Ask them to rip out the pages where they find their chosen shape and then cut out the images with the shape in them. Permanent marker (to write names on bags).Įach child picks a shape as his or her focus and looks through magazines, hunting for that shape in the images or text.Brightly-colored solid origami paper (optional).Old magazines (especially those with buildings, vehicles, furniture, and animals).White drawing paper, cardstock, or construction paper for background.To excite more consideration of zooming the mind’s eye in and out, pair this with Istvan Banyai’s wordless books, Zoom and Re-zoom (both 1998).Įxtension appropriate for English language learnersĪs an extension activity, kids read the rhyming stanzas in the book, and then compose some of their own about the different places they found specific shapes. This activity can be done focusing on any shape, or kids in different groups could each create a mural based on a different shape. When the mural is completed, hang it up and ask viewers to find as many triangles as they can. This can be done individually, or kids can be divided into groups and challenged to see how many ideas they can imagine.īased on their brainstormed lists, kids make a mural together, incorporating as many of their ideas as possible into one image.

Encourage them to “zoom in” and think about small things (like the wing on a flea) and “zoom out” and think about big things (like a mountain), and to think of their own ideas that aren’t in the book.

Large white drawing paper or roll paperĪfter reading The Wing on a Flea, ask kids to make a list of all of the things a triangle can be.

Lined or plain paper for brainstorming notes.

Two Activities for ages 4 and up, by Jessica YoungĮxtension for English language learners, by Francisca Goldsmith The whimsical, black-line drawings and bold, colored shapes are engaging and fun, and the rhythmic, rhyming text makes The Wing on a Flea a great read-aloud that leads kids to discover a new way to look at the world around them, whether indoors or outside.

This Ed Emberley classic, originally published as his 1961 debut, teaches kids about shapes and explores how shapes are found throughout our world.

How many things can a triangle be? The beak on a bird? The wing on a flea?

The Wing on a Flea by Ed Emberley