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These Blueberries for Sal themed activities provide fun, hands-on learning opportunities for preschool and kindergarten! See how we studied Blueberries for Sal with Before Five in a Row.
For our early years homeschooling, I am trying to be really intentional about reading aloud. We do all the other things, too, but reading aloud together with the boys is something that all of us enjoy and learn a lot from.
So, we’re sticking with it.
To help with this, we’ve started using the Five in a Row curriculum. (I’ll talk more about this in a coming post where I’ll share everything we’re using this year.) It is a literature based curriculum that uses classic children’s books to create fun, hand-on lessons across many different subjects.
We have Volume 1, but we also skip around with books from various volumes thanks to some help from Pinterest.
Today, I’m sharing some of the activities that we did for Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal. This is technically a Before Five in a Row book, which is right on level where I can teach both of the older boys together.
Blueberries for Sal Activities
Because we do not have a copy of the official Before Five in a Row manual, these activities for Blueberries for Sal were pulled together from various sources, which I have linked throughout here for easy reference.
Baking Blueberry Muffins
The first thing we did to start our Blueberries for Sal week was bake blueberry muffins. It’s only fitting, right? We used this recipe via Hoosier Homemade. I added a splash of lemon juice to our muffins, but otherwise, it was a simple recipe to follow and the kids ALWAYS enjoy baking together!
Picking Blueberries
Since we moved, we are fortunate enough to have a couple of blueberry bushes on our property that we were able to enjoy this season.
The season is over now, but our bushes were very productive this year. Of course, we made sure to get lots of extra blueberry snacks!
Kerplink, Kerplank, Kerplunk! Blueberry Hunt Indoors
While we enjoyed picking fresh blueberries off the bush, we also had a fun indoor blueberry hunt.
I got this idea from Intentional by Grace (See how she rowed Blueberries for Sal here), but instead of using pom poms for blueberries, I used these blue vase filler gems that I had on hand.
We just took turns hiding them around the house for a fun seek and find game. When we found one, we dropped it into our bucket just like in the book!
Blueberries for Sal Math Activities
My boys are 5 and 2, so they are on very different math levels. I was able to print out separate math activities for them that they both enjoyed.
These blueberry themed ten-frames were perfect for my 2 year old.
(All printables seen here are free via Royal Baloo.)
I loved that the numbers were big and clear on each card, and each from was already filled in with little blueberries. We used these to practice counting, number recognition, and one to one correspondence.
We used our “blueberries” to count each number for the cards 1-10.
My oldest practiced with ten-frames also, but instead of using gems to complete his ten-frames, he chose to use dot stickers. And in keeping with the theme, he insisted that they all be blue for blueberries. Can you blame him?
He also got to do an addition sheet and helped his brother with the counting cards throughout the week.
Blueberries for Sal Letter B Coloring Sheets
Another fun printable in Royal Baloo’s pack was a letter B for bear and blueberries coloring sheet. We used several of the coloring sheets from this pack throughout the week as I read aloud to the boys.
Sometimes they like to snuggle up while I read, but other times, I’ve found it is helpful for their little hands to be busy while I read and these coloring sheets were a fun way to let them do that.
Blueberry Bucket Paper Plate Craft
Lastly, we made our very own blueberry buckets out of paper plates. This was a big hit around here.
The boys loved getting to glue their blueberries in their pails and getting to carry them around.
Make sure you check out this post to get all the details for this fun craft.
And that was our week with Blueberries for Sal!
This book quickly became a family favorite and we can’t wait to pick it back up again!
For more Five in a Row ideas, be sure to follow my FIAR Pinterest board.
