Activities to go with The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins

*Backdated post: the activities were conducted at about the time of chinese new year*

Alicia loved this story about the wind which blew so many things away. Before you turn the page to find out what the wind blows off next, you should be able to guess what the wind would take next on its adventure by looking around the page for new characters/items (prediction skills).

Here are some of the activities we did in relation to this book:

(i) Painting a 'kite'

Basically, I just got her to do her usual painting one day and I cut out a kite shape later with a craft scissors, drew in the lines, punched a hole and threaded the yarn through. Though it's not a real kite, she loved it and kept pretending to fly her kite:

(ii) Making a mobile/ sequencing activity


I printed out the items that the wind blew away in the book from here (pg 24 of the document; there are other suggested activities in that pdf doc), pasted them on a cereal box and cut them out individually for Alicia to colour.

After the colouring's done, you can do sequencing (of the story) with your tot using those little cards before you actually make the mobile I made, shown below:

Just get a pair of disposable chopsticks, tape it down, forming a cross. Punch a hole in each card , thread some yarn through and string them onto the chopsticks. Because there are quite a few items, you'd need to have more than one item hanging from each point of the chopsticks (see how I attached them together in the above pics). Lastly, thread more yarn through the X, tie a tight knot and hang it up at the window! :)

(iii) Science: Light vs. heavy

We got a small fan - be careful of those little fingers! - and some random light and heavy items for her for this simple experiment to see what the wind can/ cannot blow away.

There she is with the two-dollar note!:

(iv) Just having fun with a windmill 

Find a windy day to just let your tot have fun with the windmill - see how fast it's spinning!

Testing the wind strength from a greater distance from the window:

(v) Fly a kite - a real one

If you can, fly a real kite with your tot! We didn't manage to but we brought her to see people fly kites though! :)

(vi) Cotton ball race

Saw this activity at Activity Mom some time back. Simply get a straw, trim it so it's shorter and easier to handle, then have a cotton ball race with your tot! :)

Have fun!