for things to cut out and glue to their writing pages. They will look for one or more things that they are bigger than. Present the magazine pages to them on a tray with the scissors and glue. Have them search through the pages for an item that they are bigger than. Once they have chosen an item, they can cut it out and glue it next to their drawing.
Next, children will complete their sentences by dictating or writing the words to match their cut-out pictures.
Post the completed writing pages on a bulletin board or bind them together to make a class book. Use the title “How Big Are You?”
Submitted by KidsSoup member Beth Steward.
Extension Activity:
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