The Mitten: Literacy and Math Activities

Explore The Mitten by Jan Brett with phonemic awareness songs, dramatic play, sight word matching, and hands-on math activities.

The Mitten Phonemic Awareness Song

Source: CTP’s Winter Phonemic Awareness book and CD

Tune: “The Farmer in the Dell”

The Mole

The mole is in the mitten,
The mole is in the mitten.
Me Mi Ma merry o,
The mole is in the mitten.

The Rabbit

The rabbit is in the mitten,
The rabbit is in the mitten.
Re Ri Ra rerry o,
The rabbit is in the mitten.

The Bear

The bear is in the mitten,
The bear is in the mitten.
Be Bi Ba berry o,
The bear is in the mitten.

Continue with the other animals from the story, changing the beginning sounds to match each animal’s name.

The Mitten Dramatic Play

After reading The Mitten by Jan Brett, have students act out the story using animal character cards or headbands.

Materials:

  • The Mitten by Jan Brett
  • Animal character cards or masks
  • Large pretend mitten

Instructions:

  1. Read The Mitten aloud to the class.
  2. Give students character cards or animal headbands representing the animals in the story.
  3. Have students take turns acting out their animal roles.
  4. As each animal enters the mitten in the story, the corresponding student crawls into the large pretend mitten.
  5. Continue until all the animals have entered the mitten.

Printable Resource: The Mitten Animal Masks by Jan Brett

The Mitten Coloring and Story Sequencing

Jan Brett’s website also offers printable mitten and animal characters for children to color.

Students can color the animals, cut them out, and place them inside the mitten.

This activity can also be used to practice sequencing the animals in the order they appear in the story.

Printable Resource: Put the Animals in the Mitten – Jan Brett

Mitten Sight Word Matching

Create a matching game using paper mittens with sight words written on them.

Materials:

  • Paper mitten cutouts
  • Markers
  • Sight word list

Instructions:

  1. Write the same sight word on two paper mitten cutouts.
  2. Make several pairs of matching mittens.
  3. Mix up the mittens and place them on a table or learning center.
  4. Have students read the words and find the matching pairs.

Jan Brett Character Concentration Game

Use character cards from Jan Brett’s stories to play a Concentration matching game.

Instructions:

  1. Print and prepare pairs of character cards.
  2. Place the cards face down.
  3. Students take turns turning over two cards.
  4. If the characters match, the student keeps the pair.
  5. If they do not match, turn the cards face down again.
  6. Continue until all the matching pairs have been found.

Character resources are available on Jan Brett’s website.

Mitten Math: Counting with Snowman Erasers

Practice counting and one-to-one correspondence using a mitten math mat and snowman erasers.

Materials:

  • Mitten math mat
  • Snowman erasers or other small counters
  • Die

Instructions:

  1. Give each student a mitten math mat and a collection of snowman erasers.
  2. Have students roll a die.
  3. Students count the dots on the die.
  4. They place the corresponding number of snowman erasers onto their mitten mats.
  5. Continue rolling and counting for additional practice.

Thanks to Marcia for sharing this mitten math mat.

Printable Resource: Mitten Math Mat – Archived PDF

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wore
costume cards (or you could make headbands) of the characters from
Jan Brett’s “The Mitten”. The children crawled into a pretend mitten
(below). These cards can be found on Jan Brett’s website:

 

http://www.janbrett.com/mitten_masks_main.htm

 

 

Jan Brett’s
site also has a mitten and animal characters for the children to
color:
http://www.janbrett.com/put_the_animals_in_the_mitten.ht

 

Sight words were written on two mittens and children matched them
during a game.

 

These cards are for a Concentration game to match characters from
Jan Brett’s stories. These can also be found on her website.

 

Related Teaching Ideas