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If you’re looking for a fun way to keep your students excited about literacy and math practice, consider a fairy tale unit study! The engaging stories provide inspiration for a variety of skill practice. In this post, I’m going to share some Jack and the Beanstalk activities for kindergarten that you can use for a fun unit study!
As you read and reread the story of Jack and the Beanstalk as a class, students can complete different pages of a story elements printable book.
They can identify the characters, setting, and sequence of events.
Plus, they can learn more about cause and effect and also identify the problem and solution from the story.
After documenting the story elements in a printable book, students can practice their retelling skills using fun visuals! Students enjoy coloring and using the pieces to retell the story.
Another fun way to retell Jack and the Beanstalk is by breaking it down into events from the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Students can assemble this 3D craft and refer to it when retelling the fairy tale.
Understanding the difference between reality and fantasy is an important comprehension skill for young learners. This engaging picture sort encourages students to sort objects and people from this fairy tale into categories of real or fantasy.
An important comprehension skill is making predictions while reading. This lift-the-flap activity encourages students to think about what Jack will find at the top of the beanstalk.
Since there are so many different versions of fairy tales, it’s a great opportunity for students to practice comparing different stories. A second version of Jack and the Beanstalk that I love to read with students is “Trust Me, Jack’s Beanstalk Stinks” by Eric Mark Braun. This story is written from the perspective of the giant.
After reading this second version of the fairy tale, students can complete a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the stories.
Students can also decide which story was their favorite and create this adorable book craft! These look great on a bulletin board and students are always so excited to read what their classmates wrote.
If you’d like to add some additional sight word practice to your literacy routine, this magic beans game is a great option! Students will take turns choosing a bean from the bag and will then read the word on the card. If they draw a card with a giant on it, students will return all of their beans to the bag.
After reading Jack and the Beanstalk, it’s always fun to ask students if they would rather have magic beans or money. Students can write their answer and create a corresponding craft.
Another fun writing and craft activity has students write about what they would find at the top of the beanstalk. Students can draw themselves climbing the beanstalk, or you could add a student photo for an adorable final touch. These writing assignments are perfect for an interactive bulletin board!
Finally, your students can each create a page for a class book. They will write and illustrate an answer to the question: What would you buy with Jack’s magic beans?
Magic beans can make a great nonstandard unit of measurement! Students can measure a variety of objects with a strip of magic beans.
Your students will also have fun measuring and comparing their own hands and feet with a giant’s hand and foot. They can use blocks to measure and then color in the results on a recording sheet.
If your students could use additional practice with 2D shapes, they will love these fun shape castles! After creating a castle using 2D shapes, they will count and record how many of each shape they used.
Roll and cover games are always a fun way to help students practice counting and number recognition. They will get plenty of counting practice as they keep rolling until all of the numbers on the beanstalk are covered.
This fun activity incorporates counting and predictions! Students will predict how many apple jacks it will take to build a beanstalk. After they build it, students will count the cereal and compare it with the prediction they made.
The discussion of choosing between magic beans or money can also be incorporated into math practice.
Students can add their choices to a class graph, then graph and interpret the results on their own individual recording sheets.
This fun board game is a great way to practice a variety of skills! Students will move their pieces up the beanstalk toward the giant’s castle.
The playing cards can be customized to practice whatever skill you’d like to target. For example, there are sight word cards, addition problems, alphabet cards, and more.
A Jack and the Beanstalk unit wouldn’t be complete without a treat of magic beans! Just place some colorful jellybeans in a plastic bag with this fun bag topper.
Your students will be so excited to take their treats home! This is a great way to encourage students to use the story vocabulary and their retelling skills to talk about this fairy tale at home.
I have compiled all of the activities shown above (and more!) into a fun Jack and the Beanstalk unit for kindergarten. It is full of hands-on activities that will keep your students engaged in literacy and math practice. This resource also includes a unit-at-a-glance PDF that outlines how you can use these activities over the course of ten school days!
If you’d like to take a closer look at this resource, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT.
Be sure to save this post so you can find these activities when you’re ready to plan a Jack and the Beanstalk unit study. Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest!
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
