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One of my favorite thematic units for fall is the scarecrow unit! There are so many fun activities that can get students excited to practice literacy and math skills. In this post, I wanted to share a variety of scarecrow activities for kindergarten that you can use to put together a hands-on scarecrow unit in your classroom!
Picture books about scarecrows can be a great addition to literacy practice in your kindergarten classroom. Here are several ways that you can use scarecrow picture books with your students.
First, you can choose any picture book with facts about scarecrows for students to learn more about them! As you read the picture book, you can discuss new facts about scarecrows as a class. Be sure to add these facts to a “Can, Have, Are” anchor chart because it will come in handy for the next activities!
After learning all about scarecrows together as a class, students can fill out their own copy of a “Can, Have, Are” graphic organizer. Another great way for students to show off what they’ve learned about scarecrows is to create a scarecrow flip book and craft.
You can also talk with students about the different parts of a scarecrow by creating this fun anchor chart. Then students can create their own scarecrow mini-readers to take home.
In addition to helping students learn about scarecrows, picture books can spark discussion about problems and solutions. One of my favorite scarecrow books for this is “The Scarecrow’s Hat” by Ken Brown. While reading this clever story about a chicken going on a long journey to help solve a problem for the scarecrow, students can help you document the other problems that the chicken helps to solve.
After creating an anchor chart together, students can create their own lift-the-flap activity to go along with it!
A scarecrow with a pumpkin head might sound scary, but not for “The Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything”! Before you read the ending of this book, be sure to stop right before the old lady opens the door. You can have students make a prediction about what is behind the door while completing this lift-the-flap activity!
Another reading comprehension activity for “The Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything” is to practice sequencing. The ability to sequence the events of a book will help students with reading comprehension, oral language, and writing!
First, you can create a sequencing anchor chart to put the different items from the book in order, along with the sounds they make in the story. Then students can create their own lift-the-flap sequencing activity!
You can also bring a little extra fine motor practice with a pumpkin head scarecrow craft. These look so festive on a fall bulletin board!
The scarecrow fun doesn’t have to end with literacy practice! Your students can also practice a variety of math skills with scarecrow activities.
Could your students use more practice with one-to-one correspondence? These hands-on activities are a great way to add the counting repetition your students need. Students will love folding down the flaps as they count the crows in this activity. They’ll also be able to practice their number formation skills! You can also choose an activity that corresponds with your number of the week!
Students can also practice number formation in this fun counting mini-book with a scarecrow theme! After adding the crows to each page, they can add the number to complete the sentence.
If your students could use more practice with counting on, this mini reader is perfect! Each page has a number of crows on the picture and then students can add the extra crows needed to get to the target number. They will be so excited to take these books home to share with their families!
Students can put numbered crows in order on a fence! This activity also has space for students to write about how many crows they see on the fence.
Another math concept to practice during a scarecrow unit is more and less! You can introduce the concept by giving each student the same number of crows. The students will then glue down their crows in two separate groups, with one group having more and one having less. Then they will label the flaps with the correct word to show whether the group below the flap has more or less crows.
Once students have had a chance to explore the concept of more and less, they can complete a more and less activity where they count each group of crows, then label each group with more or less.
You can also bring the concept of more and less to name spelling practice! Each student can put the letters of their name in order and then compare the length of their name to the word “scarecrow.” This is also great graphing practice for young students!
Finally, you can also practice graphing with 2D shapes! Students can build a scarecrow craft using 2D shapes, then graph how many of each shape they used in their creations. This seasonal math craft is another great addition to your fall classroom decor!
With so many scarecrow activities to choose from, you might be wondering how to fit it all into a cohesive scarecrow kindergarten unit. I have created a resource with everything you need to have two weeks of scarecrow-themed fun in your classroom! This includes even more activities and book suggestions that weren’t included above. You’ll also find an overview of a 10-day scarecrow unit lesson plan that will help you implement these scarecrow activities in your classroom. You can also check out this post to see how I used these scarecrow activities with my kindergarten students.
You can find this resource in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Just click below to take a closer look at everything included!
I hope that these activity ideas will help you bring some engaging fall learning activities to your classroom! Be sure to add this pin to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest so you can come back to these activities any time you need them.
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!
