Preschool Lesson Plans: The Little Red Hen

The "Little Red Hen" is an English folktale that has been passed down for many generations. It started as a tale told by storytellers and it is believed that Joseph Jacobs was the first to write and publish this story in the late nineteenth century. Through the years, many other writers and artists have documented versions of the story.

This story is about a little red hen who grows grain, threshes wheat, bakes bread, and feeds her chicks-all by herself, without any help from her lazy barnyard friends. After reading, start a discussion with your group about the events in the story.

1. Use the repetition of the story and have children participate in role-playing by using animal puppets and/or felt board characters.

2. Start some basic discussion about the process of planting, harvesting and the final product; the baked good and how important it is to eat wheat and other grains. If possible, have a stalk of wheat to show (found at craft stores).

3. Emphasize that 'sharing and helping' is good. How would the story have changed if all the animals helped the hen?

4. Cooking: Bake bread in the oven or in a bread machine if available. Children can help measure the water, flour, etc.

5. For snack, sample different types of bread; wheat, rye, multi-grain, and so on. Offer butter or jams to spread on the breads.

6. Music: Sing this song to the tune: "The Mulberry Bush"

This is the way I plant the seed,

Plant the seed, plant the seed.

This is the way I plant the seed,

So early in the morning.

Repeat using these verses:

----cut the wheat

----go to the mill

----make the dough

----bake the bread

----eat the bread

(Author Unknown)

7. Puzzle and Number Matching: Make a template and cut out bread slices from construction paper. Each bread slice is cut down the middle with various cuts. A number is printed on one side with a matching number of dots printed on the other side. Mix up the pieces and have children match the number and dots by using the puzzle pieces.

8. Make a Hen & Chicks Placemat:

Materials:

A book about farm life

Construction paper

Crayons or marking pens

Clear adhesive paper

Glue

Feathers, sequins or other thin decorative items (optional)

Procedure:

1. After reading "The Little Red Hen" or a book about life on the farm, do this activity together.

2. Give children a rectangular sheet of paper large enough to be a placemat.

3. Ask them to draw a hen and her chicks. Add decorative items with glue if you wish.

4. Once completed, show children how to cut two pieces of clear adhesive paper slightly larger than the paper.

5. Remove the backing from one sheet of the adhesive paper. Place it carefully over the picture front and press. Place the second sheet on the back and press again.

6. Use this placemat at snack time or send home as a nice memory of your literature unit.

Other Red Hen Books:

The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza)by Philemon Sturges (Puffin)

The Little Red Hen and the Ear of Wheatby Mary Finch (Barefoot Books)

Little Red Hen Makes Soupby Rozanne Lanczak Williams (Creative Teaching Press)

The Little Red Hen/ Help Yourself/ Little Red Henby Alvin Granowsky (Steck-Vaughn)

With Love, Little Red Henby Alma Flor Ada (Aladdin)

Source:

Personal experience in the classroom