This classic cause-and-effect story has been being used for years to give kids an introduction to sequencing in a cute and easy-to-follow way. The little mouse and his giant cookie can inspire different art projects, fun writing prompts, skits, sensory play, and of course, baking!
So before your next literacy lesson, grab If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and pick a few of your favorite activities to try with your toddlers. Here are 30 crafts and reading tasks as tasty as a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies.
1. Cookie Craft
This easy mosaic art project has a few steps for kids to practice their motor skills. To make your giant paper cookies, help your toddlers trace and cut out a big circle on their paper, then have them cut up smaller pieces of brown paper to fill in and decorate the cookie.
Learn more: Izzie, Mac, and Me
2. Spatial Concepts Cards
You can find a printable pack of cards showing the different positions one can be in reference to other objects. Go through these cards with your preschoolers or let them practice their spatial reasoning at home.
Learn more: Charli Shipman SLP
3. Tissue Box Craft
This adorable DIY cookie jar can be set up in your classroom and used for counting practice and student rewards, and if you write letters on each laminated paper cookie you can play spelling and letter recognition games.
Learn more: Homemade Speech
4. Counting Cookie Cards
Help your preschoolers practice their counting skills with these printable cookies. You can use real chocolate chips for the counting or buttons, whatever you have available to make math fun!
Learn more: Playdough to Plato
5. Baking Cookies
Let's bring this book to life with a delicious batch of cookies. There are tons of mouth-watering cookie recipes out there for you to make with your toddlers. Pick one your kids will devour, whether they like fluffy cookies or gooey cookies. No matter what kind you make together, the act of measuring, mixing, scooping, and watching things bake teaches practical life skills.
Learn more: Paging Supermom
6. Paper Bag Mouse
Time to get crafty and make this fun mouse puppet with your preschoolers. You can design the colors and features for your students to follow as a template. Help them cut and glue the arms, ears, and tail, then once they are finished, they can reenact the story with their DIY mouse puppet!
Learn more: Kathy Angelnik
7. Mouse Cupcake Liner Craft
You can make an easy craft using supplies from your kitchen! Grab some cupcake liners and fold them in half. Help your kiddos glue them onto a piece of paper and then decorate them with eyes, a nose, and a tail!
Learn more: I Heart Crafty Things
8. Cookie Shaker Craft
Time to assemble your very own instruments using paper plates, popsicle sticks, paint, and pom poms! Paint the plates to look like cookies, add beans, rice, or buttons between the 2 plates, and staple them together with a stick secured at the bottom. Your preschoolers can dance, shake, and make music for hours!
Learn more: Littles Love Learning
9. Feed The Mouse Math Activity
This cookie craft is not only fun to make, but after your kids have cut and decorated their mouse faces and cookies, they can practice counting by playing games! You can use DIY number cards for them to take turns picking numbers and feeding the mouse the correct amount.
Learn more: The Pinterested Parents
10. Sidewalk Chalk Counting Game
This is a game with multiple fun activities that will get your toddlers moving, listening, reading, and speaking all while enjoying some fresh air! Have your kids draw different letters on the ground with chalk, then call out letters they must run and stand on. You can call out letters that spell out simple words, or use the exercise for alphabet practice.
Learn more: The Educators' Spin on It
11. Cookie Letters
Grab a glass of milk and whip together these fun and educational cookies in the shape of different letters. You can add chocolate chips as a nod to this fun book by Laura Numeroff. Once the cookies are done baking your kids can snack and work on word building and letter recognition.
Learn more: Sweetie and Geek
12. Story Sequencing Worksheet
Here is a free printable worksheet your preschoolers can complete after you've done a read-aloud of the book. Give each student a pair of scissors and help them cut out the squares for each part of the story, then they can try to remember the order in which everything happens.
Learn more: Live Worksheets
13. Mouse Handprint Craft
We can make a creative representation of the cute mouse from the story using our hand as the body! You'll need some paint, a black pen, and some paper. Make sure you leave some space on the palm of your hand where there isn't any paint for the mouse's neck!
Learn more: Kreative in Life
14. Edible Playdough
Toddlers love playing with playdough, but we need to be careful about them trying to eat it. Here is a recipe for chocolate playdough your kids can mold and design into cookies, a mouse, or any other props from this classic story.
Learn more: Coffee Cups and Crayons
15. Paper Plate Painting
Another simple but popular craft your toddlers can paint by themselves, and add their own creativity and character to. All you'll need is paper plates, paints, and cookie inspiration! You can do a read-aloud while your little ones are painting.
Learn more: A Little Pinch of Perfect
16. Playdough Mats
Here is a literacy activity you can use for this book and many others to practice letters, numbers, counting, and motor skills.
Learn more: Life Over CS
17. Mouse Headband
Your little cookie monster will love making and wearing this adorable mouse headband! They can create their own using pink and brown construction paper, black sharpie, scissors, and glue!
Learn more: Neighbor Schools
18. Sensory Box
Many learners understand concepts and stories through visual and tactile materials, so when you are reading through this book you can assemble a sensory box with the items from the book for kids to touch and pick up.
Learn more: Paths to Literacy
19. Milk Painting
To get into the cookies and milk theme let's whip up some milk paint for your toddlers to get creative with! You can make a variety of colors using milk and food coloring, grab some paint brushes and let them paint away.
Learn more: Off The Shelf
20. Puffy Paint Cookies
Here is an art project that feels a little bit like a science experiment. Help your preschoolers mix together shaving cream, glue, and brown coloring to make fluffy puffy cookies. For the chocolate chips, you can ask them to cut out small circles of black paper with scissors.
Learn more: The Resourceful Mama
21. Mouse Math Game
This creative and artistic game involves crafts and math! First, you'll want to make your little mouse using paper and a marker, then cut out some cookie shapes. Grab some dice and have your toddlers roll and use the mouse puppet to pick up the correct number of cookies.
Learn more: Rainy Day Mum
22. Cookies Coins
You can print and cut out these themed coins to practice story sequencing, picture recognition, and memory games with your preschoolers in the classroom or at home.
Learn more: Homeschool Share
23. Outdoor Maze Making
Let's get some fresh air and work on spatial awareness by creating an outdoor maze out of sticks. Help your preschoolers find sticks and work together to build a maze on the ground. Then they can take turns having a little toy mouse run through the maze to get to the cookie!
Learn more: Mother Natured | Nature Play for Kids
24. Eating and Counting with Cookies
Now here is a math game your kids will jump for joy to play! It's a sensory experience that uses taste to determine the number of chocolate chips in a single cookie. Each student gets a cookie, and as they eat it they will try to taste and feel how many chips are inside!
Learn more: Homeschool Share
25. Find the Cookie Maze
Here is a worksheet you can have your preschoolers complete after you've read the book as a class. Make sure they use pencils so they can erase if they make mistakes.
Learn more: Homeschool Share
26. Understanding Mouse Time
You can print out this story-themed clock with the objects from the book and use it to teach your students how to read an analog clock. You can explain how each item is in the space of a number and practice telling time.
Learn more: Pinterest
27. Mouse Shaped Cookies
A simple but clever idea, and fun for your kids to create! You can use any cookie recipe you prefer and have your little ones shape and mold the dough into small circle shapes to form a mouse cookie.
Learn more: Pinterest
28. Mouse Sticks
This cute little craft can work in so many contexts. Each student can easily make their own and use it as a puppet to act along with the story or create their own versions! All you need is some popsicle sticks, construction paper, scissors, and google eyes.
Learn more: Glued to my Crafts Blog
29. Writing Prompt
Time for some creative writing to inspire the author in your preschoolers. Once you've gone over the story as a class, give each student this sheet with the prompt "If you take a mouse to school..." and see what they write!
Learn more: Smitten with First Blog
30. Cookie Jar Letter Sorting
You can find printable cookie jars with upper and lower case letters to play a fun alphabet game with your preschoolers!
Learn more: From ABCs to ACTs
50 Fun Outdoor Preschool Activities