Picking blueberries turns out to be more complicated than Little Sal and Little Bear’s mothers thought. After several mix-ups, the right child ends up with the right mother, and everyone has enough blueberries for winter. This Caldecott-honored book tells a timeless story with charming illustrations and simple text.
1. WATCH and LISTEN to “Blueberries for Sal” by Robert J. McCloskey from Reading is Fundamental:
2. Sing a song: The Bear Went Over the Mountain
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
To see what he could see.
And all that he could see,
And all that he could see,
Was the other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
Was all that he could see.
Watch here to learn the tune: The Bear Went Over The Mountain
3. Click here to find a word search and other activities at Reading is Fundamental.
4. Letter recognition: B is for BEAR and B is for BLUEBERRIES.
- What other words start with the letter B?
- Can you practice writing your letter B?
- Try a capital B and a lowercase b.
5. Literacy tip: a fun way to work on letter recognition and build fine motor skills is to use play dough to make the letters of the alphabet.
- You could roll out a sheet of play dough and use toothpicks to make letters.
- You could roll the play dough into thin ropes and shape those ropes into a letter.
- Can you use play dough to make the letter “B”?
6. Pick your own blueberries scavenger hunt! Parents, want to keep the kids busy for a little while? Use blue construction paper (or print blue circles) and cut out a dozen or so circles to represent blueberries. Hide them throughout the house and send the kids on a scavenger hunt. You could make it a cooperative game by writing a letter on the back of each circle, so that when the circles are all gathered together, the kids have to unscramble the message. It could be as simple as “I love you” or “Please pick up your toys!”