Nothing beats a cold and juicy red watermelon on a hot summer’s day! This seasonal favorite is a go-to fruit for many during those extra long days. It’s also a fun learning theme for young children as you can incorporate a variety of activities across the curriculum. Check out some of our favorite books about watermelon below!
More Resources for Little Book Lovers
The best way to encourage a love of reading is to provide kids with many opportunities to engage with a wide variety of books that are of interest to them. That’s why we share so many books lists on Fantastic Fun and Learning. We want to make it easy for you to find great books your kids will love. Over the years we’ve also discovered some helpful tools for connecting kids and books.
Digital libraries are one very handy way to do this. Epic! is one of our favorite online libraries. It’s full of over 25,000 books, learning videos, quizzes and more for kids 12 and under…and it’s free for educators. Click here to learn more and sign up.
Book Boxes are another fun way to get kids excited about reading. What kid doesn’t love to get a special delivery in the mail?! The crew over at Bookroo finds the best little known books that you won’t already have in your library, and they send them to you each month. Take a peak inside a Bookroo Box here.
Book-Based Activities are also a lot of fun for kids. Jodie over at Growing Book by Book has saved us all a ton of time and created a full year of Book-Based Activity Calendars so that you can extend the fun with a special book each week.
Picture Books About Watermelon
The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli
The Watermelon Seed touches on an age old concern of what might happen if you swallow a watermelon seed. When the crocodile inadvertently swallows a seed as he is eating his favorite fruit, his mind starts racing with the possible outcomes: Will vines grow out of his ears? Will his skin turn pink?! We found this book highly engaging with its whimsical illustrations and ability to capture and calm feelings of anxiety with humor and a wild imagination. Of course, the crocodile’s burps were my little one’s favorite part!
Down By the Bay by Raffi
Down By the Bay is a favorite classic song by Raffi that is excellent for building early literacy skills such as rhyme and repetition. From a llama wearing pajamas to a fly wearing a tie, children are sure to find this story hilarious while also picking up on rhyming words. We love to think of our own silly combinations of things to keep the rhyming and fun going!
One Watermelon Seed by Celia Lottridge
One Watermelon Seed is a versatile text that can be used to teach counting, gardening, and even seasons. The math concepts are presented in a simple way that demonstrates large quantities and even skip counting by tens in a way that young children can understand. The vibrant illustrations draw in young readers and help them to visualize large numbers. The story begins with just one watermelon seed, but as more seeds are planted, the children see the fruits of their labor as the seeds are multiplied! My little ones loved searching for the animals that were hidden throughout the book.
Watermelon Wishes by Lisa Moser
Watermelon Wishes highlights the feelings of spending time with and making special memories with grandparents. Charlie’s grandfather teaches him how to plant and harvest watermelons one summer. Charlie decides that one watermelon is going to be a special “wishing watermelon.” This leads to building his grandfather’s curiosity as to what the wish will be, all the while spending quality time with his grandson fishing, picknicking, swimming and just chatting about the watermelon wish. The story is very touching as it is revealed that Charlie’s wish is to spend his summer next year doing it all over again!
Chasing Watermelons by Kevin White
Chasing Watermelons is a fun story that teaches perseverance and working together. The illustrations of the duck and his friends chasing down the watermelons are silly yet captivating. Repetitious phrasing encourages interaction and participation from young readers.
Watermelon Day by Kathi Appelt
Watermelon Day encourages patience as you watch young Jesse wait all summer long for her watermelon to ripen. You can almost taste the sweet juicy fruit as she anticipates biting into it for her family’s annual watermelon day which means cousins, ice cream, games and of course- watermelon!
Peter Spit a Seed at Sue by Jackie French Koller
Peter Spit a Seed at Sue is a fun read aloud with rhyme and mischief that captivates any young reader who may ever wonder what it’s like to spit watermelon seeds. It’s fun to see the whole town join in on the fun- even police men! That is, until the mayor tries to put a stop to it. Kids will love the silly storyline and big illustrations. They may even want to start spitting some seeds too!
Icy Watermelon / Sandida Fria by Mary Sue Galindo
Icy Watermelon, Sandida Fria tells a story of how three generations join together in sharing some sweet and juicy watermelon over reflective conversations about their family history. The young family members learn that their grandfather grew watermelons with his father and also of how their grandparents met. It is a heartwarming story that demonstrates a strong family bond. The book is bilingual with English and Spanish text on each page.
Chestnut Cove by Tim Egan
Chestnut Cove is a fantasy story about a small community that seems to have kind and helpful members until the kingdom is offered up to the one who is able to grow “the largest and juiciest watermelon by summer’s end.” This sparks a lot of competitiveness among the town members as they dream of all the things the newfound riches could do for them. Many positive interactions are shut down and the town is no longer warm and friendly. Eventually an event where someone was truly in need brought them all back together and they shared their beautiful juicy watermelons together on the town square. This story teaches cause and effect as well as kindness.
Watermelon Party by Jasmine Cabanaw
Watermelon Party is based on a true story that took place at an animal rescue. This heartwarming story shows children that you can gather together and find common ground even when your companions don’t share many similarities on the outside. The text promotes friendship, love, and animal rescue. Even better- a portion of the book’s proceeds go back to the animal shelter that the book is based from.
Get a Full Week of Watermelon Theme Learning and Play
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
This watermelon theme pack includes editable lesson plans and hands-on activities for a week full of math, reading, & science learning activities about the watermelon life cycle and watermelons.
Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:
This set includes active hands-on learning ideas and the following printables:
1) Watermelon Seed Counting Game
2) Roll and Color Watermelon Seed Math Game
3) Watermelons on the Vine Beginning Sound Sort (6 initial sounds)
4) Watermelon Word Family Building Activity Set (5 word families)
5) Watermelon Fractions Matching Activity
6) Watermelon Life Cycle Printable Chart
7) Ten Frame Watermelon Seed Counting Mats
8) Growing a Watermelon Emergent Reader (2 versions)
9) Watermelon Letter Matching Puzzles
10) Watermelon Life Cycle Sequencing Set
11) 0-35 Watermelon Theme Number Cards
Get Your Lesson Plans
Home Preschool Watermelon Theme Lesson Plans
Preschool Classroom Watermelon Theme Lesson Plans
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