Mouse shape craft

I had never heard of this book before but saw it pinned on Pinterest and instantly fell in love with it before even reading it. The pin came from a lovely blog called Little Page Turners. Since I have been reviewing shapes with my preschooler this past week &#;Mouse Shapes&#; by Ellen Stoll Walsh was a perfect book!

It is a cute story about  3 mice who are trying to get away from a cat. They run into a pile of shapes and make all sorts of different things out them, and finally discover they can make big mice with the shapes to scare away the cat.

After reading the book we started by getting out our blocks and making things out of shapes. My Dino obsessed son made himself some dinosaurs with his blocks. He has done this before in the past. Here is his Stegosaurus below.

Here is his really long Tyrannosaurus Rex. He made sure each hand only had two claws and that it had big sharp teeth.

After exploring with the shapes, we used the idea from Little Page Turners to recreate the mice in the story out of shapes.

My son had to find all the right colors of shapes that were used in the story to make the mice just right and then we glued all the pieces onto paper. They turned out pretty darn cute if you ask me. Haha!

After we were done with the mice, my preschooler wanted to make the cat in the story. I helped him cut the triangles for the teeth and nose, but he cut everything else out himself and glued it all together himself. I must say I am very frightened of the teeth on that cat!

I also found some fabulous free shape printables HERE. We used the Making Shapes Worksheet to trace the shapes and shape names.

We used the Match the Shapes Worksheet to draw a line between the shapes that are the same.

We also used the Following Directions Worksheet so my son could practice following directions. It was also great to practice concepts like big, small, largest, smallest, and all. I know this was a big thing my oldest did in Kindergarten last year so I want my preschooler to get some practice.

The last activity we did with shapes this week is play I Spy. We LOVE to play this game at our house. We decided to use our Family Room this time but we took turns saying &#;I spy a circle (or whatever shape)&#; and we had to find the correct object in the room. It can get difficult with tons of different shapes in the room so we usually add a little description like &#;I spy a red circle&#;, etc. I usually get sick of this activity before my kids do, just a warning! hahaha

Linking up to THESE Fun Parties!

Do you have a little one you&#;re teaching shapes to? Are you on the hunt for shape activities for kids to make learning fun?

Have you ever heard of a book called Mouse Shapes? It is by Ellen Stoll Walsh and is the precious story of three clever little mice who use shapes to create things.

They use a triangle and a square to make a house.

They use a rectangle and two circles to make a wagon.

Guess what they use to make a fish?

Shapes are a great way to create things and encourage a child to use their imagination.

While you enjoy this story encourage your kids to create things.

Here are seven pages of shapes in many sizes and many colors.

Print them out and let your little ones practice their scissor skills cutting out each shape.

Think of all the things they can create!

Print all seven pages of the printable shapes here.  <<&#;&#; click to print 

There are blue circles.

There are orange diamonds.

There are yellow squares.

There are blue triangles.

There are orange triangles.

There are purple hexagons.

And there are green ovals.

Think of all the things you can create.

Let your little ones have fun arranging and creating.

And while you&#;re here, check out all of the amazing books by Ellen Stoll Walsh. She has books that are perfect for kids learning colors, shapes and numbers!

I have partnered with over 10 other bloggers who are sharing their fun activities you can share with your kiddos as you read all of Ellen Stoll Walsh&#;s books!

More Books By Ellen Stoll Walsh

Check out all Mouse Paint, Mouse Shapes and Mouse Count activities.

Check out all the Mouse Paint activities:

Check out all the Mouse Shapes activities:

Check out all the Mouse Count activities:

I hope that you enjoy these activities!

Are you looking for a simple book-inspired activity for your kids? After reading one of the mouse books by Laura Numeroff or any other mouse themed story, your kids will have fun creating this Mouse Shape Craft!

Mouse Shape Craft:

Not only will this book-inspired craft help your kids practice recognizing and naming shapes, but it will help them develop their fine motor skills too. By cutting and gluing the shapes together, your kids will work on their hand muscle strength, hand and eye coordination, and much more! These are important skills for pre-readers and pre-writers!

Getting Ready To Make The Mouse Shape Craft:

This post may contain affiliate links.  Please read our disclosure here.

What’s Included:

• Mouse Shape Templates (in color and black and white)

What Else Is Needed:

• Mouse Book for Kids
• White Card Stock or Copy Paper
• Scissors
• Stick Glue
• Crayons (optional)
• Construction Paper (optional)

To prepare to make this craft, click on the pencil below to automatically download and print either the color or black and white templates on white card stock or copy paper.

How To Make The Mouse Shape Craft:

If you are using the black and white templates, your kids will color the triangle and the large circles brown. Next, they will color the smaller circle pink. They will then color the last, small circle and three, thin rectangles black. You can also have your students use the templates to trace the shapes on brown, black, pink, and white construction paper.

If you are using the colored templates (or after coloring the shapes,) your children will cut all of the shapes out.

Next, they will glue the pink circles onto the brown circles to create the mouse’s ears. Your kids will then glue the mouse’s ears onto the triangle or the mouse’s head.

After attaching the ears, your children will glue the small, black circle onto the triangle for the mouse’s nose. They will then flip the triangle over and glue the three, thin rectangles onto the back of the mouse’s nose to create the whiskers. Finally, your kids will glue the mouse’s eyes onto the center of the triangle.

This Mouse Shape Craft is such a fun project for your kids to create after reading their favorite mouse book. It’s also a great way for them to learn about shapes and develop their fine motor skills.

Pin It For Later:

Do you want to save this book-inspired craft for later? Pin this to your children’s book board on Pinterest and it’ll be here for when you’re ready!

You May Also Like:

These Back-To-School Fine Motor Tubs are a fun, hands-on way for your students develop their fine motor skills, hand and eye coordination, and hand muscle strength. These fine motor activities can be used for centers, morning tubs, or as enrichment activities for early finishers. Click on the picture to see everything that is included in the bundle!

If you like this mouse craft, you may also like these book-inspired activities:

Download The Freebie:

Click on the pencil below to automatically download and print the craft templates!

We had such fun playing with our mouse shape puppets! We made these puppets after reading Mouse Shapes (affiliate link) by Ellen Stoll Walsh (our choice for this month&#;s Virtual Book Club for Kids).

Making Mouse Shapes Puppets

Cut out a variety of shapes &#; triangles, circles, and squares were mostly what we used for these puppets. I used a ruler to draw the lines for the squares and triangles before I cut them out, and I traced circle-shaped objects before I cut the circles.

We modeled three of our mice puppets on the ones the mice in the book build from their shapes. We used the same general shapes and colors they use. But basically, if you use a triangle for the face and 2 circles for the eyes, your puppet can look like a mouse! Triangle ears, a triangle body, a rectangle body &#; any of these could work!

First we glued together our mouse heads. We glued smaller circles onto slightly larger circles for the eyes. Then we glued circle ears onto corners of the triangle faces, and the eyes onto the faces. We glued the faces onto the bodies. Like the mice the book, we glued the faces so that about half of the triangle was on the body shape.

Once these were dry, I cut tails shapes out, and glued tails onto the back of the mice. Then we glue the mice onto craft sticks. And then we played! We also used these puppets to play as we read both Mouse Paint and Mouse Count. Check out the other Ellen Stoll Walsh activities on the Virtual Book Club For Kids Facebook page and on our Pinterest board.