As the weather cools and days grow shorter, colorful leaves fall from trees. Bats, skeletons, witches and spiders decorate porches and lawns. Whispers of Halloween costumes and favorite candies are heard on playgrounds and in classrooms. Teachers prepare their favorite fall activities. Now is the time to read that wonderful story about the little bat named Stellaluna. To make this story extra special, we have compiled our favorite Stellaluna activities in every subject! Read on for ideas on how to turn this adorable story into a full day of fun!
Story Summary
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon tells the heartwarming story of a young fruit bat named Stellaluna who gets separated from her mother during a night-time flight. She finds herself in a nest with a family of birds who, despite their differences, welcome her into their home. As Stellaluna tries to adapt to their ways, she faces challenges, including fitting in and learning how to navigate the world as a bat in a bird’s life. Through her journey, Stellaluna discovers the importance of being true to herself and the value of friendship. Ultimately, the story highlights themes of acceptance, belonging, and the beauty of differences.
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Moral of the Story
This beautiful story teaches young readers that while we may come from different backgrounds, our similarities and connections can help us find belonging and understanding in the world around us.
Stellaluna Read Aloud
Watch the story of Stellaluna come to life thanks to actress Pamela Reed and storyline online.
Stellaluna Book Activities
Comprehension Questions for Stellaluna
As you read, be sure to stop and ask text dependent questions such as:
- How does Stellaluna feel when she first meets the baby birds? What words from the story tell you how she feels?
- What does Stellaluna do to try to fit in with the baby birds
- How does Stellaluna’s friendship with the baby birds help her learn about herself?
- Do you think Pip, Flitter, Flap and Stellaluna will stay friends?
For ideas on how to add text dependent questions and make your read aloud better, read our blog, 3 Steps to Create Meaningful Experiences Through Read Aloud, or purchase our Stellaluna Interactive Read Aloud resource. Read on to learn more about this fantastic resource.
Interactive Read Aloud Resource for Stellaluna
Make your read aloud come alive with this 3 day Stellaluna Interactive Read Aloud resource!
This resource comes complete with:
- 3 days of detailed lesson plans with book introductions, text dependent questions, vocabulary, and common core standards
- 14 differentiated writing pages
- Story elements anchor charts
- Cute and fun crafts to decorate your classroom or send home to showcase student work
This resource aligns with the science of reading. It is research based, easy to implement and aligned with the common core standards.
Cute Stellaluna Craft
No Fun Friday would be complete without a cute craft. Use this FREE bat puppet printable template for this fun and simple bat craft. Be sure to model how to make these cute bats. Depending on your kids and the time of the year, you may want to make these step by step as a group.
Bat Puppet
Copy our free bat puppet template on brown paper. Use a paper cutter and cut on the dotted lines. Students get one bat each. They cut out their bat. Draw a face, and glue it to a popsicle stick.
Bat Flying at Night
For this fun Stellaluna craft, have your students paint a night seen onto a paper plate. (Be sure you have already made a cut in each paper plate. An exacto knife works great for this.) Then use our free Stellaluna printables, and follow the bat puppet instructions above. When the paint has dried, students slide their bat puppet into the cut on their paper plate. They can slide their bat back and forth on the plate, as if it were flying in the night.
Writing Activities for Stellaluna
After reading and discussing the book, have your students write about their favorite part. Here are some other writing prompts you could use: What was the problem and solution? What is your opinion of the book and why? What is the author’s message. Remind students to use capital letters, end marks and spaces when appropriate. Here are some FREE writing templates for you to use.
Bat Activity for Math
Here are some fun and free Stellaluna activities to use during math.
Symmetrical Bat Math Activity
For this lesson, you will want to define symmetry for your students (Symmetry means that something is the same on both sides. Imagine a butterfly: if you draw a line down the middle, both sides look just like each other. When something is symmetrical, you can fold it in half, and both sides match perfectly). We have included two teacher approved videos about symmetry for kids. After you have explained what it means to be symmetrical (same on both sides of the line of symmetry), use this FREE symmetrical bat activity page to have your students make their own symmetrical bats.
Depending on your students, you might want to fold the paper in half before passing them out. Otherwise, model explicitly how to fold the paper in half on the dotted line. Then, cut around the outline of the bat. Open the folded paper and…voila! You have a symmetrical bat. Be sure to point out the line of symmetry (the fold), highlighting that the bat is exactly the same on both sides. Next, have your students draw eyes (or glue on googly eyes), a nose and a mouth. (Be sure to draw faces on the blank side of the bat, not on the side with the dotted line.) You can then hang the bats all around the room as a fun Halloween decoration, or line the bats up and practice counting them.
Symmetry for Kindergarten | EYFS Mathematics Activity(2:45):This is a quick video explaining symmetry in a kid friendly fashion.
Symmetry for Kids | Homeschool Pop (10:16) : This video explains symmetry using kid friendly definitions. It is a bit long, so I recomment pausing it after a few minutes.
Snack Ideas for the book Stellaluna
Here are some cute and tasty snack ideas to complement the book Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.
Bat Shaped Cheese Slices: Use a bat shaped cookie cutter to cut out some cheese and/or meat slices.
Bat Shaped Pretzels: These Utz Bats and Jacks Pretzels are an easy way to jazz up snack time. You can also use these as a quick and fun math activity. Have students put their bat pretzels in one line and their jack-o-lanterns in another. Count them and determine: Which shape has more/less? How many more/less?
Bat Science Activities
Here are two fun and engaging bat science activities that will complement the book Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.
Bat Senses
Did you know that bats have an excellent sense of smell? In fact, some use their sense of smell to find their babies. Mother bats will sometimes leave their babies in a large nursery colony, often located in a cave, while they go out looking for food. When they return, the mothers use their sense of smell to determine which baby bat, also known as a pup, is theirs. Cute right? For a fun and interactive science lesson, follow these simple steps and have your kids pretend to be bats and see if they can find their pup using only their sense of smell.
Bat Senses (How Mother Bats Find Their Pups) Lesson Plan:
Materials:
- 5 or 6 water bottles or disposable cups marked mother bat.
- 5 or 6 water bottles or disposable cups marked baby bat or pup. (Be sure the water bottles are squeezable so students can smell the contents.)
- 5 or 6 different extracts/oils (ie vanilla, lemon, mint, almond, cinnamon, clove or any other distinctive scents)
Before the Lesson:
- Place the water bottles/disposable cups in pairs. Mark the bottoms of these containers so that you can match the paired scents (mother to pup).
- Soak pairs of cotton balls, each pair with a different fragrance.
- Place 1 cotton ball in each water bottle.
- Be sure that all 5/6 scents are in the containers marked pup and those same 5/6 scents are also in the containers marked mother bat. This will ensure each mother bat has a matching scented pup.
During the Lesson:
- You may need to define terms such as pup (baby bat), colony (a group of bats), and roost (a place where bats gather to rest and raise their young; often in caves, trees, and man-made structures like houses, barns and bridges).
- Explain that mother bats will often leave their pups in a roost while they go out in search of food. There can sometimes be up to 500 pups per square foot. That’s a lot of baby bats! When the mother bats return, they use their sense of smell to find their pups.
- Choose 5 or 6 kids to be pups. Give each pup a water bottle marked pup and have them line up in front of the class.
- Choose 5 or 6 kids to be the mother bats. Give each one a water bottle marked mother bat.
- The mothers squeeze their own bottles a few times to catch the scent. They then sniff the pups’ bottles, and try to determine which one matches their scent.
- You should repeat this activity a few times so everyone gets a turn.
- Lead a class discussion on how difficult it was to find their pups using their sense of smell.
Lesson Variation:
For an easier version of this lesson, simply place the scented cotton balls in baggies according to their fragrance (ie 5 lemon scented ones in a baggie together; 5 peppermint ones together; 5 vanilla ones together; 5 cinnamon ones together…) Pass out the scented cotton balls, one per student. Explain that each child will need to find his/her bat family by smelling his/her own scent, and finding other bats with the same smell. Discuss whether or not it was difficult to find their bat families using only their sense of smell.
Echolocation
We have included this adorable video explaining echolocation because most bats use echolocation. Your kids will be singing the chorus for days. After watching this echolocation video for kids, have pairs of students roll a ball back and forth. Notice how the ball bounces back if it hits something. Explain that this is similar to how bats use echolocation. If there is something (ie a bug or a tree) in front of them, the sound bounces back, letting the bat know an object is there. FYI most fruit bats do not use echolocation. They have great eyesight!
More Fun Friday Activities
We love using picture books to create meaningful learning for children. So, if you want to have a full day of fun with a fantastic children’s book, check out some of our other Fun Friday book ideas.
Let us know if you use any of these fun resources with your kids. We love seeing pictures and hearing about how other classes enjoy these activities.
FAQs
The moral of the story is to celebrate diversity and respect others’ differences while staying true to oneself.
Stellaluna changes by learning to adapt to the ways of the birds, but ultimately she discovers and embraces her true identity as a bat. This journey helps her appreciate both her differences and her similarities with her bird friends, leading to self-acceptance and deeper friendships.
