Nuts to You! Book Activity: Squirrel Feeder

This Nuts to You! book activity is the perfect extension for a fantastic book! Once we read the book, Evan was so excited to make our own squirrel feeder.

Preschool Science: Nuts to You! Squirrel Feeder and Observation activity.

It’s another week of PLAYful Preschool! This week the theme is: Nuts and Seeds. The team has a bunch of fun activities planned for you, so make sure you scroll to the bottom of this post to check them out.

I love to plan activities based around a great book and this is one of my favorites yet! The book, Nuts to You! by Lois Ehlert is a captivating book about a mischievous squirrel who is looking for food. The rhythmic text and vibrant pictures make it a perfect book for young children.

One day, after reading the book, I told Evan that we were going to feed the squirrels too! We were going to make our very own squirrel feeder and put peanuts in it just like the story. He was so excited!

Materials Needed:

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nuts to You! by Lois Ehlert – affiliate link

Empty milk or water jug (thoroughly rinsed out)

Peanuts (in shells and roasted)

Scissors

Crayons

Tape – we used Washi tape

Paint stick *Optional

Yarn (or you can use the handle of the milk jug to hang it on a branch)

Activity Prep:

1. Cut out a hole in both sides of the jug.

2. If you would like, tape the edges of the holes with tape. Ours were pretty sharp and jagged so we decided to tape them up. We thought it added some pretty color too. 🙂

3. Poke or drill holes and string yarn through it. Then tie it off to make a hanger for the jug. You can skip this step if you just hang the jug by the handle. We didn’t really have a good branch for that, so we used the yarn.

4. We also added a place for the squirrels to stand or climb into the jug. We did this by cutting slits in the jug and sliding a paint stick through. This is totally optional. The squirrels are able to reach our feeder from the branches, so it wasn’t really necessary.

Activity Details:

I read Nuts to You! to set the stage for this fun activity! Then I gave Evan the jug and some crayons and let him go to town coloring it however he wanted.

Preschool Science Nuts to You Squirrel Feeder.

Once he was done coloring on the jug, it was time to add the peanuts. For this part of the activity we even got baby sister involved. She loved dropping the peanuts into the hole at the top of the jug. This was excellent fine motor practice for her!

Preschool Science Nuts to You Squirrel Feeder

Now we needed to bring the squirrel feeder outside and hang it. It is hanging on the tree right in front of our house. This way we can watch the squirrels from our front window. Evan is so excited about watching the squirrels and being able to feed them nuts like the child in the book. He even yelled “Nuts to You!” a few times while hanging the feeder!

For more activities like this one, check out my Picture Book Activities Pinterest board or my Preschool Science Pinterest board!

Plan Your Nut and Seeds Learning Week With Activities from the #PlayfulPreschool Team