Activity for Unlimited Squirrels in I Lost My Tooth by Mo Willems

This post is sponsored by Disney Book Group. As always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

 Being a huge fan of Mo Willems books, Izzy and I wanted to share a new favorite of ours Unlimited Squirrels in I Lost My Tooth. This is one of the cutest books from Mo Willems. It’s fall so Izzy and I have spent a lot of time exploring outside and seeing many squirrels. The other fun part of this book is the conversation about losing baby teeth. Izzy just other day was saying she’s going to lose her teeth. I told her, “Sweetie you are 3.5 years old, you have a few more years.” However the talk of losing teeth was now open for conversation and this book was a fun way to discuss losing baby teeth.

Snag a copy of the book Unlimited Squirrels in I Lost My Tooth by Mo Willems and read it with/to your child. We were inspired by the cuteness to create an activity that goes along with the book. If you are a teacher this is a fun read and activity for preschool and Kindergarten level students. I added my free downloadable PDF below and how to use it along with this book. I also added the developmental outcomes to help you understand what your child should be exposed to and potentially learn by the end of this activity.

Squirrel Tail Math & Fine Motor Exploration

squirrel

Step #1 Allow your child to freely color their squirrel picture.

If at any time your child is struggling to give you an answer or continue conversation scaffold the child by taking over the more difficult parts/conversational aspects, supporting and helping them through the tasks they are stuck and struggling with.

Developmental Learning Outcomes:

Language:  Ask and discuss what the child sees on the paper. Discuss the circles on the tail and ask the child to count them. Discuss the colors of the squirrels from the book & have students pick colors they recall from the story. Open the book and review images, if needed. The child will be learning/exposed to colors such as grey, tan, taupe, brown. The child will also be learning/exposed to adjectives (i.e. colors: grey, tan, taupe, brown; sizes: big, tall, large, little, small, short, huge, gigantic; shapes: circle, oval, round, pointy; numbers: few, many, a lot, ten). The child will learn how to ask questions or explain what they see/are doing.

Cognitive: Ask the child to count the circles on the squirrels tail. “This squirrel has circles on it’s tail. Let’s see how many we can count.” If needed, model how to point with their finger to each circle as they count. The child will gain math skills such as counting and understanding one to one correspondence. If you are not familiar with one to one correspondence, it is an early learning math skill. The skill involves the act of counting each object in a set once, with one touch per object.

Physical: The child will refine fine motor skills while working on coloring their picture and trying to stay in the lines.

Social & Emotional: The child will gain more social and emotional skills such as asking for help, building confidence in trying new things, guessing, sharing and turn taking.

Step #2 Bring out the glue and small items for your child to glue to each circle on the squirrel’s tail. Ask the child to count the circles on the tail. If needed you can scaffold by taking the child’s finger and pointing to each circle as you count out loud together. Now discuss with the child, “There are 10 circles. We need to pick one item to glue on each circle.” This is early multiplication, we have 10 spots and need 1 for each spot, so we need 10 items. Ask the child to count out 10 items. Again scaffold if needed, but counting with the child and model how to pull each item forward while counting. This supports 1 to 1 correspondence. Model how to use the glue appropriately and how to use the tweezers to pick up each item. The child will be gluing one item per circle on the tail.

Developmental Learning Outcomes:

Language:  Talk again about the circles on the squirrel’s tail. Have your child count or count with them. Then have your child choose 10 items (one for each circle). Discuss the items they can choose from (and work on adjectives such as colors, shapes, soft, smooth, fluffy, round.) The child will be learning/exposed to colors and potentially new ones such as burgundy, teal, tan (depending on the little items you have out for the child to chose from). The child will also be learning/exposed to adjectives (i.e. colors: grey, tan, taupe, brown; sizes: big, tall, large, little, small, short, huge, gigantic; shapes: circle, oval, round, pointy; numbers: few, many, a lot, ten). The child will learn how to ask questions or better explain what they see/are doing.

Cognitive: Ask the child to count the circles on the squirrels tail. “This squirrel has circles on it’s tail. Let’s see how many we can count.” If needed, model how to point with their finger to each circle as they count. The child will gain math skills such as counting and gaining a better understanding of one to one correspondence. If you are not familiar with one to one correspondence, it is an early learning math skill. The skill involves the act of counting each object in a set once, with one touch per object.

Physical: The child will refine fine motor skills while using tweezers to grasp the objects being placed in each circle on the squirrel’s tail.

Social & Emotional: Model for the child how to squeeze glue without over pouring. Also model how to grasp the small items with tweezers. Then model how to place something on each circle where the glue has been poured. The child will gain skills such as asking for help, guessing, sharing & turn taking (if multiple children are sharing some tweezers and glue). The child will also build confidence in trying new things even if not successful right away or needing some support.

Sensory Development: Based on the child’s age and maturity level chose some small items such as: beads, buttons, pom poms, dry pasta or dried beans. The child will explore and potentially learn to tolerate potentially new items such as pom poms, buttons, dried beans, dry pasta, or beads.

I hope you have a blast with this Unlimited Squirrels activity! I had so much fun creating it! Izzy’s become quite the little master of using these tweezers.

XO Eryka