The Scarecrow’s Hat Activities and Printables: Fall is the perfect time to dive into The Scarecrow’s Hat by author-illustrator Ken Brown, a scarecrow picture book full of trading, problem-solving, and resourcefulness. This clever story follows a resourceful chicken who admires a scarecrow’s old straw hat. With the help of her farm animal friends, she embarks on a trading adventure—swapping items like a walking stick, until she reaches the end of the story in a delightful and surprising way.
As you read, you’ll notice how Ken Brown’s realistic watercolors and white patterns bring the animals to life, making it a fun theme for young learners. This charming circular story is also a fantastic way to target sequencing, vocabulary, comprehension, and student writing skills. That’s why having The Scarecrow’s Hat activities and printables at your fingertips is such a great way to bring the text to life in your classroom. This is a must-read for any and every scarecrow theme lesson or week at school.
What’s Inside the Scarecrow’s Hat Activities and Printables
This engaging set of teaching tools features hands-on activities, printable worksheets, and story activities designed to save you time while keeping your young students engaged and excited about learning. Whether you’re teaching kindergarten, 1st grade, or supporting English language arts in early grades, this pack has everything you need.
Here’s a closer look at what’s included with The Scarecrow’s Hat Activities:
- Comprehension questions to guide whole-group or small-group discussion
- Writing prompts that encourage sequential writing and reflection (What would you trade? What’s something you’d never give up?)
- Sentence strips and anchor charts for story retelling
- Word cards for vocabulary, oral language, and speech therapy practice
- Emergent reader pages and a free mini-pack option to try out
- Colorful pattern page and white template printables for art integration
- Scarecrow craft ideas using yellow construction paper and different parts of a scarecrow
- Math skills tie-ins like number of the week, math concepts, and sorting with dotted lines and graphic arts connections
- Social studies extensions (discussion about Native Americans, farming, or even conservation of wildlife)
Teachers also get lesson plans and suggestions for differentiation, making it flexible for young children or even middle school special education groups who need oral language support.
How I Use The Scarecrow’s Hat Activities and Printables
When I bring this scarecrow unit to my classroom, I like to stretch it over several days to build comprehension and engagement. Here’s one example of a pacing guide:
- Day 1: Read The Scarecrow’s Hat picture book aloud. Pause at each trade to let students predict the correct sequence of the swaps.
- Day 2: Use the printable worksheets to practice sequencing and student writing.
- Day 3: Create a scarecrow craft using yellow construction paper and label the different parts of a scarecrow with word cards.
- Day 4: Connect to math concepts like trading, bartering, and counting using the number of the week activity.
- Day 5: Extend the story activities by role-playing the various characters—the scarecrow with tired arms, the little scarecrow boy, the old lady, and, of course, the clever chicken.
This becomes such a fun experience for kids and a fun way to review comprehension, sequencing, and writing skills.
Why These Resources Are a Great Way to Teach
- They connect to English language arts standards through comprehension, letter recognition, and literacy practice.
- They allow for integration across the curriculum: math skills, social studies, and even speech therapy.
- They give your young students a fun theme to work on while reinforcing relatable themes of friendship and helping students practice writing prompts with sequential writing.
In short, this is not just a book study—it’s a fantastic way to make fall learning meaningful and engaging.
A Note for Teachers
This packet is also substitute-ready, so you can leave it as part of your lesson plans without worry.
Wrap-Up
The Scarecrow’s Hat is one of those timeless fall favorites that blends relatable themes of friendship, a clever story, and an inventive plot into one book. With The Scarecrow’s Hat activities and printables, you’ll have everything you need to create fun activities, writing prompts, scarecrow activities, and hands-on activities that your students will love.
If you’re ready to dive into this engaging set of teaching tools, you can grab it here:
👉 The Scarecrow’s Hat Reading Comprehension Book Companion & Printables
As an Amazon associate, I also recommend grabbing the book itself so you have it on hand. Pairing this scarecrow picture book with the printable worksheets makes for a complete, ready-to-use scarecrow unit that’s a fantastic way to engage your young students all fall long!
