J is for Jack and the Beanstalk.
As a gathering activity (if you do preschool with more than one child) we started with this coloring page of Jack climbing the beanstalk. I created this page, with a clipart from google and inserted the ‘J J J j j j’ text (in Print Clearly dashed font).
Then I read this Jack and the Beanstalk book by Usborne. My kids really like this one. Before I read it, I made them point out the the J on the cover and title page.
After reading the story, we worked on counting with beans. I printed off THIS simple tracing number page, and they traced the number and said which number it was. Then I put glue dots on the numbers and they counted them as they added the right amount of beans to each number.
When we were done counting, we went back to the Jack and the Beanstalk book. I found this fun printable (from Learn, Create, Love) that I cut out and put on popsicle sticks. We then went through the story again and the kids picked up the corresponding prop in the story. It was fun to see them try to figure out which ones they needed to put down and which ones they needed to pick up. Re-telling the story also helped them remember it a little better.
Our next project used the same printable as above, but this time we used the coloring pages. They colored the pictures, and I helped cut them out. Then we glued them on a big piece of construction paper. They matched the following: the mom with the cow, the old man with the beans, and the giant with the hen. I drew a J that they traced and spelled out the rest of ‘ack and the Beanstalk’
They didn’t color the ‘Jack’ picture, but instead I took a picture of them pretending to climb. Then I used Power Point to remove the background so that it was just a picture of them. That part isn’t necessary, because you are going to cut out around them anyway. You can either print it on regular paper or sticker paper. Then they can stick themselves on the beanstalk, like they are Jack climbing it!
Our last project for this preschool day was finding ‘magic beans’ in a bin of rice/wheat. I love making them use these plastic tweezers to pinch the beans to pick them up when they find them.
To make the ‘magic beans’ I just spray painted dry beans with gold spray paint. I actually did this about 30 minutes before preschool started. Because they are so small, they dry really fast. Spray on one side, let dry for 15-20 minutes, then flip over and spray the other side. Don’t over spray them, or they will be sticky and wont dry fast!
J is for Jack and the Beanstalk