20 Literacy Activities About Quilts

Winter is on the way! Snuggle up with your beginning readers and try some of these quilt-themed literacy activities collected from my story time archives and other education sites around the web.

 

Bedtime Stories & Songs

• Cuddle up in bed with a quilt and sing some lullabies. 
• Read The Quilt Story. This book was written by Tony Johnston and illustrated by none other than Tomie DePaola. I probably read this book to myself 200 times as a kid, and it still holds up even as an adult!
• Learn a quilt pattern for each letter of the alphabet in Eight Hands Round by Ann Whitford Paul.
• Celebrate each season of the year with the poems and quilt-themed illustrations in Pieces by Anna Grossnickle Hines.
• Imagine what could happen if a quilt were alive in the dreamlike picture book The Quilt by Ann Jonas.

 

Flannel Board Stories

• "The Quilt that Grandma Made" is a poem from Highlights High Five magazine that I adapted for the flannel board.  It's one of my favorite story time activities for the letter Q. 
• On her blog, Miss Mary Liberry created a flannel board for "A Blanket for the Princess" from Storytime Magic. When a princess wants a multi-colored blanket for her bed, a wise old woman suggests a quilt instead.

 

Quilts to Make

• Make a reading quilt. Reading is Fundamental (RIF) provides a list of materials and simple instructions to follow. 
• Create a story quilt inspired by scenes from a favorite book. Literature Circles Resource Center has instructions and examples. 
• Download a printable Phonemic Awareness Rhyming Quilt from Lakeshore Learning. (The link is under the Language Arts section in the middle of the page.) 
• Color a Queen and Quarterback Quilt. (The link to this activity on Pinterest is dead, but the blog it leads to is called Dinosaurs Toys.) Google Images is a great site to search for Queen and Quarterback coloring pages.
• Make a DIY Ziploc Quilt like the one shown in this post at Pre-K pages and play Swat the Bugs, where each bug is labeled with a different letter and your child must find and swat the letter you name.
• Print out a Sight Word Quilt (free printable created by Molly K.) and use it to mark off familiar words as you read.

Letter Knowledge

• Color quilt patterns by letter. Making Learning Fun provides five free printables for the Churn and Dash, Turkey Tracks, Variable Star, Water Wheel, and Weather Vane designs.
• If you're looking for a long-term project try sewing a Quilted ABC book like this one from Sew Inspired. 
• Practice writing the letter Q with these free printable letter tracing worksheets from Guru Parents.
• Glue pictures of items that start with Q around a letter Q (printable available from This Reading Mama.)
• Use scrapbook paper to create a quilted letter Q. Crystal and Co. has a printable pattern and photos to show you how to make it.

 

Fingerplays

• Count quilts from 5 down to zero with Quilts Galore. Fill in the names of family members or your child's friends to personalize the rhyme. 
• Count up everything your child needs at bedtime with Canton Public Library's "Good Night!"