B is for Banana

Here are some additional Banana activities.

• Read: Baxter The Banana by Sean Sullivan 
• A friend gave me this book YEARS ago, before I was even married and had kids, but I’ve kept it around and it is perfect for banana preschool. I CANT find it anywhere online….but it’s a book about a green banana that wants to be yellow. Then after awhile, he turns yellow like all the other bananas. (see activity below)

• Green and Yellow Bananas (this goes along with Baxter the Banana board book)
             ***This is a cutting, sorting and gluing project
1. I drew some banana shapes on green paper and yellow paper (you could also draw them on white paper and have your preschooler color them!)
2. Practicing cutting skills and cut out all the bananas
• Sort them by color, and if you drew them different sizes, sort them by size too!
3. Glue the sorted bananas on another piece of paper, divided in the middle – Green and Yellow.

• Banana counting and matching
1. Print this banana worksheet and have your preschooler trace all the B’s
2. I made these banana stickers on with my Silhouette, designed just for this project, or you can buy these banana stickers.
3. Match the 1 banana stickers to the 1 banana on their worksheet, cover up a B with it. Keep going until all the B’s are covered with the matching number of bananas in their column.

• Banana Cutting
1. Get a banana and a plastic knife (or a butter knife if you trust your preschooler!) and let them practice cutting a banana into slices.

Click HERE for lots more BANANA preschool ideas on our blog!!

B is for Banana

• Examine a banana
  1. What does it look like?
  2. What does it smell like?
  3. What does it feel like?
  4. What does it TASTE like?!

 

• Make a Banana ‘B’ … I wasn’t planning on this, but we ended up making a ‘B’ out of our bananas!

• Read “Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana” by James Dean … we love Pete the Cat books here. In this book, Pete loves bananas, until he eats a bad banana one day. It takes some time to realize he really loves bananas again Book available here.

• Do ‘B’ journal page
  1. Write ‘Bb’ on the next blank page
  2. Write “BANANA” on the page.
  3. Practice writing big B’s and little b’s.
  4. Add banana stickers to the page. I used some that I found at JoAnn. There are some fun scratch-n-sniff banana stickers here.

• Use Bananagrams to Read, Build, Write … Bananagrams available here.
  1. Print these ‘Read, Build, Write’ cards here. Laminate the cards. I use this laminator at home. 
  2. I wrote a word and drew a simple picture so my 4-year-old could “read” the word.
  3. Use the Bananagrams to “build” the word.
  4. TIP: You could also use Scrabble tiles or ABC magnets or simply print the letters out and cut them apart.
  5. Let your preschooler practice writing the word.

• Read “Banana!” by Ed Vere … this book is uses only two words. Banana and please It’s a fun picture book about two monkeys learning to share one banana. Simple and cute. Available here.

 

• Banana chip counting … great counting and one-to-one practice
  1. Print this banana counting page here.
  2. We used these transparent counting chips and they worked great. I was going to use these banana candies, but I just didn’t order them in time.
  3. Roll a die and count the dots.
  4. Cover that number of bananas with counting chips (or banana candies).
  5. TIP: My 2-year-old loved just covering each banana with a bingo chip. That works too

• Slice a banana & make a snack
  1. Help your preschooler peel and slice a banana. A simple butter knife or plastic knife works well.
  2. Place banana slices in the bottom of a dessert cup.
  3. Mix a small package of banana-flavored instant pudding.
  4. Pour over the bananas.
  5. Refrigerate 5-10 minutes.
  6. Top with freshly whipped cream and mini Nilla wafers.

Banana Pops

1. Peel a banana and cut into 2 or 3 pieces.
2. Insert a popsicle stick into the bottom of each banana.
3. Use a spoon to coat the banana in yogurt (any flavor, we used vanilla)
4. Roll in granola, nuts or sprinkles
5. Freeze for an hour or eat right away

                                   Yum!