The Little Red Hen Preschool Activities and Crafts

The Little Red Hen Activities

Caution! Please check if any of the children in your care have gluten allergies before making some of these activities.

Before Reading

Introduce The Little Red Hen puppet to the children. (Craft description and patterns available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library)

Preschool Activities: 

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Explain that you will read a story about The Litte Red Hen and her friends. In advance place a small bread inside a paper bag. Show children the bag. Let children touch and feel the bag and smell what's inside. Can they guess what's inside the bag? Take out the bread. Ask children if they like to eat bread and if they know how bread is made.

Show children a stalk of wheat, some wheat seeds, and some products made from wheat, or pictures of the items. Ask children to share ways they think the grains of wheat eventually become bread.

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

Explain that it takes a lot of time and hard work to get from grain to bread. Talk about the process of planting, harvesting, and the final product, the baked good. Read the book The Little Red Hen to the children.

Read the story of The Little Red Hen. (Booklet and puppets available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library)

Preschool Activities: 

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After Reading

Review the story and place the pictures from the story in order on the board or on a table. Talk about what happened first, then, next, last, etc. 

Preschool Activities: 

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As each picture is added to the sequence, sing the appropriate verse of "The Little Red Hen's Song" below:

Song and Movement
Children pretend to be the little red hen and make the matching movements together.

The Little Red Hen Song
(Melody: Here We Go ‘round the Mulberry Bush)

First, we gather the seeds, cluck-cluck
the seeds, cluck-cluck
the seeds, cluck-cluck
First, we gather the seeds, cluck-cluck
so early in the morning.

Then, we plant the seeds, cluck-cluck
the seeds, cluck-cluck
the seeds, cluck-cluck
Then, we plant the seeds, cluck-cluck
so early in the morning.

Then, we cut the wheat stalks, cluck-cluck
the wheat stalks, cluck-cluck
the wheat stalks, cluck-cluck
Then, we cut the wheat stalks, cluck-cluck
so early in the morning.

Then, we carry the wheat to the mill,
the wheat to the mill,
​the wheat to the mill.
Then, we carry the wheat to the mill
so early in the morning.

Later, we make bread dough, cluck-cluck
a bread dough, cluck-cluck,
a bread dough, cluck-cluck.
Later, we make bread dough, cluck-cluck
so early in the morning.

Then, we bake the bread in the oven,
bread in the oven,
bread in the oven.
Then, we bake the bread in the oven,
so early in the morning.

Last, we eat the yummy bread,
The yummy bread,
the yummy bread.
​Last, we eat the yummy bread,
so early in the morning.

Extension Activities

Science Exploration:
Investigate wheat seeds and wheat stalks. Provide magnifing glass.

Find wheat seeds in dirt using a magnifing glass.

Little Red Hen Story Re-telling

Provide wheat seeds, wheat stalks, small bags with flours, brown play dough and some dirt. Let children use The Little Red Hen puppets to re-tell the story or create their own The Little Red Hen and Her Friends stories.

Preschool Activities: 

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Preschool Activities: 

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Preschool Activities: 

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The Little Red Hen Math Activities

Little Red Hen Planting Wheat Activity. (Counting and fine motor skills.)

Preschool Activities: 

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Little Red Hen Bread Shape Sorting Activity (Shapes recognition)

Preschool Activities: 

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Little Red Hen +1 Game (addition)

Preschool Activities: 

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Little Red Hen Numbers (Number sense)

Preschool Activities: 

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Literacy

H for Hen Letter Exploration Mats (available inside our ABC Twiggles Program)

Preschool Activities: 

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The Little Red Hen B for Baking Bread Game

Preschool Activities: 

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Craft

Salt Dough Breads

Research some different kinds of breads. Set up a baking station. Let children form breads, buns, croissants, or cinnamon rolls (Let children roll the dough into a long snake shape and roll into a spiral. Provide cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes. Use dried bakery items in your pretend bakery store for sale. 

What you need:

Bowl
1 cup flour
1/2 cup Salt
2 tbs vegetable oil

To make the dough place a bowl of flour, a bowl of salt, and a bowl with water on a table. Provide measuring spoons, small plastic bowls, and plastic forks. Demonstrate to children how to make a salt dough. In a small bowl let them use the measuring spoon to add 2 scoops of flour and 1 scoop of salt into a bowl. Let them stir the salt and the flour with the fork. Then, add 2 spoons full of water to the mixture. Let children use their hands to mix the dough. (Option add a small amount of oil to the dough. This will make the dough smoother.) Let children form the dough into different breads. Place them on a cookie sheet to dry. To speed up the drying time place the salt dough breads in the ofen on low heat. Usualy it takes about 3 hours at a low heat so they don’t burn. Let children paint the breads and sell them in their pretend bakery.

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

Let children sell the bread in their pretend bakery shop.

Circle Game

What's inside the Box? (Baker tools vocabulary, oral language, sensory)

In advance place baker tools inside a box (rolling pin, measuring cup and spoons, spatula, wooden spoon, cookie cutters, bowl,etc.)

Invite one child after the other to come to the box and take out one item. Let each of the children hold the item. Name the item and discuss what each tool is used for. Place the item in the middle of the circle.

What's missing?

Choose four to five items. Ask children to cover their eyes and remove one item. What tool is missing?

What's inside the box?

Ask children to cover their eyes. Place one item inside the box. Invite one child to feel the item inside the box without looking. What tool is inside the box?

Continue until all children had a turn.

Snack

Little Red Hen Bread Snack (Instructions and recipe available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library)

Preschool Activities: 

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The Little Red Hen Books

The Little Red Hen	The Little Red Hen	The Little Red Hen	The Little Red Hen (Makes Pizza)