We made it, today is the last day of Groovy Cat Week! Today’s idea is a super fun and easy paper bag puppet that will help your preschool and kindergarten students develop alliteration skills.
Catch up on all the groovy fun from days 1-4 here:
Day 1 Pete the Cat Rhyming Hat
Day 2 Learning Letter Sounds with Pete the Cat
Day 3 Learning Prepositions with Pete the Cat
Day 4 Simple Story Problems with Pete the Cat
Purpose of Teaching Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more words in a phrase, such as Peter Piper or Miss Mary Mack. Alliteration is also one of the components of phonological awareness. When children begin to hear and recognize that words start with the same sound they are learning to identify and isolate phonemes, an important part of the early literacy process.
How to Play the Alliteration Game with Pete the Cat
You can use the paper bag puppet in a variety of ways, I will give you two examples for supporting alliteration skills here but you’re only limited by your imagination.
Nothing is more meaningful to a child than his or her name, so use your puppet to give students alliterative names such as “Lucky Lucas” or “Happy Hannah.” Tell students that Pete likes to say words that sound the same at the beginning and give an example using your own name. Then, have students come up and ask Pete to tell them their new name. Pete will whisper this name in your ear and you can tell it to the class or you can use your best puppet voice- whatever you are most comfortable with. Remember to keep the names positive.
Another idea is to ask each student to select something in the classroom and bring it to your group area. The items selected must be small enough to easily fit in their lap. Next, call on students to bring their items to the front and ask the class if they can think of a special (alliterative) name for the item, such as a darling doll, a pointy pencil, or a colorful crayon. The students can ask Pete if they are correct and he can nod his head to indicate yes or no.
How to Make a Pete the Cat Puppet
Here are the supplies you will need to make your own puppet
- Paper lunch bag
- Cat face template {free printable available here}
- Blue construction paper
- Yellow construction paper
- Various colors of construction paper for buttons
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Crayons or markers
Step 1: Download the cat face template and print directly on blue construction paper or cut out the template and trace the face on blue construction paper
Step 2: Cut out the blue cat face and draw the eyes, nose, and whiskers with crayons or markers
Step 3: Glue face to the flat bottom of the paper bag
Step 4: Cut two rectangular pieces of yellow paper to make Pete’s shirt
Step 5: Glue the rectangles to the front of the paper bag
Step 6: Fold down the edges of the yellow rectangles as pictured above to create a shirt collar
Step 7: Cut circles of construction paper and glue to shirt to create buttons
Step 8: Cut 5 strips of blue paper and accordion fold
Step 9: Glue the strips of paper to the puppet to make arms, legs, and a tail
Pete the Cat Books
Here are ten Pete the Cat books your kids are sure to love!
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
Pete the Cat: Rockin’ in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin
Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by James Dean
Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean
Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day is Cool by James Dean
Pete the Cat: Big Easter Adventure by James Dean
Pete the Cat: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star by James Dean
Pete the Cat: Too Cool for School {My First I Can Read} by James Dean
Don’t forget to stop by Kathy Griffin’s Teaching Strategies to see the Groovy Cat ideas she has for you today!
Looking for more Pete the Cat ideas? Check out my Pete the Cat Pinterest board here!
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I’n not quite sure what it is, but my preschoolers always seem to go crazy for anything involving cats! This might just be up their alley!
Thanks for stopping by Stephanie! I agree, children love animals. If you give it a try let me know how it works for you.
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Alliteration is not easy to teach sometimes. Thank you for the fun activities to help make them fun.