Literacy Snack Idea Squishes

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For this week’s literacy snack idea squishes, I have the cutest new book that you’ll definitely want to add to your book collection. This week, we’re reading Can I Give You A Squish? by Emily Neilson.

In this book, Kai is a little merboy who’s big on hugs–or “squishes,” as he and his mama call them. But not everyone’s a fan of Kai’s spirited embrace, which he discovers soon after squishing a pufferfish, who swells up in fright! Kai feels awful; but with the help of his friends, he figures out another way to show his affection, and then everyone demonstrates their preferred ways of being greeted. Because, as Kai realizes, “Every fish likes their own kind of squish.”

This is a fantastic book with beautiful illustrations to help the students learn about consent and personal space. And due to our current social distancing, this book will empower kids to think of new ways to express love in this new world where touching, hugging, or “squishing” may not be the safest greeting. 

For this week’s snack idea we are making our pufferfish friend!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

Ingredients needed per student

• 1 waffle
• 1 and a quarter slice of an orange -you may want to cut the slice in half ahead of time for the kids
• 2 candy eyeballs
• 1 peach ring chewy candy – I used the generic brand from Walmart

To make the pufferfish snack, have the students start with their waffles. They can add on the eyeball candies and the peach ring as his mouth. Place the half slices of orange as his fins and the quarter piece of orange on top of his head.

Isn’t he adorable?!

free printable

While the kids are enjoying their pufferfish snack, I made a free printable for them to work on to go along with the book. They get to put an x in the box of how they would like to be greeted and then color in all of the pictures.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for some ideas of how you can still have morning greetings in your classroom, we have these Visual Daily Morning Greeting Cards.

These cards are a fun way to build community and relationships with your students. Upon entering or leaving the classroom, the student will point to how they would like to be greeted and also greet you. All of the options included are hand free. 

I hope you and your students enjoy this book as much as we did! It’s definitely one of our new favorite back to school books!

See you next time!

Jenette