Book: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey

Blog post written and submitted by Kayla Davitt, MT-BC 

An old lady, a turkey, a football, and a boat. You may be asking, “What do these specific objects have in common?” If you have small children at home, you’ve probably heard or read the book There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Well, in this series, the main character continues to swallow seasonal objects as the calendar year progresses! In There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey, the story centers around a turkey-eating holiday: Thanksgiving!

As we meet the main character, she begins by swallowing a live turkey. She then proceeds to swallow a variety of objects, some that very obviously make one think of Thanksgiving. When reading this book with your child, you can encourage them to think about what is happening in the book. Here are some ideas:

Fact vs. Fiction

For young children, they may still be learning about how to separate fact from fiction. This story is a great way to allow your child an opportunity to apply their reasoning skills to the events in the story. You can ask them questions such as: Do you think a person can swallow a balloon? Is it possible for a person to swallow a boat? What do you think would happen to a person if they swallowed something inedible like a ball? These questions and others can encourage your child to apply skills and knowledge from their own lives to answer the questions logically.

Sequencing

The events in this story follow a pattern, so this is a great way to work on comprehension skills with your child! When reading this book with your child, you can leave blanks in the content and allow your child to fill in the blank with the correct word. You can turn it into a game with your child and see how quickly they can fill in the blank! Another way to practice putting events in sequential order is to print out these activities and have your child put the pictures in the correct order according to what the old lady swallowed in the story.

Fine motor skills

The above mentioned activities not only allow your child to work on their sequencing skills, but they can also work on their fine motor skills! The activities consist of coloring, cutting, and glueing. This would be a great time to work on some of those skills with your child!

If you’re looking for a recording of the song to use while reading this book with your child, here is one that I enjoy.

Also, check out this amazing activity by Speechin Made Easy to act out the story as you listen to the recording.

We hope you enjoy reading or singing this song with your child as 2021 comes to a close!

If you wish to purchase this book on Amazon, you can do so here.

Happy reading!