The Mitten: Easy Activities and Curriculum for Young Learners

Jan Brett’s ‘The Mitten’ is a classic story for early childhood or elementary aged children. The perfect book to read during the winter, it offers several ways to creatively teach curriculum standards. Follow along for my ideas!

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Sidebar: These mittens from Amazon are excellent for kids! They come in three different sizes and have zippers to make putting them on easier.

The Mitten

‘The Mitten’ is a story that I can remember learning in elementary school and one that I have passed on to my kids as well. It lends itself easily to several subject matters, plus its a great book if you’re focusing on seasons instead of holidays during the month of December.

First and foremost, you’re going to need a copy of the book! If you’d like to own rather than borrow from the library, here’s the Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3TkJWet

Sidebar #2- There’s a companion book to ‘The Mitten’ called ‘The Hat‘, as well as several other books written by Jan Brett with the hedgehog character, Hedgie!

Art inspired by ‘The Mitten’

Mitten Art

I’ve created these mitten templates that you can use for a variety of activities. They are currently FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers store or you can download below.

Mitten-blanks

Here are a few ideas to use with the blank mittens:

1. Family homework- have each student take home a mitten to decorate with their family.
2. Bulletin board display
3. Coloring pages for indoor recess
4. Coloring pages for early finishers
5. Glue small squares of tissue paper to them to create a stained glass look
6. Use different craft items to make collages
7. Write: My helping hands…

Mitten Weaving

Make two large mittens out of cardstock (or just use this template), use a one-hole punch to punch holes about every inch along the outside of each mitten. Weave yarn through the holes to “sew” the mittens together. Don’t close up the wrist area! Instead, just like in the story, have the animals hide in the mitten.

Letters/Handwriting

Choose ‘M’ as your letter of the week. Discuss ‘M’ words like mitten and mouse from the story. You can also practice handwriting by:

1. Use this worksheet to practice upper and lowercase M.
2. Do you have snow? Bring some inside on a sensory tray, have the kids put on their gloves and make M’s in the snow.
3. Go out in the snow and use your feet to make big M’s.
4. No snow? Make M’s with your finger in white sand, shaving cream or whipped cream.

Science

Seasons/Weather

This story is a great way to discuss the seasons, specifically winter and winter weather. Explain that not all areas of the world have the same weather at the same time of year. Show the children pictures of different temperate zones and decide if you would need to wear mittens. If the students are older you could discuss at what temperature items freeze, introducing Centigrade versus Fahrenheit.

Hibernation

What do animals do in the winter? Here are 17 ways to teach children about hibernation from Mrs. D’s Corner.

Math

Use your mittens to measure! Choose items around the classroom and have kids wear their mittens (or just pretend and hold their hands in the mitten shape). Measure how many “mittens” tall, long or wide different items are.

Literature

Sequencing with ‘The Mitten’

This is another great story for sequencing practice. (See also: The Gingerbread Man or If You Give a Dog a Donut.) Using the weaving project from above, have the students practice the sequencing of the story by placing their animals into the mitten in the correct order.

‘The Mitten’ Vocabulary

Students can learn to write and read new vocabulary words thanks to the interesting animals in the story. Check out this quick and easy printable for a list of the animal names and their pictures. Kids can color in the animals and match them to the correct word.

Social Skills

-If you live in an area with typical winter weather, have the kids practice putting on their winter gear! Taking one child out into the snow can take forever….getting an entire classroom of kids geared up and ready in time for the playground is a miracle. Extra practice with snow pants, boots, mittens and hats is a must!

-Cold hands, Warm hearts
Make mitten inspired kindness charts. Every time you “catch” an act of kindness have the children mark their mitten. Display in the classroom to see just how kind everyone can be. These charts are also perfect for a winter reading chart or even potty charts!

Gross Motor Skills

Winter time in the northern states can be rough- days on end that are too cold to get much needed outside time for little ones. If this sounds familiar, start saving your newspapers! Ball up newspaper pages and have an indoor snowball fight to get some energy out.

Looking for more curriculum? I’ve got all of my ideas linked by subject to my curriculum page.

Tired of the winter weather and want to go south? Check out my homeschooling with Disney World posts!