Pigeon Drive The Bus Game
Game Features Let the Pigeon drive the busin his dreams! Take a 'Squillem'—really just a crazy scribble—and turn it into a drawing on your own, with a pal, or with Mo! Create a terrifying—or hilarious—monster with Leonardo, but watch out: it’s alive! This game is based on an award winning children's book. 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Is a children's picture book by Mo Willems. Released by Hyperion Press in 2003, it was Willems' first book for children, and received the Caldecott Honor. The plot is about a bus driver who has to leave so he asks the reader to watch the Pigeon.
1-2-3 Come Do Some Bus Safety Activities With Me
Do you read the story, 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus' by Mo Willems? Click the book cover to see a cute YouTube video.
Because it’s a favorite of young children, I thought it would be fun to spice up bus safety with a pigeon. (Bus Safety With a Pigeon Packet)
If you don't read that story, or are just looking for some super-fun bus safety activities, I also made a matching packet with no bird. (Bus Safety Activities).
Listening to lots of rules can become tedious and boring for little ones, but playing a game, doing a center activity, or making a 'flip-the-flap' booklet, helps get the “you need to know this stuff” into a child’s head, in a hands-on way.
Both these packets includes a nice assortment of quick, easy and interesting activities, that help make learning about bus safety super-fun.
Since “National Bus Safety Month” is in October, I do a few of the activities the first few weeks of school, then others later in the fall, which is a nice review.
Mo' to Do and Play! Unlimited Squirrels Unlimited Squirrels: Who is the Mystery Reader? Unlimited Squirrels: I Lost My Tooth! Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! 10th Birthday Celebration Activity Kit. The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! But when the Bus Driver has a crisis that threatens to make her passengers (gasp!) late, maybe that wily bird CAN do something. Starring an innovative mix of actors, puppets, songs, and feathers, Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! Pigeon and Bus Activities inspired by Mo Willems Learn the letters of the alphabet and letter sounds with your favorite Pigeon. Story time just got funnier with the addition of Mo Willems Pigeon Books at our house recently. In honor of school starting and our recent Bus Tours this summer we wanted to feature Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
You can also plug them in the day before a field trip.
The packet includes:
* 24, “Do” & “Don’t” sorting cards for an independent center game.
There are 12, colorful cards on a one-page pattern to conserve paper and ink.
Simply print, laminate and trim. Children decide if the behavior pictured on the card is a do or don't rule, then place the cards under the correct do/don't header.
You can also pass the cards out to students, then have them show and share their card with the class, explaining the rule on the card.
* To whole-group assess comprehension, I designed a super-fun, Popsicle stick “puppet pal” craftivity.
There's a pigeon one for that packet, and a bus puppet pal in the other packet.
The pigeon is on a red circle for 'Stop! Don't' because of the 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus'story.
Don't Let Pigeon Drive The Bus Game
The flip side of this paddle is a green circle (Green = 'Go! Do'.) Adding a wiggle eye provides the 'finishing touch'.
In the Bus Packet, the puppet pal features a happy & smiling bus on the 'Do!' side, and a bus filled with monsters (!) on the 'Don't' side.
I've included a list of 20+ statements for you to choose from, then read aloud. Students decide whether that statement is a 'Do' or a 'Don't' then flip their paddle accordingly.
My students absolutely LOVE this 'quiz game'. Plus, I can see at a glance who's having difficulty & make corrections.
* Another fun way to reinforce bus rules, is by making a “flip the flap” booklet.
There's a cute pigeon booklet for that packet, and a big bus for the other.
I kept the booklets short, with just 9 pages to choose from, which feature the graphics for some of the most important rules.
Game pigeon word hunt scoring. Children color the picture, then circle a 'Do' or 'Don't' word to describe what's going on in the graphic.
The pigeon's 'wing cover', flips open to reveal the pages, while the booklet for the bus, is on the 'windshield'.
* There’s also a set of 24, colorful graphic rule posters, which show the various “Do’s & Don’ts”for riding the bus. I printed mine on card stock then laminated.
Use them to introduce bus safety, then hang them on the wall; or.. add the cover & last page ('No muss. No fuss.We know the rules for riding the bus!')and make a booklet with a split ring.
* The packet also includes some “paper praise” options: a slap bracelet, a bookmark, and a brag tag necklace, plus a “color me” bus safety certificate.
There are 10 bracelets on a one-page pattern for quick printing. Simply 'slap' a bracelet on a child's wrist with a piece of Scotch tape.
Making a bus safety necklace, provides fine motor practice, which helps strengthen finger muscles.
I cut up colorful plastic straws to use as dividers between pony beads. Both can be purchased at The Dollar Store.
This also practices counting as well as showing a pattern too. Plus studets really enjoy making them.
Hopefully, people will ask children about their necklace, giving them an opportunity to explain some of the bus safety that they learned, once again reinforcing the lesson.
There's also a 'High fives from ________ who knows bus safety' craft in the pigeon packet, which makes a sweet keepsake, as the bird's wing is a child's hand print.
There are two FREEBIES today. Both come from these new packets.
One is the 'Stop-Look and Listen'poster.
The other is the 'Stay Out of the Danger Zone'poster.
In the packets, I've included matching worksheets. I truly believe that if a child colors the danger zone, they are more apt to know what and where it is, then follow that life-saving rule.
Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.
Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus Games For Kids
I feel fall in the air, as the lovely breeze is cooler and a sprinkling of leaves are actually turning!
As long as we have to be inside at school, we may as well have lovely fall weather.
'There is a time in the last few days of summer, when the ripeness of autumn fills the air.'- Rudolfo Anaya