Eric Carle's House for Hermit Crab

I always like to read Eric Carle's House for Hermit Crab near the end of the year, as my children get ready to move on to their new "home" in first grade. 

We have great talks about making new friends and learning new things in first grade, but always knowing that our kindergarten friends are there for  us all the time. 

I also have two boys moving at the end of this year, so they were able to share all about that with the class as well.

The other thing my children pick up on in this book is that it follows the hermit crab through the months of the year.  My class loves the  Macarena Months song, so we sang this after we read the book. 

I show the class some video clips of actual hermit crabs.   I put several (as well as Macarena Months, or course!)  on my Eric Carle Prezi.  One of the favorites is this one where the hermit crab decides he wants to live in a Lego shell! 

I found an adorable hermit crab craft at Tippytoe Crafts!  I love the handprint idea and the eyes on the pipe cleaners! I am going to do this next year! 

 

 

We didn't have time for much of a craft, but during free choice time, I made some shells and had lots of sea stickers and blue paper to cut like water, so the children got creative!

 

 

 

 Our favorite activity was our Hermit Crab Game. The children sat in a circle on the rug. I chose one name stick to be the child who closed his/her eyes in our back section of the room (behind a book shelf).  I chose another  name stick to be the crab and hide in the shell. We practiced this game before we actually played.  I had one child peek- so he knew who was under the "shell," and we saw how it really took the fun away from the game.  I also had the children practice being completely quiet and not giving away any hints about who was the crab.  They got very good at this, and were actually annoyed if anyone made a peep! (I LOVED this game.  :)  One child was the "clue giver," if the child guessing needed a hint.  This was great practice for noticing details about friends and describing each other. (For example, "It is a girl."  "This person has red hair." "This person's name starts with a B."  "This person wears glasses.")  Here, the boy in the green was "clue giver" while the one in the orange shirt was guessing!  (The funny thing I just noticed is that these are both my boys who are moving this year!) 

Sometimes I divide the name sticks in half, and we play one round where half get to guess and half get to be the crab, then later, we switch, so that everyone has a chance to do both.

When the crab was under the "shell" and we were ready for our guesser to come out, we all sang, "The crab is in the shell. The crab is in the shell. Hi ho the derry-o, the crab is in the shell."  That just happened.  Not planned.  But so precious!

This is a very versatile game.  We also like to play it  around Christmas- when the person under the blanket is the present, and we say, "The present is wrapped!"

The first time we played it, I got under the blanket as the last child guessed.  The kids said, "This is a HUGE present."   Well... I wasn't thrilled to be HUGE, but it was funny!


This is one of my favorite creations of the year that I use all the time. I just hot glued one plastic cup inside a larger clear plastic cup. 



After I draw a name stick, I put the used name sticks on the outside part, so I know that name has been called.  Cheap, easy, and really useful!

Thank you for visiting!
Happy Teaching,
Carolyn