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There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is a classic song that has been retold in story form many times. There are many popular versions available with different illustration styles. The bestselling Old Lady series by Lucille Colandro has many spin offs of the original for different seasons and holidays. Simms Taback’s take on the story won the Caldecott Honor Award Medal. Whichever version you use, there are a lot of fun activities you can use to bring this story to life.

Fly Swatter Sight Words – Using a clean fly swatter and sight word flash cards, have kids swat the sight word while they say them. For kids practicing letter recognition, use letters on the cards and have them find each one as you call them out. You can also turn this into a game for groups of kids. Call out a sight word or letter, and kids have to be the first to swat it! The kid who collects the most cards wins!

Related Post: Bug Sight Word Practice for Kids!

Fly Swatter I Spy – Using a clean fly swatter, give kids a letter of the alphabet and have them walk around the room tapping things that start with that letter. You could also have kids search for objects that are a certain shape or color. See who can find the most!

Story Retelling – The blog Housing a Forest created a great activity for this book using an empty pancake syrup bottle (shaped like a woman), pipe cleaners and alphabet beads. Kids can spell out the animals the old lady swallows and put them inside the bottle while you read. This can help with spelling, fine motor skills and story retelling!

Make a masterpiece with a fly swatter!

Fly Swatter Painting – Let kids get messy with a big sheet of paper, some paint and a fly swatter. Swat away with different colors to make a cool design! You can also use this with young kids to show them how colors mix to create other colors.

Bug Snack – There are a lot of cute bug snacks available online that can be used with this story. Welch’s posted a cute peanut butter and jelly “spider” sandwich with pretzel legs. You could also get lots of different snack foods and let kids create their own delicious bug-inspired snacks. Pretzels and licorice rope make great legs, while crackers or cookies make great bodies. The classic snack “Ants on a log” with celery, peanut butter and raisins is a healthy alternative too!

What delicious bug-inspired snacks did you make with your kids? Share your creations in the comments!

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