The Golden Egg Book, by Margaret Wise Brown

A little bunny finds an egg, what could be inside? How will he find out? This is a classic first mystery story for children.

Materials

Pictures of 5 animals that come from eggs
One hard boiled egg
Lots of plastic Easter eggs
Enough plastic eggs for everyone in the class to hold one. Fill them with rice, penny, paperclip, etc. You will need two of each egg. Tape them closed so the children can not open them.
Duck-Rabbit flannel
Pre-made egg shapes 1-10 and many paperclips.
Several plastic cups, a piece of string and small sponge for each, a bowl of water.

Vocabulary

Mystery (something secret)

Before Reading the Story

Put a hard boiled egg inside of a small bag. Tell the children that you brought something in your bag but it is a mystery. Shake the bag; can anyone guess what it is? Give the children clues and see if they can guess (it comes in many colors and sometimes is even speckled, we can eat it, it’s shaped like an oval, it comes from a reptile or a bird). Have a child put their hand in the bag and feel the egg. If they still do not guess, have a child pull it out of the bag. Tell the children that birds like chickens and cardinals/bird in your area come out of eggs. Show the children several pictures of other animals that come from eggs like alligators, turtles, snakes, birds, and spiders, frogs.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Reading the Story

After reading the page about what the bunny thought might be in the egg, ask the children what they think is inside? After reading the part where the bunny threw a little rock, ask the children if throwing a rock at it was a good idea? What could the bunny have done besides throwing a rock?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; predicts what will happen next in a story. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

After Reading the Story

Cut out the animals that come from eggs and cut a piece of construction paper into an oval. Lay the animals where the children can see them. Tell the children to close their eyes and count to five. While they are counting, cover one of the animals with the egg shape. Can they guess which one is hidden? Go around your circle letting each child have a turn and play until the children get tired or can easily name the missing animal.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in playing games or using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Discovery

Put the plastic eggs into a basket and tell the children that there are pairs that when shaken will make the same sound. Ask the children to try to find the pairs of eggs by listening carefully while they shake them.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Music and Movement

Sing some of your favorite songs while everyone shakes an egg. Use your eggs from science or fill enough with rice so that every child has an egg to shake.

Creative Arts/Music; experiments with a variety of musical instruments.

Sing Shake Your Egg to the tune of Jingle Bells

Shake your egg, shake your egg,

Shake it very high

Shake it low, shake it fast,

Shake it very slow

Shake your egg, shake your egg

Shake behind your back

Now shake your egg, shake your egg

And put it in your lap.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress infollowing simple and multiple-step directions.

Make the duck/rabbit from resources and use it to teach the children the poem; My Little Yellow Duck

My little yellow duck,

Is really very funny

When you turn him over,

He becomes a little bunny!

(The first time you read the poem…When you turn the duck over to become a bunny, go slowly and see if the children can guess what the duck will become).

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.

Blocks

Put several eggs into the center. Ask the children to build ramps for them to roll down. Will the egg roll faster or slower if the ramp is higher/lower? How can you make it so the eggs won’t fall off the ramp?

Art

Cut out egg shapes from manila files. Put out tissue paper squares and a bowl of glue mixed with a little water to thin it out. Give the children paint brushes to paint the glue onto the egg. Stick the tissue paper squares on top and add another layer of glue. The colors will blend to make new colors.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including, pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various types of technology.

Sand and Water

Put egg halves in the sand or water. The children can use them to scoop/pour and to fill and put together.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Library and Writing

Ask the children to draw an animal that might be inside an egg. After they have drawn, place a construction paper egg over their picture. You can cut out a hole in the egg so it makes a peek through picture. On the bottom of the egg write; What’s inside Kerry’s egg? The children can write their own names and these can be stapled together to make a book.

Creative Arts/Art; progresses in abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other art creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic. AND Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas, to using letter-like symbols, to copying and writing familiar words such as their own name.

Dramatic Play

Let’s cook eggs, either pretend or real.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Math and Manipulatives

Cut out 1-10 eggs from manila files. Label them 1-10. Put the appropriate number of dots along the edge. Show the children how to put the appropriate number of paperclips onto each egg. Ask them to place them on the table in the proper 1-10 order.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Outdoor Play

Chicken noise makers. https://allfortheboys.com/chicken-in-a-cup/ Take a plastic cup and poke two small holes into it. String the yarn through the holes and tie a knot. Wet the sponge and run it down the length of the yarn while another child holds the cup. As you jerk the sponge down the yarn, it makes it squeaky, clucking sound.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Transitions

Play I’m Thinking. Let the children take turns guessing what you are thinking of. Always start out with a shape. If they cannot come up with something that shape, add more details. (I’m thinking of something that is shaped like an oval, I’m thinking of something that is square that we use to watch videos on).

Who’s Hatching Here? by Alma Flor Ada

Not just chickens hatch from eggs. This is a riddle book of oviparous animals.

Materials

Plastic Easter eggs
Oviparous animal pictures to sort/ not oviparous/chicken, alligator, turtle, mosquito, frog, penguin, lizard, snake
Life cycle cards of the above animals
A box big enough for a child to hide inside
Several shirt boxes or low open boxes
Bag of chicken corn or bird seed

Vocabulary

Oviparous (animals that hatch from eggs)
Oval (the shape that looks like an egg)

Before reading the Story

Play a shape game. Introduce the oval shape to the children.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts, and attributes.

Reading the Story

Read this like a riddle book and let the children see if they can guess what each creature is before you turn the page.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

After Reading the Story

Put an oviparous animal picture inside enough plastic eggs that everyone may pick one out of a basket. The children pick an egg, try to guess what is inside their egg and then open it up and see and name what they have.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

Discovery

Color and contact the life cycle cards and ask the children to try to put them into their correct orders of egg-adult. If you can not make seperated cards, put the pictures out for the children to discuss and compare. Have them note that ALL the oviparous animals hatched from an egg and then grew.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Music and Movement

Bring in a box that is large enough for a child to scrunch inside. Say the following poem, Peck, Peck, Peck. Before the child gets into the box, ask them what kind of oviparous animal they are going to be. Fill in the blank as you recite for each child. Encourage them to make the animal sound as they come out of their shell.

Peck, peck, peck

On the warm hard egg

Out come a head, out comes a leg

How can a _________ that’s not been about

Discover the secret of how to get out?

(Now ask the child what kind of an oviparous animal they are, or have the child make the animal sound as they come out and see if the other children can guess.)

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities.

Blocks

Add several plastic eggs to the center. Put a small cube inside of them to make them heavier and tape it shut. Show the children how to roll these. Encourage them to make a ramp that they can roll their eggs down. Can the children find other objects that will roll?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences and comparisons among objects and materials.

Art

Fill several plastic eggs with sand and tape them smoothly shut. Bring in several shirt boxes. Give the child an egg and let them dip it into a bowl of paint. Put a piece of paper in the box and the egg on top. Let the children roll the egg about making a rolling art picture.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Library and Writing

Give each child a large egg shape and ask them to draw an oviparous animal on it. Cover it with another egg shape and ask the child to tell you three things they know about the animal that they drew. Write these on the front into riddle form (What has feathers and says cluck, cluck and lives on a farm? A Chicken) Hang the riddles up and read them during a down time to the other children.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Sand and water

Add chicken corn or birdseed to the table to pour and scoop.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; demonstrates increasing capacity to follow rules and routines and use materials purposefully, safely, and respectfully.

Dramatic Play

Bring in several egg cartons that have been sanitized and plastic eggs.

Math and Manipulatives

Play an animal match game by making two sets of the picture cards. Glue them to index cards so that the children can not see through the backs. Turn the cards face down and have the children take turns picking up two cards. If they find a match they get to keep them. Play till all the matches have been found.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activites, projects, and experiences.

Outdoor Play

Bring your easel paint outside today and use it to paint any trees that might be on your playground.

Creative Arts/Art;gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Look for living creatures on your playground. Can the children name them? Do they know if it is an oviparous animal? (ants, crickets, lizard, bird, cat next door, dog on leash)

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

Transitions

Hold up a picture of an oviparous animal, or open the book and show the children a picture. As they go off to the next activity repeat the chant with each child.

It started as an egg then it hatched and grew

Now it’s a (hold up a card and point to a child)

______ so smart because ____knew.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly directive or submissive.

Resources

Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are looking for the perfect place to raise their family. As they search for the perfect place, they run across dangers. Will they find their perfect place? Where will it be?

Materials

Copy of small ducks
1 white paper plate per child. Fold in half and punch holes along the edge.
Yarn
Duck head/foot
Index card showing a letter from the letters the children’s names begin with.

Vocabulary

Dither (nervous and upset)
Hatch (when the ducklings come out of their shells)

Before Reading the Story

Read the title of the book but don’t show the cover yet. Ask the children if they think they know what Make way for ducklings means? Now show them the cover of the book and ask them if they know now? (get out of the way, move over, step aside, back up). Why do you think the story is called, make way for ducklings? Tell the children that this is a real story about a family of ducks who lived in Boston Gardens.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

Reading the Story

As you read the story stop at spots that tell about why the ducks think it is a good place to raise a family? Make note about ducks need food and shelter. When you get to the spots where it is unsafe, ask the children why they think it is unsafe for a duck? Is it unsafe for people too?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can change their name so it ends with “ack” by putting their first letter in front of “ack”. Mary=Mack, Alison=Aack. then repeat their name saying, “quack, quack, quack ______ack” and let the children quack for a few seconds.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds in words.

Discovery

Put several of the small ducks into the center. Show the children how to play hide and seek duck in the center. One child steps outside the center and hides his/her eyes. The other children in the center can each hide a duck somewhere in among the science toys. The child comes back into the center and looks for the ducks. When he/she finds a duck, the child who hid it quacks. Who ever hid the last duck found gets to be the hider.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows capacity to maintain concentration over time on task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions and interruptions. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to taking turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Music and Movement

When you go to the playground today, waddle like ducks all in a line.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Teach the children the song 5 Little Ducks Went Out To Play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZw9veQ76fo

5 Little ducks went out one play,

Over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said “Quack, quack, quack”

But only 4 little ducks came running back.

Continue on to 4, 3, 2, 1. When you get to zero sing or say sadly;

Zero little ducks went out to play,

Over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said “QUACK, QUACK, QUACK”

5 little ducks came running back.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Blocks

Tell the children that the story took place in a city. Can you build a city? Don’t forget to add a pond for the ducks!

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates growing abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through.

Art

Ask the children to draw a picture of some place that would NOT be good for a duck to live (under the bed, in a car, on the house roof). After they have drawn their picture give them a copy of a duck to glue on their picture. You can make this into a book called, Ducks in Unexpected Places.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem. AND Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play.

Sand and Water

Water play today. Add boats and ducks. If you have no boats or ducks, use plastic lids or bowls. You can also add bear counters or similar. How many bears can float on your boat?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building wit blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Library and Writing

Tell the children that Mrs. Mallard had to know how to get to the island to meet her husband. Ask the children to tell you how to get to the playground from your classroom and then encourage them to draw a map. (You go to the door and go out over there by the drinking fountain. Then you got to go out that door and down the ramp. You turn and walk, walk, walk past the baby room and then turn there. You go to the gate and wait for the teacher to open it. Then you are at the playground).

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussions, drawings, maps, and charts. AND Language/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Dramatic Play

The ducks ate peanuts at the park. Ask the children, Have you ever taken a picnic to the park? Pack a picnic lunch. Use a basket or bag to put your picnic in. Put down a towel or blanket and the children can pretend to have a picnic in the center today.

Creative Arts/Dramatic PLay; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Math and Manipulatives

Show the children how to use the yarn to lace through the holes on the paper plate. This will be the duck body. Either pre-cut a head and feet for the children or put on manila file so they can trace and cut out themselves. Put the head and feet onto the duck body.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Outdoor Play

Teach the children the game, In the Pond, On the Bank. Tell the children that this is a listening game. Use a sidewalk or line as the divider. Call out “In the pond” and everybody jumps onto the sidewalk. Call “On the bank” and everybody jumps to the grass. Mix up your calls and try to trick the children into jumping onto the wrong one.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

Hold up an index card with a letter written upon it. Ask the children if they can name the letter, the letter sound, and whose name begins with this letter, and if any other child has this letter somewhere in their name?

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies att least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.