We adore Julia Donaldson books and today I’m sharing our favourite The Snail and The Whale activities, craft ideas and resources to make and do alongside reading the book.
This book is such a great read with it’s tale of an amazing adventure for the whale and a tiny snail as they travel across the ocean and around the world. It also has gorgeous illustrations by Alex Scheffler and a great use of rhyme telling the story that always keeps kids captivated.
The Snail And The Whale Activities and Crafts
As well as loads of The Snail and The Whale craft ideas you’ll find some fun educational activities and resources as well so you can choose the activities that are best suited to your kids age and interests.
There’s lots of inspiration here with everything from Snail and the Whale teaching ideas to sensory play and from paper plate crafts and origami to measuring activities, reading worksheets and process art – tons of fantastic resources that everyone can enjoy!
We love sharing free printable templates (because free is always a good thing, right?) and what better way to start off than with this whale template. There’s two different designs and lots of ideas for ways to use the templates too or of course you can always use it as a coloring sheet, just grab the markers or colored pencils. We have a free snail template with three different designs too!
This CD snail from Arty Crafty Kids is the perfect excuse to use up old CDs or DVDs that you have at home.
The Snail and The Whale movable paper plate craft from Crafts on Sea
Letter of the week crafts are often popular so if this is something that you’re looking at why not check out this W is for Whale craft from Kids Activities Blog
This Snail and The Whale painted rock from The Inspiration Edit would be good for older kids to make or you could make one and use it in a sensory bin or as a way to help re-tell the story.
I adore this pretty whale suncatcher from A Little Pinch of Perfect
The snail the whale meet loads of different animals during their travels and we’ve got some printables which are perfect for some of those that they come into with including this free penguin template and this free shark template.
I love this Snail and The Whale sensory bin from Growing Book By Book especially the little whale toy to play with.
Create a sea shell whale following this tutorial from Crafts on Sea
Panmacmillian who publish the book have got some free resources on their site with a make a whale coloring sheet, a coloring sheet showing the whale at the end of the story, a draw your own snail activity sheet, color by numbers ocean scene and a sheet where you can draw the snail on the teachers blackboard.
This paper plate orca from Crafts on Sea can easily have it’s colors changed to become more like the whale in the tale.
These whale measuring activities from Preschool Powol Packets are a really good way for kids to get an understanding of how big a whale actually is (after all they are huge!) If you don’t have room outside for measuring the whole of a whale then it’s a great idea to just go with the whale’s tail. You could draw your snail on the end of it too!
Make some pretty shake painted snail rocks following these instructions from Kids Craft Room
I love seeing what kids really have enjoyed making and these model magic snail and whale’s from 3 Dinosaurs are a great example of something creative made at home.
Help your child remember the different parts of the story with this story telling wheel from Rainy Day Mum complete with icebergs, waves and of course our heroes.
Teaching Ideas shares lots of practical ideas for looking at The Snail and The Whale including activities to look at the adjectives in the book and simple ideas for maths and science that would be really good for use in a classroom.
The TES shares a resource pack of The Snail and The Whale reading worksheets.
These egg carton whales from I Heart Crafty Things are absolutely gorgeous and a great way to use recycled materials to craft with.
I love these sweet origami whales from Red Ted Art.
Follow the tutorial to make a paper bag whale from A Little Pinch of Perfect
Tissue paper is one of my favourite craft materials and this tissue paper snail from Fireflies and Mudpies is a great match to make alongside this children’s book.
Create a button snail with this tutorial from I Heart Arts and Crafts.
More Activities for Julia Donaldson books
Have you seen our paper bag puppets for The Scarecrows Wedding? Perfect for a bit of imaginative play!
Or this What The Ladybird Heard paper plate craft can be adapted for young or older kids
Love sensory play? This Superworm sensory bin is great fun!
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