Kit theme: COWKIDS
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Book titles included:
1. Armadilly Chili by Helen Ketteman
2. Clip Clop by Nicola Smee
3. She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain by Philomene Sturges
4. Sixteen Cows by Lisa Wheeler
5. I Want To Be a Cowgirl by Jeanne Willis
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DVD: Cold Spaghetti Western
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CD: Giddyup!
Additional titles available at the Johnson County Library:
When Wishes Were Horses by Sharon Addy
Cowboy Slim by Julie Danneberg
Hannah Mae O’Hannigan’s Wild West Show by Lisa Campbell Ernst
Yippee-Yay! by Gail Gibbons
The Wild Little Horse by Rita Gray
Cowgirl Rosie and Her Five Baby Bison by Stephen Gulbis
Appaloosa Zebra: A Horse Lover’s Alphabet by Jessie Haas
‘Til the Cows Come Home by Jodi Icenoggle
Mustang Canyon by Jonathan London
Ridin' Dinos with Buck Bronco by George McClements
Giddy-up! Let’s Ride by Flora McDonnell
Saturday Night Jamboree by Lee Wardlaw
B is for Buckaroo: A Cowboy Alphabet by Louise Whitney
See the back for activities to help children with these 6 by 6 Ready to Read early literacy areas:
Have Fun With Books
Notice Print
Talk, Talk, Talk
Tell Stories
Look for Letters
Take Time to Rhyme
Activity Ideas – Cowkids
Ask questions. “What are some of the things that cowboys and cowgirls do, have and say?”
Explaining what they learned will help your child develop narrative skills and increase their
vocabulary.
Pan for gold. Fill a water table or large bucket with water and pebbles, buttons and maybe
sand or dirt. Provide a colander or screen to sift through the water and tongs to pick out the
“gold”. Talking about what they find or what they think they will find will help a child
develop vocabulary and narrative skills.
Create your own brand. Each ranch has its own brand used to identify its livestock. Using the
first letter of your child’s name, have him create a picture that can become his own “brand”.
This activity reinforces letter knowledge which is a very important early literacy skill.
After reading Armadilly Chili talk about the sounds of some of the word combinations, many
begin with the same sound. Point out words that begin with the same letter sound like prickly
and pear. What sound do these words share? What else begins with the “p” sound? Sour as a
scorpion has words beginning with the “s” sound – what other words begin with that sound?
Research shows that children who play games with the smallest sounds in words are better
prepared to learn to read.
Cowboy Bedtime
This little cowboy is going to bed.
(point finger)
Down on his hat he lays his head.
(lay finger on palm of opposite hand)
He wraps himself in a bedroll tight,
And this is the way he sleeps all night.
(wrap palm around finger)
Morning comes, he opens his eyes.
(raise “wrapped” finger)
Off with a toss the bedroll flies.
(fling “bedroll” away)
Soon he is up and dressed and away,
Ready to ride on the range all day.
(clap hands, gallop away)
I’m a Little Cowboy
(to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little cowboy
Here is my hat
(point to self, then to hat)
Here are my spurs
And here are my chaps.
(point to heels and pat legs)
As soon as I get up,
I work all day
(stretch, pretend to wake up & lasso a cow)
Then I get on my horse
And ride away.
(stretch, pretend to wake up & lasso a cow)