BLAST Early Learning

What A Cat

Books:

Cat’s Colors by Jane Cabrera

A cat describes ten different colors and tells which one is its favorite.

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it.

Cats by Seymour Simon

Discusses the history, physical characteristics, behavior, and various breeds of cats, and provides basic information on caring for one as a pet.

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Rhyme:

Five Little Kittens

Five little kittens standing in a row
(hold up 5 fingers)
They nod their heads to the children so
(bend fingers)
They run to the left, they run to the right
(run fingers to the left and then to the right)
They stand up and stretch in the bright sunlight
(stretch fingers out tall)
Along comes a dog who's in for some fun
(hold up one finger from opposite hand)
MEOW! See those little kittens run
(let fingers run)

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Song:

I Know A Cat

(Sung like "Bingo")
I know a cat with perky ears,
And Kitty is her name-o.
K-I-T-T-Y, K-I-T-T-Y, K-I-T-T-Y,
And Kitty is her name-o.
She makes a sound and it’s "meow,"
And Kitty is her name-o.
K-I-T-T-Y, K-I-T-T-Y, K-I-T-T-Y,
And Kitty is her name-o.

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Vocabulary Word:

Spring: 1. leaped over, jumped quickly.

Example: "so she pullled herself together and wiggled her bottom and sprang from the top step of the porch."
(taken from Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes)

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Activities:

Cat Masks

Using paper plates, have children create a cat face for masks.

Yarn Collage

Make a yarn collage using yarn, paper and glue. Allow the children to glue multi-color of yarn to the paper where they choose.

Whisker Paintings

Give the children broom straws or pine needles to use as cat-whisker paintbrushes.

Cat Walk

Make a few sets of cat whiskers the children can wear. Have the children build a walled pathway with blocks. Encourage them to crawl along the path without letting their whiskers touch a wall.

Cat Toys

Encourage the children to make cat toys by winding yarn into balls. Let the children bring them home.

Pin The Tail On the Cat

Draw a cat without a tail on a piece of butcher paper. Make tails out of yarn. Let the children play "Pin the Tail on the Cat."

Cat's Eye Marbles

Look at cat’s eye marbles with a magnifying glass. Do they really look like cat’s eyes?

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Literature:

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems

After Trixie and Daddy leave the laundromat, something very important turns up missing.

Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner

Skippyjon Jones is a Siamese cat with an overactive imagination who would rather be El Skippito, his Zorro-like alter ego.

A Birthday Basket For Tia by Pat Mora

With the help and interference of her cat Chica, Cecilia prepares a surprise gift for her great-aunt’s ninetieth birthday.

Pet Show! by Ezra Jack Keats

When he can't find his cat to enter in the neighborhood pet show, Archie must do some fast thinking to win a prize.