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Play with Me by Mary Hall Ets teaches even the littlest student the importance of nature and patience.

Play with Me is an older book, and some see the illustrations as dated, but it is dear to me. This book taught my boys how to simply sit in the woods or near a pond and to observe the sounds and sights around them. It was the beginning of learning how to study nature.

Our Play with Me lapbook includes activities to enhance your readings of the story.

Play with Me Lapbook Printables

How Many Blue Jays?
Read the rhyme together:
“There was one blue jay in a little tree,
He was all alone, and he didn’t want to be.
So he flew far away, over the sea,
And brought back a friend to live in the tree.”

Use the page provided as a math mat. Add and count blue jays as you repeat the rhyme.

Do You Want to Play?
The little girl in Play with Me is trying to play with the animals. Use this page to ask your student which animals he would or wouldn’t want to play with.

Animals include some of the same animals found in the story: deer, snake, chipmunk, frog, turtle, and grasshopper.

Animal Guessing Game
This game includes eight matchbooks.

Each matchbook has three clues on the outside. The clues relate to an animal from the story. After you read the clues to your student, can she guess the animal? Student can cut and paste the images inside the matchbooks and the game can be played again and again.

The animals included in this guessing game are: rabbit, grasshopper, turtle, deer, chipmunk, frog, blue jay, and snake.

A is for Animals
Introduce or review the letter A. Use the final folder to emphasize the A sound. A is for alligator. A is for Animals.

How to Get Started with the Play with Me Lapbook

Follow these simple instructions to get started with the Play with Me lapbook.

  1. Buy a copy of the book, Play with Me, or grab one from your local library.
  2. Print the Play with Me lapbook.
  3. Choose and prepare the printables you want to use with your student.
  4. Enjoy a week of nature based learning with your preschool student.

Download Your Play with Me Lapbook

Simply click on the image below to grab the free Play with Me lapbook.

Play with Me Lapbook

More Animal Themed Resources

Does your preschool student enjoy animals? Try these other Homeschool Share unit studies and lapbooks:

Quick as a Cricket Unit Study and Lapbook
Over in the Meadow Lapbook
Feathers for Lunch Lapbook