Swing your partner round and round the pages of this energetic board book. A board book is designed to withstand the clutches of a crazy toddler, so don’t be afraid to twirl the book around with you as you dance along with the silly farm animals. Sandra Boynton creates a playful and vibrant scene in this board book, making it the perfect way to get up, move, and connect with your child. Barnyard Dance will have you movin’, groovin’, and askin’ for more!
In this post, you’ll find four activities for the board book, Barnyard Dance. The activities will lightly introduce literacy skills that are age appropriate for toddlers while giving them a fun and interactive experience. The board book Barnyard Dance turns reading into joy and nurtures the connection between parent and child, the very moments we celebrate here at My Book Bud.
Table of Contents
Barnyard Dance
Author and Illustrator: Sandra Boynton
Published by Workman Publishing Company, 1993
Summary: These farm animals sure know how to “do-si-do!” Find a partner and dance along as the animals teach you how to square dance. You’re sure to have a hootin’ good time.
Skills to Tackle (for the board book Barnyard Dance):
Inference: Best for ages: 3-5
The animals in this board book encourage one another to get up, move, and have a good time. Their enthusiasm and positive energy for dancing is contagious and before you know it, the whole farm is dancing. Help your child make inferences about the power of community influence
Example conversation:
- Parent: It seems like all of the animals on the farm got up and danced! How fun! Do you think they all joined in immediately or do you think some of them needed some time to warm up?
- Child: I think some of them needed time to warm up. I noticed at first the donkey was just standing there, but a few pages later, he was dancing with the cow.
- Give your child time to look through the board book for evidence.
Make Inferences and Connections with the Board Book Barnyard Dance
- Parent: Interesting! Maybe dancing was something that was new to the donkey and he needed some time to watch the other animals before jumping in. Once he saw how much fun everyone was having, he decided to join in. When you do something new, do you sometimes need time to just watch and observe before diving in?
- Child: Yes! I don’t always like to join in right away, especially if I don’t know how to do something or I don’t know the other kids there.
- Parent: If it looks like the other kids are having fun, does it make it easier for you to join in on the activity?
- Child: Definitely! If the other kids give me space to warm up and they are having a blast, I usually want to join in on the fun after a bit!
- Parent: Do you think the donkey wanted to dance with the other animals because he saw how much fun they were having? Do you think he would have been so eager to join if it looked like they were having a bad time?
- Child: No way. The donkey probably would have stayed off to the side and not wanted to dance at all if they were having a bad time. This reminds me of when we went to Michelle’s birthday party at the playground and at first I just wanted to stand by you because I didn’t know anyone and it was a new playground. Then I saw everyone playing tag which is my favorite game and after a little bit, I was super excited to play.
This is a great conversation to have with a child who might be on the shy side. My oldest is incredibly shy and needs a lot of time to warm up when we go to new places. We often have a conversation before getting somewhere to start the warm up process before we even get there. Keeping the “donkey” in your back pocket to use as a warm up conversation is a great tool to get your child thinking about taking time to warm up, but eventually jumping in.
Reading a simple board book with your child can be a great way to talk about tough topics.
Following Directions: Best for ages 2-4
Following directions is an incredibly important skill that all kids need to learn as they will need it in all aspects of their life. Whether at school, playing sports, cooking a meal, or simply reading a board book, being able to follow directions is essential.
This board book invites the reader to get involved in the square dancing debauchery with simple and playful directions. Ask your child if they’d like to dance and follow along with the animals as they dance in the book!
There are a couple of ways to adapt this activity. To keep it extra simple, you and your child can pretend to be the animals. You could also look for “stand ins” for the animals, such as stuffed animals or figurines. Or get creative and simply draw or even print out pictures of these animals.
A Board Book Activity That Builds Multistep Direction Skills:
Think of this activity as a ladder. Start small by providing the first direction in the board book. Then build on your child’s critical thinking skills by giving the next two directions in a row. If your child can do that without asking for a follow up prompt, continue building the ladder. See how many directions you can get through without them asking you to repeat the directions. Following multistep directions is crucial to your child’s development. This skill helps to foster memory, attention, organization skills, and independence.
Example conversation:
- Parent: Stomp your feet!
- Pause and wait for your child to complete the task.
- Parent: Clap your hands!
- Pause and wait for your child to complete the task.
- Parent: Now grab the horse and take a bow, then grab the cow and take a bow.
- Give some wait time for your child to complete the two-step task.
- Parent: Now grab the pig and twirl around. Then, bounce with the bunny, and then strut with the duck.
- Give some wait time for your child to complete the three-step task.
- Continue with this pattern until you are giving four or five step directions in a row or until your child hits frustration. If you are acting as the animals throughout the activity, get creative and make the sounds the animals make to create a relaxed and lighthearted environment.
Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of a board book. You will find a world of activities if you just look beyond the words.
Free Printable!
Use the free printable linked below to practice the skill of following directions! Correctly color the animals on the page based on the directions given!
Following Directions Printable
Author’s Purpose: Best for ages: 4-6
An author always writes with a purpose in mind. There are three categories author’s purpose can fall under:
- To inform
- To persuade
- To entertain
The first two, inform and persuade, are more often found in nonfiction or informational texts. Fiction, texts created using the author’s imagination, are usually written with the purpose to entertain the reader. Of course, there are times when a text may be written with multiple purposes and fall into several of these categories.
If you have yet to discuss what an author is with your child, use this activity to do so.
Example conversation:
- Parent: Do you know what an author is? What is their job?
- Child: I know I’ve heard that word, but I don’t know what it means.
- Parent: An author is a writer! Isn’t that a cool job? In this case, the author who wrote our board book, Barnyard Dance. Her name is Sandra Boynton.
- Extend the conversation into why Boynton wrote Barnyard Dance. You are looking to have an informal conversation about the author’s purpose. This is a high level skill that can be introduced in a low-stress and approachable manner.
Not Just Who—But Why the Author Wrote This Board Book
- Parent: This board book is super silly! Why do you think the author wanted to write this book?
- This may require some prompting. Your child might not have any idea what you are asking and may respond with something off the wall like, “The author wanted me to learn about barn animals.” Pump up the silliness of the book and even point out some of the goofy things that happen in the book. It may help guide your child to the correct thinking.
- Child: Well, maybe she wanted to make me laugh! I thought it was really funny when the cow was playing the violin!
- Parent: Yeah! And the way she made the words rhyme together made it sound like a song at times! That made me want to get up and dance with all the animals!
Without even saying the words “author’s purpose” or “to entertain,” you and your child have just had a deeply critical thinking conversation discussing author’s purpose. The idea that the author wanted to make the reader laugh and made the reader want to get up and dance would fall under the category of “entertain.”
Expansion Activity: Best for ages: 2-6
Let’s make this one super simple…whether it’s Spotify, YouTube, or a good ‘ol CD, pop on some square dancing music and get steppin’!
If you are looking to just have a good time and be goofy with your child, find a square dancing song with an upbeat tune and march to the beat of your own drum. You don’t even have to worry about if you are doing the steps correctly.
To make the activity more engaging, find a square dancing song that has very explicit directions in it and try to follow along. You can find one on YouTube to add the extra visual aid or challenge yourself to do one by just listening.
Make Your Own Dance!
Once you’ve done a couple of songs together, try making up a square dance of your own! You and your child can do one together or you can each do one and then teach the other the steps! Try videoing the dance once you’re done and then you can share with the rest of your family later on so you can all boogie together!
Dancing is a great way to connect while also getting some of that necessary energy out! My kids love to dance. It is a helpful tool to bridge the gap between playtime and down time.
To Wrap Things Up
You don’t need to wait until your child is reading chapter books to work on high level skills. Just open a board book! At My Book Bud, we love showing how a board book can build skills cleverly disguised in the costume of connection. The most effective way to get your child to learn, especially in the early years, is to giggle, move, and laugh. So go ahead, open one up, you’ll love what you find!
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