The Runaway Bunny Book Unit {BFIAR}

This week we read the book The Runaway Bunny and ‘rowed’ it {a Before Five in a Row book}. We loved reading Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown together and working on our Goodnight Moon Unit, so I knew that The Runaway Bunny book unit would be just as much fun. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve done a book unit, so Kaleb was very excited to see me pull out things for our study.

Here’s a quick summary of the The Runaway Bunny {in Kaleb’s words}:

“The bunny wanted to run away. He said he was going to be a fish. His mom said she was going to be a fisherman.  Then he would be a rock, and she would be a rock climber. Then he would be a crocus and she would be a gardener. Then he would be a bird and she would be a tree. Then he would be a boat and she would be the wind. Then he would be a tightrope walker and she would be a swinger. He would be a boy and the mom would be a mom. Then he wanted to be a rabbit. His mom said “Want a carrot?”

Comparing Pictures in the Story to Other Book

After we had read through The Runaway Bunny, Kaleb recognized a few of the pictures from another book. We pulled out our copy of Goodnight Moon and compared the pictures with pictures that were in The Runaway Bunny.

Some of the pictures hanging on the wall were almost the same, so we talked about the similarities and differences between the two. Pictures in one book might have been black and white, while others were color. The bunny mom sat in a rocker in both books and the picture of the mom bunny fishing for her son was hanging on the wall in the book Goodnight Moon. There are many other similarities, so you’ll have to see what you discover too!

Identifying Words in a Story

Kaleb l.o.v.e.s. using Do-A-Dot Markers, so we take full advantage and use them whenever we can! As we were reading the The Runaway Bunny together, Kaleb was on the lookout for words in the story {the find-a-word sheet is in the Runaway Bunny Printable Pack}. When Kaleb finds a word in the book, he uses a Do-A-Dot Marker to cover up the word {above you can see him finding the word carrot}.

Typically, I will read the words to him that are on the word sheet and he remembers many of them as we are reading through the story and then searches the page for the word. For him there is nothing more satisfying that stamping that word out!

Practicing Balance by “Tightrope” Walking

One of the things that the bunny says he is going to do is become a tightrope walker. Rather than string up a REAL tightrope, we put a jump rope down on the floor to see if Kaleb could keep his balance. Quite a bit safer than the alternative {and he had just as much fun doing it over and over again!}.

Making Crocuses From Handprints

This craft is thanks to Delightful Learning. We traced Kaleb’s hand on purple paper and then cut them out, rolled them up and added some leaves to make purple crocuses. He absolutely loved his flowers and stuck them up above his desk to save.

Find the Hiding Runaway Bunny

In the story, the runaway bunny hides in the flowers of the garden and his mom finds him. We used the Runaway Bunny Printables and our table top pocket chart to ‘hide’ our paper bunny and then Kaleb had to name a number and peek behind that number to see if it was the one hiding the bunny.

He had just as much fun hiding the bunny from me and would only give me three guesses to find the missing bunny. I would say a number and he would pull the number off the pocket chart to see if I was right.

Sequencing a Story

We used the story sequencing strips from The Runaway Bunny Printables for this activity. The first 2 days, I left all of the strips together so that Kaleb could put them in sequential order by number {i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd}. The last two days I cut the picture off the strip and he first ordered the numbers in the correct sequence. He then tried to remember the order the events in the story took place and would check the book when he was done to see if he put them in the right sequence.

Clap the Syllables

Part of The Runaway Bunny Printables have one and two syllable words from the story. I would read Kaleb one of the words and he would clap it out and then tell me how many syllables the word had and sort it under the right number.

Differences in Sketches and Paintings

The artwork in The Runaway Bunny goes back and forth between paintings or watercolors and pen sketches. I picked one of the simpler pictures in the book and sketched it out using pencil and pen for Kaleb to look at and decide which looked more like what was in the story.

Helpful Links for The Runaway Bunny

• The Runaway Bunny Printables ~ printables to go along with your reading fun that include vocabulary words and other fun games to add to your unit.
• Homeschool Share resources ~ lapbook printables to use with your study
• Delightful Learning unit ~ fun ideas to use as you read the book
• Goodnight Moon Unit ~ another book by Margaret Wise Brown with similar pictures. A great book to compare The Runaway Bunny too!
• Goodnight Moon Printables ~ printables to go along with the book reading

More Early Learning Links and Printables

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