Books and Activities for a Five-Year-Old

Read a book and do a related activity to extend the book experience for your child!

Read The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins, then bake some cookies and count them.

Read Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey, then visit a park.

Read The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer, then visit your local nature center.

Read Yoko, by Rosemary Wells or Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes, then visit your new school.

Read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, then take a bus ride.

Read Feast for Ten by Cathryn Falwell, then go grocery shopping.

Read How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, then visit a science museum.

Read Strega Nona, by Tomie DePaola or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, then make and eat a spaghetti dinner.

Read The Saturday Escape by Daniel Mahoney when you visit the library.

Read The Biggest Pumpkin Ever, by Steven Kroll, then visit the produce section of your grocery store or a farmers’ market.

Read I Spy: an Alphabet in Art, devised and selected by Lucy Micklethwait, then visit an art museum.

Read Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitsgerald Howard, then try on all the hats you have at home.

Read Feathers for Lunch, by Lois Ehlert, then look go on a walk to look for birds.

Read Diez Deditos/ Ten Little Fingers by Jose-Luis Orzco then sing a song.

Read Guess Whose Shadow by Stephen Swineburn then go out in the sunshine!

Read If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff then get a muffin at the bakery.
Longer books to read aloud to a five-year-old:

Read My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett and eat some tangerines.

Read Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and go to the State Fair to look at animals.

Read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and eat a fresh, juicy peach.