Receptive language, Expressive language
Toddlers participate in a book sharing about the adventures of an egg, with an opportunity to pretend a baby bird visits their room.
Roly-Poly Egg by Kali Stileman
Hank Finds an Egg by Rebecca Dudley
UPDATE: The Roly-Poly Egg book featured in Option 1 may be challenging to secure. Option 2 is an alternative activity that also uses an egg theme to promote language skills.
Invite 3–5 toddlers to share a book about an egg that falls out of its nest and rolls around and around.
Open the session by showing the book cover and talking with toddlers about what we see. Draw attention to the mother bird and the egg. Emphasize that the egg has many spots. The spots are different colors. Explain the mother bird and egg are on the branch of a tree. Read the title of the book. Explain that short and round things are sometimes called “roly-poly.”
Read book text and use the following strategies to share the book:
At the end of the book sharing, invite toddlers to pretend the baby bird visited our room. What would we want to show the baby bird in our room? How might the baby bird get to the parts of our room we want to show? Will we carry the bird in our hands or put the bird on our shoulder as we walk around? Or will the baby bird fly from place to place?
The book’s colorful illustrations and involvement of different animals in the egg’s adventures will appeal to toddlers. Be attentive to words or concepts a toddler may not know. In addition to those highlighted in the activity plan, toddlers may benefit from a brief explanation of munch, meadow, and maybe some of the animals.
Some toddlers may express concern through a facial expression or comment that a zebra kicked the egg when it rolled into its area. Explain that the zebra was busy eating breakfast with another zebra and probably did not look up to see the egg. The zebras were paying attention to their breakfast, not the egg. Point out that other animal friends (monkeys) passed the egg around carefully. Show and describe the pertinent picture (toward the end of the story).
The final segment of the session is an opportunity for toddlers to extend the book’s theme of the roly-poly egg’s movements (from animal to animal) to a pretend visit to your room. Toddlers may have different ideas about how the bird gets around in the room. Maybe one toddler carries the bird and another toddler puts the bird on his/her shoulder. Pretend play is one way toddlers express their understanding of the world, including their room at the child development center. At this age, toddlers are not expected to tell a logical story or create a complete visit plan, with a beginning, middle, and end. The intent is to foster imaginative thinking and talk.
If a toddler does not engage in pretend play after sharing the book, encourage him/her to join you in moving like a bird. Example: “Let’s pretend to be a little bird flying in our room. We can open our wings like this.” Demonstrate opening your arms as wings. Ask the toddler “Where should we fly?“ If the toddler begins to pretend, follow his/her lead. If the toddler does not offer a suggestion, propose an idea, such as flying to a center of interest to the toddler.
Extra support
Enrichment
Receptive language, Expressive language
Toddlers participate in a book sharing about the adventures of a hen and a big egg.
Invite 3–5 toddlers to share a book about a hen and big egg.
Open the gathering by showing the book cover and talking with toddlers about what we see. Draw attention to the big egg. Compare the big egg to the size of the small eggs shown at the bottom of the book cover. Ask toddlers whether they think it is easy for the hen to hold and walk with the big egg in her arms and hands. Point to the title of the book as you read it.
Read the book text and use the following strategies to help children engage in the story:
Watch and use the toddlers’ interest in the pictures and story, not the small number of words on each page, as a guide to your pace with the book. Toddlers may like to pause on each or selected pages to look at and talk about details of a picture. Some may want to return to pages of special interest after they learn how the story ends.
Pay attention to toddlers’ understanding of the contrasting concepts in this story: big and small, loud and quiet. Talk about prior classroom experiences or objects in your room to emphasize the differences. A toddler may welcome an invitation to point to big and small items in your room, for example.
Look for opportunities to say more about the concepts of pushing and crack, which are emphasized again in Option 3 of this activity plan. Toddlers may want to talk about or show how they push a cart in your room, for example.
Extra support
Enrichment
Receptive language, Expressive language
Toddlers pretend they are a baby animal that pushes out of an egg and explores your room.
Be Prepared: This activity is intended for toddlers who participated in Options 1 or 2 or are familiar with the idea that some animals begin their life in an egg. Use the book you shared with toddlers previously (see Materials Needed) or select one of the books to remind children that a bird and some other animals begin their life in an egg. The Roly-Poly Egg book may be challenging to secure. This Option is a slight revision of an activity offered as Option 2 in the original version of the plan.
Invite 3–5 toddlers to join you to pretend we are an animal that comes out of an egg. Display one of the book covers and remind toddlers that a bird and some other animals begin their life inside an egg. Turn to and describe the book’s picture of an egg (or eggs) breaking open.
Show the provided picture of a small bird. Explain this is a picture of a real bird that started its life in an egg. Then explain that other kinds of animals begin their life in an egg. Show provided pictures of a fish and a turtle, one at a time. Invite toddlers to say the name of each. Offer a brief description of each animal as appropriate.
Show the provided picture of an egg that is cracking open. Point to the crack and ask toddlers what is happening to the egg. Expand on their comments. Emphasize that something living in the egg is pushing on the sides of the egg and is about to come out. Use your arms to pretend you are a small animal pushing your way out of the egg. Invite toddlers to do the same.
Invite toddlers to pretend they are a small animal in the egg. Explain that we can be whatever animal we would like to be. Each of us can be a different animal. We could be a little bird or a fish or a turtle or some other animal. It is our choice.
Encourage toddlers to kneel on the floor with their heads down and arms folded, as if they are inside an egg. Example: “Let’s pretend our whole body is inside your pretend egg. Close your eyes if you like.” Demonstrate the pose.
Explain that now our pretend animal is pushing its way out of the egg. Again demonstrate pushing with your arms.
Invite toddlers to say what animal they are pretending to be. Repeat the animal’s name and show excitement for the toddler’s decision, even if all toddlers opt to be the same animal.
Explain that each of us can make up a little story about what our pretend animal does. Offer a simple story example that includes a description and/or demonstration of how your animal moves around. Example: A fish swimming to a quiet part of your room for a nap. The fish is tired from working hard to come out of the egg. Encourage interested toddlers to tell a story about their animal. How will it move around? Where will it go or what will it do?
Repeat the experience if time and toddler interest permit. Conclude the session by describing toddlers’ pretend animals and their actions.
Some toddlers will enjoy pretending and others will choose to observe. If a toddler wants to observe during the first telling of a story, he/she may wish to participate if you repeat the process. A toddler also may want to show and tell about his/her pretend animal in a one-to-one exchange with you later. The activity involves listening, waiting, speaking, and physical movement.
Language is an important part of the activity. Encourage toddlers to describe what they are doing. Repeat and expand upon toddlers’ comments. Example: “Mina pretended to be a duck in an egg. David pretended to be a shark in an egg. Diego was a pretend whale in an egg.”
If it is too challenging for toddlers to pretend they are different animals, suggest that all of us can pretend to be the same animal. Example: “Ruby wants us all to pretend we are fish inside our eggs.” Invite toddlers to help you make up a story about the fish. Do they swim together around the room or swim to different parts of the room? Do the fish swim fast or slow?
Toddlers are not expected to know what animals truly hatch from eggs. It is not important to correct a child’s response if a toddler opts to be an animal that does not begin life in an egg.
The activity supports self-regulation by encouraging toddlers to wait for their turn in talking about and showing their pretend animal. Offer verbal guidance by announcing turns and indicating whose turn will be next.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: toy fish and turtle, books of interest to toddlers, people and animal figures, dollhouse, novel materials (such as finger puppets) that promote pretend actions
Promote pretend play by rotating props in dramatic play areas. Providing a toy fish and turtle may prompt some toddlers to extend Option 3. To prevent an overabundance of play materials, be sure to put one item away for every item added. Display books with subjects of interest to the toddlers. Arrange baskets of books in the building area.
Place people and animal figures in a sensory table. Place novel items near the dollhouse, such as finger puppets or small farm animals.
Materials Needed: simple toys such as blocks, animal figures, dollhouse, people figures
Preschool-age children may enjoy participating in Option 3. Children’s storytelling and imaginative play can be fostered in a mixed-age setting by providing simple toys that children can use in different ways, such as materials listed above. A few well-chosen toys are a better choice than an overabundance of play items. Stay close during imaginative play to observe, assist when needed, and facilitate turn taking.
Young children often act out stories of their own making that involve running, climbing, and shouting. Provide time and materials for preschool-age children and toddlers to talk about their imaginative play
Preschool-age and older children often enjoy telling stories structured by an adult. Example: “One day a group of friends got on a train and went to _______ (children respond). When they got there it was raining, so the friends _________(children respond).” Continue for a minute. End the story by saying the children all returned home.
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