Here are some of our favorite book Activities after reading The Golden Acorn. This book is perfect for a fall read aloud for toddlers, pre- k. kindergarten, and even firth graders. My kids loved the theme of teamwork and how the squirrel solves his problem with the help of his friends.
Find The Golden Acorn Sensory Book Activity
Materials For Tuff Tray Golden Acorn Play Idea
- Cardboard
- Blue rice
- Green chickpeas
- Golden balls/acorns (about 10)
- Leaves
- Mini tuff tray
Process for The Golden Acorn Book Sensory Tuff Tray Idea
- Create a tree from the cardboard. Don’t worry if you don’t love your design because most branches will be hidden in leaves. I used leftover cardboard scraps for the stems.
- After that, spread green chickpeas to the bottom of the tuff tray.
- Add blue rice to the middle and top of the tuff tray.
- Then move the rice to the sides as you lay down the cardboard tree.
- Next, shake the tray a little to settle the rice around the tree. If the rice doesn’t cover the top of the tree branches, they will be covered.
- Then hide golden acorns or golden balls. We used ten to then be able to do a math activity with them as they played.
- Add leaves to cover the top of the sensory bin to hide the golden acorns and cover the tree branches. My leaves came from the dollar tree, but Michael’s or going on a nature walk to pick up your real leaves would be perfect for this activity.
- Add tool bin- scoops, cups, wooden letters (lowercase would be great, I only had uppercase today).
- Have children play and find all the hidden items.
For other sensory activities, please see my other post with similar materials after reading Eric Carle books.
My kids had a blast playing a sight word game I made using essential sight words from The Golden Acorn book by Katy Hudson.
Sight Word Game after Reading The Golden Acorn by Katy Hudson
For FREE printables that go with the activities on this blog please visit my Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s page for this Book Activity After Reading The Golden Acorn.
This game is similar to the one I made for the book Silly Sally by Audrey Wood. To see those activities, please see my other post; Silly Sally Sight Word Game.
Before playing, I reminded my daughter to use resources from around the room to help sound out words; we have been using “Secret Stories” for a month now, and I am stunned by how much my child has learned. It’s not an affiliate link, but I LOVE Secret Stories!
We played many different ways to identify, read, and write sight words during this activity.
Sight Word Game Materials:
- FREE Acorn Sight Word Game Printable (ice the above link to get this free resource)
- Popsicle stick
- Hot glue
- Scissors
- Optional- Laminating pouches & laminating machine
Process to set up this activity after reading The Golden Acorn:
- Print, laminate, and cut out the Free Acorn Sight Word Game Printable.
- Attach the popsicle stick to the squirrel using hot glue. (I attached a front and back squirrel so my kids could flip it around- it also made it more durable).
- Play the game.
Game Options:
- Spread the acorn sight words around a table and call out a sight word and have your child use the squirrel pointer to slap the sight word you call out.
- Display three acorn sight words in front of your child on a table. Call out a word and have them slap the correct word.
- Try having your child call out a sight word they can read and their partner, sibling, or you have to find the corresponding acorn.
- Pick three acorns and flip them over so you can’t see the word printed on the front. Call out the word they need to find and rotate and move the three flipped cards around. Then have them guess where the correct term is located. Next, let them flip it over and check. Repeat with more words.
- Ask your child to pick three acorns and create a sentence about the squirrel in the book with these words. If possible, your child can write down their ideas on paper and draw an illustration of their sentence.
- Use the acorns as words to practice writing in sand or rice. I use a round metal tray, a foam paintbrush for this writing practice.
Here are our favorite Amazon products we used for these book activities with The Golden Acorn
I may earn from qualifying purchases through the below affiliate links. Honestly though, I just love these products and bought them for my kids. ❤️
More Autumn-Themed Activities for Kindergarten & Preschoolers
Please see my other post about fall activities for hands-on learning activities.