Fall read-alouds are even more fun when children can take the story off the page and turn it into something they can trace, color, solve, cut, and retell. These There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves activities are designed to do exactly that.
I created a set of four free printable activities that you can use alongside There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves! for preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary learners. The free set includes handwriting practice, a story-themed tracing page, a leaf maze, and an interactive Feed the Old Lady activity. FREE There was an old lady who …
If you want to turn the book into a larger fall learning unit, I also created a 127-page There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves book companion with reading comprehension, sequencing, literacy, math, fine motor activities, interactive story retelling, crafts, and answer keys. It is designed for PreK through first grade.
Why Use There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Activities?
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves! by Lucille Colandro is a fun choice for a fall read-aloud because the story naturally lends itself to prediction, sequencing, vocabulary, and retelling.
Instead of reading the story and immediately moving on to the next book, printable activities give children another way to interact with what they heard.
You can use activities before reading to make predictions, during the story to identify important events, or afterward to practice comprehension and retelling. Story companion activities can also bring several skills together under one familiar theme, which is why I especially like them for seasonal learning.
For teachers, these activities can work well for literacy centers, small groups, morning work, early finishers, read-aloud extensions, and sub plans. Homeschool families can choose just a few pages and turn one picture book into an easy fall lesson.
4 Free There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Activities
I wanted the free set to include a mixture of learning and play rather than four worksheets that all practice the same skill.
Here is what you’ll receive.
L Is for Leaves Handwriting Worksheet
The first printable combines the story theme with early handwriting practice.
Children can trace the word leaves, practice writing uppercase and lowercase L, and color the little leaves at the top of the page. FREE There was an old lady who …
This is an easy activity to use before or after reading the book and works especially well for preschool and kindergarten children learning their letters.
You could also take the learning outside afterward. Have children collect a few fallen leaves and look for similarities and differences in their colors, sizes, and shapes.
Old Lady Tracing and Coloring Page
The second free activity features the Old Lady with a large dotted-line tracing area underneath. Children can trace Old Lady and then color the picture. FREE There was an old lady who …
The combination of tracing and coloring gives younger learners a little extra fine motor practice without making the activity feel too much like handwriting work.
Try using this page after reading and asking a few simple questions while children color. Who was the main character? What did she swallow? What happened at the end?
That keeps the conversation about the story going without needing another formal comprehension worksheet.
Find the Leaves Maze
Sometimes children simply need a fun activity after a read-aloud.
The Find the Leaves Maze asks children to help the Old Lady travel through the maze to reach the pile of leaves. FREE There was an old lady who …
Mazes are a sneaky little pencil-control workout. Children have to visually follow a path, make decisions, and control their pencil as they move through the maze.
This one would be easy to add to a fall literacy center, morning work folder, or quiet-time activity.
Feed the Old Lady Interactive Activity
This is the activity I would pull out when you want the story to become a little more hands-on.
Children cut out the opening in the Old Lady’s mouth and use the included picture cards to “feed” her the story items. The printable includes leaves, a shirt, pumpkin, pole, pants, rope, and hay. FREE There was an old lady who …
Rather than simply naming the pictures, use the pieces for story retelling. Children can feed each item to the Old Lady as they remember what happened.
For younger learners, place the pieces in front of them and ask them to find the next item. Older children can try arranging the pictures in story order first.
Interactive retelling is also a common approach in other book-companion resources for this title, along with sequencing, vocabulary, comprehension, and picture-based story recall.
Turn the Free Activities Into a Simple Fall Book Lesson
You don’t have to complete every printable in one sitting.
I would keep it simple, especially for younger children. Start by reading the book together and talking about what children think might happen. After reading, choose one printable skill activity and one playful or hands-on activity.
For example, children could complete the L Is for Leaves page and then use the Feed the Old Lady activity to retell the story.
On another day, use the coloring and tracing page followed by the maze.
Breaking the activities apart makes it easier to revisit the book throughout the week while practicing different skills.
Want More? Try My Full There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Activity Pack
The four free activities are just a tiny peek at the much larger resource I created for this story.
My full There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Book Companion and Crafts includes 127 pages of activities for PreK through first grade, with an answer key included.
I designed the full pack so teachers and homeschool families can pick and choose activities based on the skills they are currently working on. You don’t need to complete all 127 pages. Think of it more like a fall activity toolbox built around one read-aloud.
Reading Comprehension and Story Activities
The full pack goes much deeper into the story with activities including making predictions, story elements, beginning-middle-end, characters and setting, problem and solution, story sequencing, comprehension questions, true or false, cause and effect, story retelling, and identifying what the Old Lady swallowed.
There are also more creative response activities such as If I Were the Old Lady, What Should She Do Next?, and a page where children can design their own Old Lady book page.
That gives you options for children who are ready to move beyond simple recall.
Literacy and Fine Motor Activities
The literacy section lets you continue working with the story while practicing foundational skills.
Activities include rhyming, beginning sounds, missing letters, ABC order, sentence building, alphabet tracing, letter recognition, vocabulary cards, picture tracing, cutting practice, a word search, a 10-piece puzzle, symmetry drawing, and more.
This section is especially useful if you want your fall theme to carry across several literacy centers rather than using unrelated worksheets throughout the week.
Math and Early Learning Activities
I also included math activities so the book theme can continue beyond literacy.
Children can practice number order, number tracing, missing numbers, leaf counting, addition, subtraction, graphing, patterns, shapes, comparing quantities, colors, and other early learning skills.
You can select the pages that match your children’s current skill level instead of trying to use everything.
Interactive Story Activities and Crafts
Some of my favorite parts of the full resource are the hands-on activities.
The pack includes story retelling puppets, an interactive retelling activity, Feed the Old Lady pieces, and an Old Lady Leaf Name Craft in both color and blackline versions.
These activities can help balance all of the pencil-and-paper practice with cutting, manipulating pieces, retelling, and creating.
Easy Ways to Use the Full Activity Pack
Because the complete resource covers several skill areas, there are lots of ways to fit it into an existing routine rather than creating an entirely separate lesson plan.
You could use the comprehension and sequencing pages for your read-aloud lesson, place literacy pages in centers, use a math activity later in the day, and save an interactive activity or craft for the end of your fall book study.
The complete pack is designed to work for literacy centers, math centers, morning work, small groups, independent practice, early finishers, homeschool lessons, fall units, read-aloud follow-up activities, and sub plans.
For a shorter book study, simply choose the activities that reinforce the skills you’re already teaching.
Pair the Activities With the Picture Book
Of course, you’ll want the book itself to use with these activities.
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves! by Lucille Colandro
Read the story first and let children enjoy the silliness before turning it into a lesson. Once they know the story, the repeated events make it especially useful for sequencing and retelling activities.
You can also place the book in your classroom or homeschool reading area throughout your fall unit so children can revisit it independently.
Make a Paper Plate Old Lady Craft
To add an art project to your There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves activities, make a simple paper plate Old Lady.
Paint or color a paper plate with a skin-tone color and let it dry. Add paper hair, ears, eyes, glasses, a nose, and a large smiling mouth.
For an interactive version, carefully cut an opening where the mouth is located. Children can then use pictures of the story items to feed the Old Lady as they retell the book.
That turns the craft into both an art project and a reusable storytelling prop.
For younger children, I recommend preparing the mouth opening ahead of time and letting them concentrate on coloring, cutting the larger pieces, and assembling their Old Lady.
Supplies for Your Old Lady Activities
Most of these activities use supplies you probably already have in your classroom or homeschool space. Printer paper or cardstock, crayons, colored pencils, child-safe scissors, glue, and a printer will cover most of the activities.
For the craft, you may also want paper plates, washable paint, paintbrushes, construction paper, and craft glue.
Need craft supplies?
Shop my favorite kid-friendly craft supplies on Amazon. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)
More Fall Printables to Try
If you’re putting together a larger fall theme, these Old Lady activities can be mixed with some of my other free fall resources.
Try adding leaf activities, scarecrow worksheets, acorn worksheets, squirrel worksheets, owl worksheets, deer worksheets, fall preschool worksheets, or a fall paper plate craft.
The scarecrow theme is an especially fun connection because children don’t discover where all of those strange swallowed objects are leading until the story comes together.
Pin These There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Activities for Later
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Get Your Free There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves Activities Here
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Make Your Fall Read-Aloud Do a Little More
A favorite picture book can become much more than a single read-aloud. With a few thoughtfully chosen activities, children can practice handwriting, fine motor skills, sequencing, vocabulary, comprehension, math, and story retelling while staying connected to a story they already know.
Start with the four free There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves activities in this post, and if you want to build a complete book study, the full 127-page companion gives you plenty of options to choose from without having to piece together activities yourself.
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