- crayons
- drawing paper
- glue
- markers
- mural paper
- paint
- paintbrushes
- scissors
- bellow
- chug
- engine
- mountain
- roll
- track
- wheel
MA Standards:
Writing: W.PK.MA.2: Use a combination of dictating and drawing to explain information about a topic.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Experiments with writing tools and materials.
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Uses scribbles, shapes, pictures, and letters to represent objects, stories, experiences, or ideas.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Composition 16: Use their own words or illustrations to describe their experiences, tell imaginative stories, or communicate information about a topic of interest.
“The Little Engine That Could” Mural
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Creative Expression, Small Motor Skills, Vocabulary
Invite children to work together to create a “The Little Engine That Could” mural.
- Draw a line horizontally across a large sheet of mural paper to represent the climb up the mountain and back down.
- Have children decide which part of the story they want to illustrate. Have children decide who will do each task, or assign tasks as needed.
- Let children draw the trains on paper, cut them out, and glue them to the mural. Provide help as needed.
- Have children use the completed mural as a backdrop to retell the entire story, building it around what their illustration shows.
- Place a placard next to the mural that says “Illustrated by . . .” and have children write their names.