FREE Chick Activities and Picture Book Ideas

chick activities and picture books with free printables

Experiencing the life cycle of an animal has to be one of the top ten most amazing experiences to have as a child or adult. When April rolls around in the classroom, many of you begin life cycle lessons on various life forms. Well, may I suggest chicks? Studying the life cycle of chicks is such a unique experience and when you use a set of hands-on life cycle of a chick activities, your student participation will shoot through the roof!

Using hands-on chick activities, students can learn about the chicken life cycle and engage in the process through picture books, directed drawings, and life cycle printables.

But incorporating chicks into your lesson plans isn’t all about the life cycle. For a well-rounded unit, be sure to include nonfiction AND fiction stories with chicks as the main character along with reading comprehension activities that help ensure they are targeting various skills.

Here’s a look at how to incorporate chicks into your reading lesson plans and lifecycle activities without missing a bit. Plus, you can grab FREE chick activities below!

Start Your Chicks Reading Lesson with Chick Books

Books about or featuring chickens recommendations

Nothing anchors a lesson more than a good picture book, IMO. If you’ll be learning about chickens and how they are created, then it’s a wonderful time to read a few good books about chicks!

And these chick picture books don’t have to be all about life cycles at all. You can still use fun, fictional stories that center chicks during your literacy time and provide a look into their spaces, habits, and lifestyle.

Here’s a list of some of my favorite chick picture books! You can get the full list with links on my amazon storefront and I’ve linked them individually below. 

{Disclaimer: These are Amazon affiliate links, but I only share books I’ve read and enjoyed!}

  1. Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds (More details on this one below, but it is perfect for your reading lessons!)
  2. Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins (The cutest story for your younger kids, Pre-k to Kinder, learning direction words!)
  3. Chicken Dance by Tammi Sauer (Hysterical and inspirational story about dreaming big!)
  4. Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker (In the 1-2 buckle my shoe style, it is perfect for counting to 10 with your tiniest students!)
  5. Sonya’s Chickens by Phoebe Wahl (A true gem of a story about nurturing, loving, and realizing the connections of nature.)
  6. Big Chickens by Leslie Helakoski (Humorous read with an uplifting message!)
  7. Chicks and Chickens by Gail Gibbons (Great for learning all about chickens and their habitat!)
  8. Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett
  9. The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone
  10. Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
  11. Where Do Chicks Come From? By Amy E Sklansky

Chicks Activities and Reading Lesson Plans

One of my favorite books from the list above is Chicks and Salsa. The story is a fun and witty comedy about a rooster looking to switch up its old chicken feed to something more exciting… chips and salsa! But something goes wrong when the delicious snacks go missing.

I love this chick picture book because it has many layers and lends itself well to a lesson on character traits

Reading comprehension activities for the book Chicks and Salsa

The lead rooster in the story has tons of personality and wit. It’s a perfect character for students to analyze and describe. They can use a character traits printable to share evidence to support the traits they identify.

Chicks and Salsa anchor chart

Another fun way to work on character traits with this book is using an anchor chart. With the anchor chart, you can work together as a class to describe the various animals within the story.

Students will not only be learning about character traits but also about the types of animals and environments that surround chickens throughout their life.

You can use this read-aloud and the companion activities for your main reading lesson of the week and supplement it with your life cycle activities for chicks! 

{We include both of these activities plus many more inside our 1st Grade Rooted in Reading resource for May. Get access to 4 full weeks of reading lesson plans and activities in my TPT store.}

Life Cycle of a Chick Activities

life cycle activities for chicks

Now, it’s time to learn about a chick’s life cycle! To accompany your picture book, consider using an engaging nonfiction reader to teach your students about the chick life cycle. 

I love accompanying the chick’s life cycle nonfiction reader with fun follow-up chick activities. 

Here are a few ideas:

free life cycle activities for chicks

Whether you have a chance to hatch them in your classroom or not, you can still give your students the experience of a chick’s life being formed using interactive chick activities. And I am giving them to you!

I have FREE life cycle of a chick activities that you can use in your classroom to teach your students in an attention-grabbing way.

free life cycle activities for chicks with posters

Included in the life cycle pack, you will find the chick life cycle posters, booklet, and activities for students to identify and label each phase of the process.

You can grab this FREE chicks resource inside my TPT store. I’ve also got a complimentary chick directed drawing below.

FREE Directed Drawing of a Chick

free chick directed drawing

To end or complement your chick life cycle lesson, have your students draw a chick hatching from the egg! It is the cutest way to display what you’re teaching and they can write about what they’ve learned about chickens or the Spring season.

You can find a video of me showing your students how to draw a chick below! You can also access a FREE chick drawing template with step-by-step instructions and a writing page by letting us know where you would like it delivered.

Don’t forget these lifecycle of a chick activities and chick book suggestions. Just save the image below for later!

chick activities and books

Hi, I'm Amy

Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.

FREE SAMPLE OF ROOTED IN READING!​

Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!