The Best How-To Books For Kindergarten Kids To Create
Learning to write how to books for kindergarten kids is an important step towards mastering many early reading, writing, and language learning goals. How to writing assignments and sequencing activities encourage kindergarten students to think about the order of events, recall details, and share their knowledge through writing.
How to writing doesn’t have to be boring for kindergarten teachers or students. There are all kinds of fun ways to practice these skills in the classroom!
I’m excited to share with you my favorite how to books, picture book ideas you can use as mentor texts to get started, and how-to printable projects.
Master Reading and Writing Standards with Your Kindergarten Kids
Kindergarten reading and writing standards help to give our students a solid foundation for learning more complex literacy skills in the future.
Teaching younger children to share their knowledge through writing has all kinds of benefits! The first time your kindergartner gets to be the teacher (rather than just the student) is one of the best things!
It’s a great way to build their confidence and foster a lifelong love of reading and writing.
Here are some of the other important kindergarten standards your students will learn while practicing how to writing:
- recall information and key details
- gather information from outside sources
- begin to compose informative and explanatory texts
- ask and answer questions about what they have read
- begin to understand question words like who or what
- express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly
- practice early grammar and usage skills
- apply grade-level phonics
- recognize high-frequency words
- develop print awareness
Help Kindergarten Students Write Their Own How To Books
Help kindergarten students understand that one of the purposes of writing is to teach others with how to books for kindergarten that they can create on their own.
It’s a great way to help your students build confidence and learn to express themselves through writing as they teach their audience by writing and drawing a sequence of steps.
Writers don’t just use books to tell stories but to teach others about a topic they are interested in or one they know a lot about.
This kind of writing is called informational writing. Some writers use this type of writing to teach others how to do something with a sequence of step-by-step directions.
In your kindergarten classroom, you can use this type of writing after completing a project together as a class like making play dough together or building a giant block tower.
It’s a fun way to make how to writing an interactive activity for everyone to share. After reading a story together, you can use this type of how-to writing to increase reading comprehension this school year.
Keep reading to discover my favorite children’s book list for mentor texts you can use to teach your little kids how to write these types of how to books for kindergarten.
Plus, get printable sequence activities you can use in the classroom or send home for extra practice.
Great Mentor Texts for How To Writing In Kindergarten
Reading great mentor texts aloud before your students practice how to writing in the classroom is a great way to explore this new style of writing with them.
The best mentor texts will give them opportunities to practice the style orally as a group. Plus, they’re great stories!
When we begin writing how to books with our kindergartners, we can read mentor texts as examples and place them around the classroom for students to explore as they begin writing their own how to books too.
Not sure which how to books for kindergarten kids to use in your classroom? Check out my favorite picture books for teaching how to writing and add them to your classroom library this school year.
How to Teach a Slug to Read by Susan Pearson
Building a House by Byron Barton
How to Wash a Wooly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson
Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle by Chris Raschka
How to Babysit Grandma by Jean Reagan
Pizza at Sally’s by Monica Wellington
How to Make a Pancake by Dave Max
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Elhert
My Printable Sequencing Activities for Students
You can use sequencing activities with your kindergarten students to help them get ready to write their own how to books as well. Getting young children to think about the steps involved in a story and put them in order is a great first step toward mastering how to writing assignments.
Check out some of my favorite printable sequencing activities for students to help you get started.
Life Cycle Activities
Thinking about life cycles can be a helpful way to begin exploring how to books for kindergarten kids.
I’ve put together some helpful life cycle activities and crafts you can use to teach your students about the life cycle of animals and plants they’re curious about before they write their own how-to books this school year.
Printable Chicken Life Cycle Worksheet
Butterfly Life Cycle Worksheets
Pete The Cat Story Sequencing
Do your kindergartners love Pete the Cat?
His books are a great way to introduce your students to sequencing and how to writing. If you’re planning to introduce how to books for kindergarten at Christmas, you’ll definitely want to check out 12 Groovy Days of Christmas and my Printable Pete the Cat Christmas Craft.
How To Make… Activities
I’ve got printable activities that will help your kindergarten students explain the steps to some of their favorite things in order.
These activities use popular foods like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, lemonade, and tacos to help kids learn to put steps in order as they explain how to do something. It’s an important first step in how to books for kindergartners.
Easy How To Make a Taco writing and craft
How To Carve a Pumpkin
This fall, consider adding my How To Carve a Pumpkin activity to your lesson plans. It’s a fun no-prep activity the class can do together. You can even carve a small pumpkin with everyone right in the classroom before you get started!
How To Book Project for Kindergartners
There are lots of fun how-to-book projects you can do in the classroom with your kindergartners too. When they’re ready to write their own how-to books, make it easy with some of these fun little book project ideas:
Discombobulated Directions
Give your students directions to do a task, but give them out of order. When it doesn’t work out, they’ll begin to understand the importance of writing how-to books in the correct sequence.
Student Directed Drawing
Instead of giving your students the steps to draw a person, let them give you the directions. When they tell you to draw the head, do so. Then, when they tell you to draw the body, draw it on top of the head instead of below.
Draw other body parts in strange places if they don’t specify. This is a silly way to teach your kindergarten students to be specific and include details when writing how to books.
Flower Teams
Arrange students in groups and have them work together to draw flowers. One student must give the instructions while the other student draws. Then, switch it up so each student gets a turn to draw and each student gets a chance to explain the steps.
Kid Experts
I love to have my kindergarten students write their own how to little books about topics they’re experts on.
Ask kids to identify things they can teach others. Kids can act out the steps, write them down in little books, or use pictures if they aren’t writing well yet. These make for really fun mini lessons about how to writing for kids.
How To Book Kits
Another fun opportunity to encourage how to writing is to stash how to book kits in your literacy center. Place a few props in a sandwich bag and let your students use them to write their own how-to books.
Some of my favorites include “How to blow bubbles” and “How to brush your teeth.”
Transition Words Practice
Create an anchor chart with transition words. You can color-code the words to help your students understand where they fit in the story.
For example, words like “first” are green because they begin the how to book. Words like “last” or “finally” are red because they stop or end the story.
Great books in your book bin, fun lesson plans with printable activities, and small group projects will help your class master how-to books for kindergarten in just a few weeks of school! I hope my fun kindergarten books, activity ideas, and printable sequencing crafts will be the perfect addition to your how to writing lesson plans this year.
I’m always on the lookout for new ideas so don’t forget to share your favorite excellent books and how to writing easy steps in the comments too!
