Halloween Activities: "The Spooky Wheels on the Bus" Storytelling Craft Wheel

Do you read ”The Spooky Wheels on the Bus” by J. Elizabeth Mills?

It’s put out by Scholastic and a new favorite of mine. Perfect for counting, introducing onomatopoeia, and practicing the “sequencing and retelling a story” standards.

Since my students are familiar with, and really enjoy singing “The Wheels on the Bus”, having an alternate version for Halloween is particularly enjoyable.

For educational fun on Halloween party day, read the story, sing the song, and make the wheel craft.

There are full color patterns to use for an independent center, as well as a sample to share, plus a black and white pattern, so your students can make their own.

When everyone is done with their wheel, take a moment to retell the story as a whole group, by turning the wheels, and calling on a student to explain what’s going on in that picture.

To reinforce the lesson further, I also have my students pick a partner and take turns sharing their wheels with each other. Sometimes we do this with our older, reading buddies.

For writing practice, and to check comprehension, have students complete the “Here’s What Happened” writing prompt worksheet, then color it. Use the colorful template to do as a whole-group with little ones.

I’ve also included an additional, super-fun writing prompt, where children think of an 11th set of spooky things that ride the bus.

They fill in the blanks, then draw 11 more creatures in the back windows.

Completed projects are fun to share and make a cute bulletin board.

I purposely used a 5-sectioned “pie” wheel instead of one with 10, as the graphics would have been too small.

I find that little ones tend to use just one color crayon and “scribble” when they’re coloring smaller graphics. The larger clip art results in using more colors and nicer looking wheels.

Since there are 10 parts to the story, there are two wheels for this craftivity.

Heads Up: So that you can easily diversify your lessons, there are 2 different options.

Students can simply take the 1st wheel out, & put the 2nd wheel in, to tell the rest of the story, OR ...

You can use pattern #2 & have students glue the two wheels back-to-back. I've included a back cover for this option, so that students simply flip their storytelling wheel over, to tell the rest of the tale.

Check out the PREVIEW to see samples.

I hope your students enjoy making a storytelling wheel as much as mine do.

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