Make your own Hattie and the Fox Hen House
Make your own Hattie and the Fox Hen House
This week at Wide Bay Kids Playgroup we made our own Hattie and the Fox Hen House……..and we were so super excited about the news that Mem Fox, Author of the book Hattie and Fox will visit Bundaberg next year. We cannot wait to see her at the children’s session themed around this book.
“Hattie is a big black hen who sees something hiding in the bushes. Hattie’s farmyard friends – the cow, the sheep, the goose, the horse and the pig, all couldn’t be bothered to see who was lurking in the bushes. Finally Hattie warns the others of the sneaky fox and there is a fun ending you may not see coming.”
To celebrate this beautiful book and to prepare our play group children for Mem’s visit we made our very own hen house in our cubby house at playgroup. This was a big hit with the children, it provided them with an imaginary place to feed the chickens and collect the eggs……and is easily something you could make at home using just a few materials.
Here are some ideas to get you started on creating your own hen house.
What you need:
- large boxes with sides about 15cm high
- yellow or cream crepe paper streamers (I used about 10 streamers per box)
- stuffed toy chickens or stuffed paper chickens
- plastic cups
- a large container for feed
- feed – you can use popping corn kernels, lentils, rice, dried beans etc
- egg cartons
- toy eggs
- basket
What you need to do:
- Unravel your crepe paper streamers and place into your boxes to create a nest for your chickens (kids love to be involved in this part)
- Place your chickens on top of their nests
- Hide eggs under the chickens and in their nests
- Pour your feed into a large container and place in a few plastic cups as scoops
- Place extra cups in front of each chicken for their feeding bowls
- Display your egg cartons in the hen house
- Supply a basket for the children to gather eggs with
Once your hen house is ready, invite your children to feed their pet chickens and collect the eggs.
If you haven’t yet read Hattie and the Fox, the Bundaberg Library has copies for loan. After you read the book you could play a peek a boo game, sing ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ or ‘Old MacDonald has a Farm’. Some of my other favourite Mem Fox books are:
- Possum Magic
- The Magic Hat
- Goodnight Night , Sleep Tight
- Wombat Divine
- Where is the Green Sheep
Can you recommend some other fantastic children’s books for children under 5? Have you any other ideas for a farm themed activity? Let me know how your chicken house goes?
