Where Is the Green Sheep? Find One of Your Own

Book Title: Where Is the Green Sheep?

Author: Mem Fox

Illustrator: Judy Horacek

Type of book: Concept book and picture storybook

Book age range: Birth to preschool

Activity age range: Ten months and up

*Please note that this activity includes glue and small parts and is only intended as a supervised activity for toddlers and their caregivers to perform together

Why we like it: When reading Where Is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox, children are exposed to the concepts of colors and opposites as well as an all-around fun and engaging story as they search through sheep of different colors and talents on a quest to find the elusive green sheep.  Judy Horacek’s vivid illustrations depict sun sheep, rain sheep, scared sheep, brave sheep, and many more; her images are colorful, humorous, and fully entertaining. Not only are the images interesting, but Fox keeps children guessing by repeatedly inquiring about the whereabouts of the green sheep as readers hunt through the pages of the story. This is a book that we have read multiple times in one sitting and also one that my two-year-old likes to examine by himself over and over again.

Create Your Own Green Sheep

You will need:

• A piece of green construction paper

• A black crayon

• Cotton balls*

• Glue

• Child-friendly green paint*

• Paper plate (to use as a palette)

*If the thought of using paint with your toddler makes you really sad, you can complete the activity using pom-poms in various shades of green in place of the cotton balls and paint.

Step 1: Trace your child’s hand on the green construction paper using the black crayon. Round out the wrist area, as this will be the sheep’s back.

Step 2: Cut out the hand shape for your child. As you cut, allow your child to explore the cotton balls and talk about their texture. Explain that the cotton balls will represent the wooly part of the sheep.

Step 3: Position the hand cutout as the sheep with the thumb as the head and the fingers as the legs.

Step 4: Help your child draw an eye, ear and mouth on the sheep’s head using the black crayon.

Step 5: Help your child spread glue onto the body of the sheep.

Step 6: Squeeze a quarter-sized amount of paint onto the paper plate. Show your toddler how to dip one side of the cotton ball into the paint, blotting excess paint onto the plate.

Step 7: Glue the cotton balls paint-side up onto the body of the sheep. Repeat until the sheep’s body is covered in green “wool.”

You have now found a green sheep of your own! If your child enjoys the activity, he or she may want to create sheep in several different colors and patterns.


References

Fox, M. Horacek, J., illus. (2004). Where Is the Green Sheep?. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.