Explore fun, educational activities for kids inspired by The Little Red Hen! From planting grain to making bread, these printables teach sequencing, counting, pre-writing, and more.
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The Little Red Hen is one of those stories kids love to hear again and again, and it’s perfect for turning story time into hands-on learning. These Little Red Hen activities invite kids to join in just like the characters in the book, whether they’re planting grain, helping make bread, or working through simple learning activities that build early math, literacy, and fine motor skills.
Whether you’re reading the story at home or using it in the classroom, these activities give kids a chance to do the work right alongside the Little Red Hen. They’ll practice cutting, counting, sequencing, and early writing skills through simple worksheets and hands-on play, with free printables included below to make planning easy. Everything is designed to feel like part of the story, so learning happens naturally while kids are having fun and feeling proud of what they’ve helped create.
The Little Red Hen Seasons
Recently, we dove into learning about plants, and what better way to combine gardening with learning than by exploring activities inspired by The Little Red Hen? The Little Red Hen is a fantastic book for both spring and fall because it connects to the cycles of nature, making it relevant to both seasons in unique ways:
🌱 Spring: This season is all about growth and renewal, which aligns perfectly with the story of the hen planting seeds and tending to her grain. Spring is a time when plants begin to sprout, just as the hen works hard to cultivate her grain, teaching kids about the rewards of effort, patience, and teamwork.
🍂 Fall: Fall is harvest time, the culmination of growth and hard work, just like the hen’s harvest of the grain at the end of the story. It’s a great opportunity to talk about the seasons, the importance of reaping what we sow, and how we prepare for the months ahead. Fall also brings the chance to reflect on the work that goes into gathering, much like the hen’s efforts in the story.
The Little Red Hen Printables
I know there are a lot of versions of The Little Red Hen. The first page in our printable has a hen, a goose, pig, and cat on it. If your book had different characters you may need to explain to your child that the same story can be retold in different ways. You could even read several different versions of the story together to compare (we read 2 versions).
You can also modify this page to match your child’s ability. If your child can write on their own, have them write the name of the character in the picture on the line. If your child is still learning to write, use a yellow pen to write the name, and then have the child trace it with a darker color or a pencil.
As you can see in the picture below, the printables include fine motor skill activities, a sequencing page, and writing pages. You can also use these pages to help the children retell the story in their own words.
The Little Red Hen Activities
Once we were done reading The Little Red Hen, and doing our book-related learning, it was time to put it all into practice! We pretended to be the Little Red Hen, and planted our wheat and baked our break (but we made sure we all helped so everyone could enjoy it!) Continue reading to see our Little Red Hen activities. These are also perfect for at home learning or classroom!
Plant Some Wheat like the Little Red Hen
Supplies:
- Wheat seeds
- Dirt
- Water
- Container to plant in (We used recycled drink mix lids)
Directions:
(My camera’s memory card with the pictures from this activity broke so I don’t have any pictures of the start of this activity… and yes, I shed some tears for the pictures I lost :).
Wheat grows extremely fast and easily, so it’s the perfect plant for the kids to tend to. Soak the wheat overnight to soften it. Fill your container with dirt (make sure to leave room for a final layer of dirt), sprinkle seeds on top of the dirt in a thick layer, then put a final layer of dirt on the top. Water the container and place it where it will get some sunlight, watch, and wait.
The kids loved using a spray bottle to water our wheat (or each other, lol). They would check it every day to watch and see what had changed and how much the grass had grown. You can also turn this into it’s own activity as the kids measure the growth. You can also graph how much it grows each day. If that is too much, another idea is to make a progression picture. Fold a paper into thirds. Draw picture of the wheat planting on the first day, 15th day, and 30th day!
Bake Some Bread
Supplies:
- Thawed Bread dough
- Olive oil
- Baking tray
Directions:
To make things simple I pulled out some frozen bread dough in the morning and let it rise. If you wanted, you could always make your own dough. Once it was ready I gave the kids a dish of olive oil so the dough didn’t stick to their hands, and a baking tray. The kids loved squeezing and pulling apart the dough. When they were finished playing they placed it on their tray in adorable little blobs and we baked them. Once they were done baking we ate them with butter and jam… yummy!
Suggested Book and Activities
To enhance the learning experience and bring the story to life, here are some great book and toy suggestions to pair with the printables and activities—perfect for sparking creativity and deepening the connection to The Little Red Hen! (Affiliate Links)
More Book Inspired Activities
My kids and I love book-themed activities, and this one was no exception! Need more ideas? check out these activities by A Little Pinch of Perfect including: Little Red Riding Hood activities, 3 Little Pig Activities, and more!
Pete the Cat Activities +Printable
LMNO Peas & 1-2-3 Peas Activities
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities
Book Inspired Crafts
Get the Printable Here:
Don’t see the box? CLICK HERE to be directed to the download. Please pin our printable.
Originally published 6/2/15, updated Jan. 2026
These activities give kids a chance to practice important early skills while they play. As they work through the story, they’ll build sequencing skills, practice counting, strengthen fine motor skills, and get early writing practice — all in a way that feels fun and connected to the book.
These activities work best for preschool and kindergarten kids. Younger children may need a little help getting started, while older kids can often do parts on their own, especially the story and sequencing activities.
There are lots of easy ways to reuse them. Kids can retell the story with the printables, act it out during playtime, or use them in a small group after reading the book. You can also pair the activities with baking bread, planting seeds, or rereading the story to keep the learning going.
thanks for sharing =)
Thank you so much. You can´t imagine how much these activities mean to me. God bless you!
These are some really great activities to go with The Little Red Hen. This is one book we are going to focus on this summer as we learn about plants. I think the children will really enjoy these printables. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing on Littles Learning Link Up last week. So glad you could join in. This week's linky is live. I would love to have you stop by when you have a chance with anything new or even old posts that are suitable for young children. Have a great evening.
Thanks so much! I hope the activities go well and you have a great summer! 🙂