Beatrix Potter Characters: Art Activity for Peter Rabbit Tale

Beatrix Potter Characters: Art Activity for Peter Rabbit Tale
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Lesson Plan Overview

This Beatrix Potter art activity for Peter Rabbit encourages the following set of skills:

  • Auditory - Children listen for the word.
  • Small Motor - These skills are exercised as students form letters in the pudding.
  • Visual: Observing letter formation provides letter-to-sound matching exercise.
  • Following directions - Children listen and follow verbal directions.

Lesson Objective and Prior Knowledge

This lesson builds on prior knowledge of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and is designed for older preschool and kindergarten classes. This art activity takes about 30 to 40 minutes to complete, and is part of a series of Beatrix Potter themed unit lesson plans on Peter Rabbit.

Supplies for Art Lesson Plan

The following supplies are needed:

  • One to two packages of any flavor instant pudding (amount depends on class size)
  • Small paper cups
  • Milk (amount depends on the amount of pudding needed)
  • Electric mixer
  • One package of waxed paper
  • Make a set of flash cards using vocabulary words from the story, like lettuce or radishes. The cards should have a picture on one side and the written word on the other.

Prepare pudding according to package directions. Let the children take turns holding the mixer and stirring the pudding. Put a small portion of pudding in a cup for each child.

Creative Art Play Discussion Questions

Have the kids sit in their chairs. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the table and lay a piece of waxed paper in front of each child. Help them smooth out the paper, and explain how the water holds the paper to the table. (Surface tension)

Give them a cup of pudding. Let them scoop the pudding up and place it on the paper, and then give them about five minutes of play time to experiment with it. They will pay more attention to the lesson after this short play period. Use these questions to activate tactile learning:

  • How does the pudding feel on our fingers?
  • How does it smell?
  • Where have you smelled this scent before?
  • What happens when we push the pudding into a pile?

Let them taste the pudding, and then ask:

  • How does the pudding taste?
  • Which do you like best - vanilla or chocolate pudding?
  • What is your favorite food besides pudding?

Letter-to-Sound Teaching Method

After the creative play, move to the letter-to-sound vocabulary lesson. Show the card with the picture side facing, and then say the word slowly. Point to the picture and repeat the word. Turn the card over to the word side, and repeat the word. Instruct the children to trace the first letter of the food name in the pudding, while pointing to the picture and saying the word.

Example:

  1. Show the lettuce picture.
  2. Say: “This is a picture of lettuce. The word lettuce starts with the letter L.”
  3. Turn the card over to the word “lettuce.”
  4. Say: “The word lettuce starts with the letter L. Everyone trace the letter L in the pudding.”

After the lesson, the kids wash their hands and sit on the floor. Read them the Peter Rabbit story; repetition reinforces learning. This Beatrix Potter characters activity is easy to teach and reinforces pre-reading skills. For more lessons about Peter Rabbit, read “Elementary Math Lesson for Tale of Peter Rabbit.”

Lesson Extension Reading List

Try other Beatrix Potter books featuring similar characters with your class. Reading these books is an excellent way to extend the Peter Rabbit story.

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies

The Tailor of Gloucester

Appley Dappley’s Nursery Rhymes

The Tale of the Pie and The Patty Pan

The Tale of Johnny Town Mouse

For more lessons based on rabbits, read “A Rabbit Lesson Plan for Preschool.”

Image Credit

Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

This post is part of the series: Beatrix Potter Characters Unit Lessons

This is a themed series of lesson plans and activities for Beatrix Potter characters. Math, vocabulary, reading fluency and other skills are covered.

  1. Spring Lesson Unit on Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
  2. Beatrix Potter Art Activity for Peter Rabbit
  3. Elementary Math Lesson Plan for The Tale of Peter Rabbit