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There was an old lady who swallowed a fly- Super cute activity! 
 There was an old lady who swallowed a fly…
This is such a popular book with kids of all ages! It’s a classic “holes” book (holes peeking through from one page to the next), it has simple and repetitive text, and it’s a silly story! A few months back we had a preschool co-op day themed around this book so I came up with a simple activity to help the kids interact with the book a little bit more. 
 
Supplies:
I sketched a simple picture of a lady on the paint stick and used my crayola paints to fill her in. I also added a few details (glasses, ruffles) using sharpie markers. Then I used my label maker to print stickers for each animal/insect in the book. I stuck them to where the old lady’s belly might be 🙂
I found this blog and worksheet with simple pictures of the animals/insects in the book. Apparently some books add in a goat to the story (mine doesn’t, but I didn’t realize that until later), so check your book before using the goat picture! VERY IMPORTANT TIP: when you print the worksheet, reduce the size to 45%. If you skip this step, the pictures will be too large to fit on the clothespins!
Craft and literacy activity for preschoolers going along with the book "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly"!
That’s all there is to making this simple craft! Once the paint is dry and the glue is cured, it’s storytime! When I first did this activity with my preschool group, I gave each child a clothespin before the story began. As I read I would ask for the children to place their clothespins on the lady as we got to the correct part of the story. It was a great way to keep them attentive to the story!
My oldest son and I just read the book together and worked on story sequencing and fine motor skills (opening the clothespins). We’ve done the activity a few times now and he still enjoys it!
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Don’t forget to pin and share this idea!
 
Fine motor and story retelling activit for "Thre Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" LOVE this!

16 thoughts on ““There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” Activity”

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    1. I’m so glad, Doreen! It’s such a fun way to bring the book to life 🙂

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  5. Love this activity but am having problems trying to print the worksheet for Old Lady who swallowed a fly. I have a MacBook Pro– I could only take a screenshot and then the images were dark. Any suggestions to a novice? Thanks.

    1. Wish I could help, but I’ve got no clue how to work with Macs 🙁 There may be other blogs who offer similar print outs, though.Maybe try a quick Google search for “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly printable” Hope that helps!

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  9. Will use this with my granddaughter. Thank you. I just bought the book. I am on my way to visit and celebrate her 2nd BD. She will love this.

    1. That is great!! The book is always popular with kids and I’m glad you found our activity to go along with it <3 Enjoy the birthday celebrations!

  10. So cool! I’m going to use this for my Storytime craft at the library this week. And we are going to do “Today is Monday” by Eric Carle on the back side of it!

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