The Mixed Up Chameleon is a wonderful children’s book by Eric Carle. It’s one of my favorites, and my students always loved it as well! Read below for the super fun activities for The Mixed Up Chameleon we loved doing in our classrooms!
Story Summary
The Mixed Up Chameleon is a funny story about a chameleon who thinks being like other animals would be better than just being able to change colors. He adds all sorts of other animal features to himself, becoming very mixed up. But at the end, he discovers he would just like to be himself. Click on the picture below to buy this adorable book from Amazon.
The Mixed Up Chameleon Literacy Activities
Before reading, briefly talk about chameleons, discussing with students how they can change colors to camouflage themselves. Ask why that might be helpful. Introduce the book by telling them this is a book about a chameleon who wants to do more than just change colors. He wants to be like other animals. While reading, stop to ask questions, such as; What animals has he wanted to be like so far? (Try to help them remember the animals in order). Why did he want to be like the fish? Stop a few times to remember the animals he wanted to be like. After reading, sequence the events with your students. Use the free Mixed Up Chameleon sequencing cards to put the pictures of animals he saw in order.
The Mixed Up Chameleon Writing Activities
Reread the story at writing time. Ask students, “What was your favorite animal the chameleon wanted to be like? If you could be like any animal, what would you choose? Why would you choose that animal? Write and/or draw yourself as that animal.” Use our free Mixed Up Chameleon writing pages to complete this activity.
The Mixed Up Chameleon Math Activities
To go along with sequencing, you can do a math lesson on sequencing your daily events. Have students talk about things they do in the morning to get ready for school. Then, list some of their ideas on the board all out of order like, brush my teeth, get dressed, wake up, eat breakfast, go to school. Then have students discuss the order in which they do these events. Make sure they use the right preposition (first, next, then), this might even be a great time to introduce ordinal numbers, such as first, second, third. Show the sequencing event cards and put them in order together. Then, hand out the student worksheet and have students cut and paste to put the events in order.
The Mixed Up Chameleon Science Activities
Any color mixing activity goes great with this book. Here is an example of a color mixing activity we loved doing in my class. Get some (at least 6) clear plastic cups, add a little water in each, and have some red, blue, and yellow food coloring ready. If you have a small class, put the kids in a circle so they can all see. I had a large class, so I did this on an overhead projector which worked great. In three of the cups, I put some water with each of the primary colors. I asked students what would happen if I mixed two of the colors. I let them discuss and come up with their predictions. Then using an empty cup, I poured some red water and some blue water, and we watched it turn purple. We did this several times mixing each of the primary colors. This is a cheap and easy color mixing lesson, and my students always oohed and aahed with each mixing!
The Mixed Up Chameleon Craft
During Art time or any time throughout the day, this activity was my favorite on this fun Friday! Show students the blank chameleon page and model how to add animal parts to the chameleon. Then, let your students creativity come alive as they add several animal parts to their chameleon. It was always fun to see what they came up with. Get the free blank chameleon page here!
The Mixed Up Chameleon Activity Sheets
If you like The Mixed Up Chameleon worksheets in this article, they are free. Get the reading sequencing pages, writing sheets, and blank chameleon page for art time. You can also purchase the math sequencing worksheets here.
The Mixed Up Chameleon YouTube
If you have some extra time in your day, watching The Mixed Up Chameleon video is such a treat for the students.
More Fun Friday Ideas
We loved planning our Fridays around great children’s literature, and our students loved it too. They were always exited to learn which book we had chosen and what fun activities we had planned for them. Check out some of our other Fun Friday ideas. You’re sure to love the Rainbow Fish and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Fun Friday blogs!
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