The Big Green Pocketbook Preschool Activities

Bring a story to life by setting up activities based on the book.  Have you heard or read, The Big Green Pocketbook by Candice Ransom?  It has quickly become a favorite story to read around here, so I set up 7 hands-on learning activities for my preschooler inspired by the story!

Little Sis received the book, The Big Green Pocketbook just before she turned 3.  

I had not read the book before, but knew it had to be a good one if it was part of the Before Five in a Row book list. 

Surprisingly, for a "longer" picture book, it quickly became a favorite!

We loved spending a week with this precious book in our homeschool!

post may contain affiliate links.  

The Big Green Pocketbook Preschool Activities

To begin our Playful Preschool plans in November, we spent a week doing different activities to go along with The Big Green Pocketbook!

During our week, we followed the schedule I shared in our Preschool Plans post; thankful that I decided to do it this way-- it makes planning so much more manageable and gives Little Sis something special to do each day.  Now whether or not she does it is a different story ; )

Have you read,The Big Green Pocketbook before?

It is really a sweet story about a mother and daughter going about town together.  And as they do the little girl collects things from their journey to town.

There is a surprising twist at the end of the story, so you'll have to read the book to find out what happens!

Here's a bit of our week:

The Big Green Pocketbook Math Skills

• Ice Cube Patterns

Over the summer I purchased some citrus ice cubes and since the little girl in the story picked up some orange slices for daddy at the store, I made a little patterned task tray using the ice cubes.

• Stack the Coins Money Game

The little girl and her mom stopped at the bank "where the cool marble walls smelled like pennies...."  There's a few ways to play this money math game, but for Little Sis we used this game to work on fine motor and counting skills using our play coin set.

• Shapes Print {art & math!}

To incorporate the little girls shirt covered in shapes.  On a blank canvas, Little Sis stamped triangles, squares, and circles using paint.

The Big Green Pocketbook Literacy Skills

• Uppercase/ Lowercase Name Recognition

While at the insurance office, the little girl "typed her name first in big letters, then in little letters."

The Big Green Pocketbook Sensory Play

• Mess-free Color Mixing 

  I added a squirt of blue and green paint into a zip lock bag, and had little sis squish them around to make green.

The Big Green Pocketbook Craft

• Lace a Foam GREEN Purse

Using a large piece of green foam, I folded it in half and cut out the purse shape, then used a hole punch to punch holes around it.

Extra Fun

• Story Tray

With the book and tray full of story elements, Little Sis and I sat together on the couch and read the book.

As I read, she added the items to her purse.  

We had felt lollipops, punched tickets, key chain, orange slices, a calendar, crayons, etc!  

At first she wasn't sure of this activity, but I think it was a success 3 readings later : )

In the end, it was a wonderful week!

To top it all off, the whole family went to an old-fashioned ice cream shop just like the little girl did with her mom in the story, The Big Green Pocketbook.  Our ice cream wasn't square shaped, but it was a fun and yummy family outing!

I'm just in awe over how many activities we did from one storybook!  There were so many hands-on opportunities to learn and play.  Grab a copy of The Big Green Pocketbook with your little one and enjoy!

More Book Based Preschool Activities:

• Sound Matching Game for The Quiet Way Home 

•  Going on a Bear Hunt Sensory Bags 

•  ABC Bunny Carrot Patch Sensory Bin 

• Blueberries for Sal Preschool Math Activities