Mouse Mess Early Literacy Activities for Kids and Tips for Parents
On the left in purple boxes, there are sample activities you can do with kids in storytime. On the left
in blue boxes are sample early literacy tips for parents. Of course there are plenty of other options;
use what works best for you! And most of all, have fun!
Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley
Hush, hush, a little mouse
is sound asleep inside his house.
What do feet sound like?
The rhymes in the story helps young children
hear each sound that makes up the words. It’s
fun to make up rhymes for everyday activities,
like, “Look at the moon! Let’s sing a tune!”
On the stairs, the sound of feet!
Mouse is up. It’s time to eat!
How many cookies can you find
in the picture?
Let’s all stand up and jump in
the leaf pile!
Can you sniff too, like Mouse?
Crunch-crunch, he wants a cracker.
Munch-munch, a cookie snacker.
Crackle-sweep, he rakes corn flakes
and jumps into the pile he makes.
Sniff-sniff, milk and cheese.
Mouse would like a taste of these.
Splish-splash, the milk spills out.
Food is scattered all about.
Can you find the words on the
jam and peanut butter jars?
Sticky-gooey, jam to spread
with peanut butter smeared on bread.
Tipping, sipping, sugar falls
Pour and pat make castle walls.
Olives, pickles, catsup—fun!
Pop the tops off one by one!
Mouse steps back. He looks around.
He can’t believe the mess he’s found.
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Point out and read to your kids the words
that are all around, like on food packages
and road signs. They’ll see that words are
printed everywhere and learn new words
too!
“Who made this awful mess?” asks Mouse.
A gurgle is a sound; it sounds like
this: blub blub, or even like the
word gurgle itself! You try it!
“These people need to clean their house!”
Gurgle, bubble, water flows,
soaks the jam between his toes.
It’s great to explain what words mean
in a book that kids may not know, like
gurgle; it increases their vocabulary!
Now that Mouse is clean and fed,
What do you think will happen
next in the story, when the
people come downstairs?
he leaves the mess and goes…
to bed!
Extension activity: Have kids act out what they think
will happen next.
Asking kids what will happen next in the
story lets them use their imagination. It
also helps them understand how one thing
can lead to something else.
Playing by acting out their story helps kids practice
using words, and helps them understand how people
relate to each other.
Extension activity: Have kids draw what they think will
happen next.
Whenever preschoolers draw, they strengthen their
hand muscles and improve their coordination. This
practice helps get them ready to learn to write in
kindergarten!
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