Three Little Kittens Preschool Activity: Hands-On Learning Fun
Turn a favorite nursery rhyme into a fun hands-on learning experience with this Three Little Kittens preschool activity! Kids can make their own mittens, search for the mittens they “lost,” and even wash and hang them out to dry just like the kittens in the story.
One of the best things about using nursery rhymes with preschoolers is that you can take a simple story and turn it into an entire learning experience. Reading, rhyming, sequencing, pretend play, fine motor practice, and even early math skills can all be worked into the fun.
If your little learner loves cats, mittens, or nursery rhymes, this is an easy preschool activity to add to your homeschool day, classroom lesson plans, or afternoon at home.
If your kids enjoy this fun learning activity, try these other Three Little Kittens activities for kids!
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Why Use Nursery Rhymes for Preschool Learning?
Nursery rhymes are especially fun for preschoolers because they’re short, repetitive, and easy to remember.
After hearing Three Little Kittens a few times, don’t be surprised if your child starts filling in words or reciting parts of the rhyme with you!
You can also use the story to practice several preschool skills, including:
- Listening and comprehension
- Rhyming words
- Story sequencing
- Fine motor skills
- Color recognition
- Matching
- Pretend play
- Following directions
- Retelling a familiar story
And because the activities feel more like playing than schoolwork, they’re an easy addition to a preschool homeschool lesson.
What Is the Three Little Kittens Nursery Rhyme About?
Three Little Kittens tells the story of three kittens who lose their mittens.
After finding them again, the kittens get to enjoy some pie. Unfortunately, eating the pie makes their mittens dirty!
The kittens then wash their mittens and hang them up to dry.
It’s a simple story, but that’s exactly what makes it so useful with younger children. Preschoolers can easily follow what happens first, next, and last.
You can talk about the story as you read by asking simple questions such as:
- What did the kittens lose?
- Where do you think their mittens went?
- How did the kittens feel when they couldn’t find them?
- What happened after they found their mittens?
- Why did they have to wash their mittens?
Questions like these turn storytime into a simple reading comprehension activity without making it feel like a lesson.
Three Little Kittens Preschool Activity
We started our Three Little Kittens activity by making our very own mittens.
You don’t need anything fancy for this part. Draw a simple mitten shape on white construction paper and cut out two mittens for each child.
Then let the kids decorate!
Markers, crayons, stickers, dot markers, or washable paint can all work. Kids can make matching mittens or create two completely different designs.
This is also an easy opportunity to talk about colors, patterns, and matching.
Once the mittens are finished, the real fun begins.
Find the Lost Mittens
In the nursery rhyme, the three little kittens lose their mittens and don’t know where to find them.
Naturally, we needed to lose ours, too!
I hid the paper mittens around the house and sent my little “kittens” off to find them.
You can make the mitten scavenger hunt as easy or challenging as you want depending on your child’s age.
For younger preschoolers, leave part of each mitten visible. Older children might enjoy having them hidden under pillows, behind toys, or in other safe places around the room.
You can also give clues:
- “Look somewhere we sit.”
- “Your mitten is near something blue.”
- “Look under something soft.”
This adds listening, problem-solving, positional words, and vocabulary practice to a very simple game.
Wash the Mittens
Once you’ve lost the mittens and found them again, it’s time to continue the story.
The kittens eventually get their mittens dirty and have to wash them.
Paper mittens obviously aren’t going to survive a bucket of water, so we switched to socks and pretended they were mittens.
Fill a small bucket or tub with water and a little soap and let the kids wash their pretend mittens.
This ended up being one of the favorite parts of our activity!
Kids can scrub, squeeze, rinse, and swish their mittens through the water.
Water play is already entertaining for preschoolers, and connecting it to the story gives the activity a purpose.
Adult supervision is important anytime young children are playing around water.
Hang the Mittens to Dry
After washing their mittens, the kittens hang them out to dry, so that’s exactly what we did.
We strung a rope between two playhouses outside and let the kids hang their freshly washed “mittens” on the line.
You could also tie a piece of string between two chairs, use a drying rack, or create a little indoor clothesline.
Give preschoolers clothespins and let them attach the mittens themselves.
Opening and closing clothespins is fantastic fine motor practice for little fingers!
Our kids enjoyed washing and hanging their mittens so much that they took them down and started the entire process over again.
Turn It Into a Mitten Matching Game
Before putting everything away, use the mittens for a quick matching activity.
Make several pairs of paper mittens with matching colors, shapes, numbers, letters, or patterns.
Mix them together and ask your preschooler to find each matching pair.
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You can adjust the activity based on what your child is currently learning.
For example:
- Match uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Match numerals with the correct number of dots.
- Match identical colors.
- Match simple patterns.
- Match shapes.
- Match pictures that belong together.
This is an easy way to reuse your mitten theme while practicing a completely different preschool skill.
Practice Story Sequencing
Three Little Kittens is also a great nursery rhyme for introducing story sequencing to preschoolers.
After you’ve read the story and completed the activities, ask your child what happened.
Start with three simple events:
First: The kittens lost their mittens.
Next: They found their mittens.
Then: They washed their mittens.
Once your child understands the basic order, you can add more events from the story.
Don’t worry about getting every little detail right. The goal is to help children understand that stories happen in an order and practice remembering what happened.
Add Some Preschool Math
You can even sneak a little math practice into your Three Little Kittens activities.
Start with the number three!
Count three kittens, three pairs of mittens, or six individual mittens.
You could also gather several pairs of real mittens or gloves and let children sort them by color, size, or pattern.
Try making simple mitten patterns such as:
Red, blue, red, blue…
Ask your child what comes next.
For another easy activity, write numbers on paper mittens and have your child put them in numerical order.
Have a Three Little Kittens Snack
There’s one very important part of the nursery rhyme we haven’t talked about yet.
The pie!
If you want to make your Three Little Kittens preschool lesson extra special, finish it with a pie-themed snack.
You don’t necessarily have to bake an entire pie. You could serve mini pies, fruit with whipped topping, pie-shaped sandwiches, or another simple treat.
Talk about what happened in the story while you’re eating.
Just make sure everyone takes their mittens off first!
More Ways to Extend the Three Little Kittens Story
One of the reasons I love preschool activities based on books and nursery rhymes is that you can keep the learning going in so many different directions.
Try adding a few of these ideas:
- Draw pictures of the three little kittens.
- Make kitten ears from construction paper.
- Pretend to be kittens and act out the nursery rhyme.
- Look for rhyming words in the story.
- Practice making cat sounds.
- Read other nursery rhymes and compare the stories.
- Talk about what kittens need to stay healthy.
- Read books about cats and kittens.
- Count toy cats or kitten pictures.
- Create a mitten sensory bin.
- Practice hanging doll clothes or socks with clothespins.
- Make a paper plate kitten craft.
You don’t have to do everything at once. Pick one or two activities that work with the skills you’re currently practicing.
How to Use This Activity in Your Preschool Homeschool
This activity can easily become part of a preschool nursery rhyme unit.
Start by reading or reciting Three Little Kittens together. Then choose one hands-on activity to complete each day.
For example, you might decorate mittens one day, have the mitten scavenger hunt the next day, and wash and hang your pretend mittens later in the week.
Repeating the nursery rhyme throughout the week gives preschoolers plenty of opportunities to become familiar with the story.
By the end of your mini unit, see if your child can tell you the story without your help!
Frequently Asked Questions
What age is the Three Little Kittens activity best for?
This activity is ideal for preschool and pre-K children, but you can easily simplify it for toddlers or add more challenging literacy and math activities for kindergarteners.
What skills can preschoolers learn from Three Little Kittens?
The nursery rhyme can help children practice rhyming, listening, sequencing, vocabulary, counting, matching, fine motor skills, comprehension, and story retelling.
What supplies do I need for the mitten activity?
You’ll mainly need construction paper, markers or crayons, scissors, socks or washable mittens, a small container of soapy water, string, and clothespins. You can adapt the activity based on supplies you already have at home.
Can I use this activity in a preschool classroom?
Yes! Instead of hiding just a few mittens, create a pair for each child. Kids can decorate their mittens and then work together to find matching pairs. The story also works well for circle time, dramatic play, literacy centers, and winter-themed preschool lessons.
Do I need a Three Little Kittens book?
No. You can recite or sing the traditional nursery rhyme without a specific book. However, a picture book version can make it easier for preschoolers to follow the story and gives them illustrations to examine while you read.
What themes work well with Three Little Kittens?
This nursery rhyme fits nicely into lessons about cats, pets, winter, mittens, clothing, nursery rhymes, rhyming words, and story sequencing. That makes it easy to incorporate into several different preschool themes.
More Activities for Preschoolers:
- Beaver Craft for Preschoolers
- Big and Small Preschool Activities for Kids
- Fun Laundry Lessons for Preschool
- If You Give a Cat a Cupcake Activities for Preschool
- Space Activities for Preschoolers
- Sticker Bracelets for Preschoolers
Three Little Kittens Preschool Activity Resources:
This was such a fun and simple activity featuring the Three Little Kittens story! Add more of these affiliate resources from Amazon to your own Three Little Kittens Preschool Activity!
