Fun and Engaging "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" Activities for Kindergarten

"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" is a kindergarten classic. Students love the rhyme and repetition in the story and always enjoy reading along and these There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Sub Plans and Activities are the perfect extension activities for your classroom.  You are able to just print and go with these no prep activities for every subject including retelling, sequencing, and more while promoting literacy skills and creativity.

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Activities 

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Retelling and Sequencing 

We starting by having students make a prediction prior to reading the story. 

Students can draw or write about what they think will happen in the story.

  

After reading There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly with students, I love retelling using the picture cards in a pocket chart.  

Which is a great whole group sequencing story and students love retelling along.

Students can then get your hands on their own little emergent reader.  There are two options to chose from, "The old lady swallowed a ____" or a sight word focus with "I see a ____."

Finally, students can complete an independent sequencing activity which also gives great cut and paste/ fine motor practice.

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Writing Activities

I love to make students feel confident as writers in my classroom.  I have included a variety of writing activities to help build that confidence.

I start with a mini sight word flip book for students to create.  It is based on the same sentence frame , "I see a ____" that they used in the emergent reader.  

Students cut and staple to create a flip book and then copy the sentences on a recording sheet.  I usually make sure they pay attention to capitalization and spacing in this activity.

We also practice labeling and paying attention to beginning and ending sounds to help identify the words and a mixed up sentence activity where students have to construct a sentence out of words that are out of order.  This is a great way to help students recognize using sight words to form sentences! 

Both of these activities have a simpler version with support where students can simply match the words if needed.  

There are simple writing activities that can be used at the beginning of the year like tracing lines, rainbow writing letters and tracing phrases.  

Or a fun writing activity where students finish a sentence frame by writing their name and a picture of them eating something from the story (it is great to use the pocket chart cards for this activity) and then draw a picture.  

These are great to bind and create a cute class book and students always love seeing their own page as well as those of their friends. 

You will also find a more advanced option with a writing warm up where students can copy simple sentence as well as a fly directed drawing activity with guided steps to draw a fly and then an open ended option where students can write about it.  

For more advanced students or as a later in the year extension activity, you may read an informational text like I, Fly: The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are (affiliate link) and have the students write a few facts about flies. 

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Math

I love starting math with a warm up and this one is perfect for any time in the school year.  

In this "Find the Fly" number identification activity, numbers are placed in a pocket chart.  The fly card is hidden behind one of the numbers and students identify a number by saying it aloud and then can check behind that card to see if the fly is hidden.  My students always LOVE playing this game over and over. 

There are also additional math worksheets that can be used at various times in the school year in a kindergarten classroom that all align to kindergarten common core math standards.

Included are simple skills like rainbow writing numbers, cut and paste mixed up numbers 1-10, a partner spin and find ten frame identification for numbers 1-10 and flat shapes.  These are perfect for earlier in the school year.  

As well as kindergarten skills with concepts that are taught later in the school year such as a partner spin and find teen numbers, numbers writing to 100, addition and mixed up teen numbers.  

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Extra Activities  

There are also additional extras to supplement the story in your classroom like a pictures sort of things from the story and those that do not belong, a word search, a crown, student retelling pictures and a write the room activity.  

All you need for this complete day of engaging activities is these easy print and go There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Sub Plans or Activities . They can easily be used as full day (probably even two days) worth of sub plans or extension activities to supplement the story.

and a copy of the story There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (affiliate link)