Preschool Story Stretcher with The Water Hole by Graeme Base

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The Water Hole by Graeme Base presents preschoolers with a wide variety of extra learning opportunities. Parents and daycare workers will appreciate the amazing illustrations, playful text and realistic animal pageantry.

The Water Hole Author and Publisher Information

The Water Hole was written and illustrated by Graeme Base and published by Harry N Abrams, Inc. The ISBN number 0810945681.

The Water Hole Story Summary

Base’s book, The Water Hole, is a delightful story of a large pool of water that is visited by several animals, one after another. As each group of animals visits the pool, the amount of water dwindles. Finally the watering hole is empty and the last group of animals, ten kangaroos, have nothing to drink! Then the clouds roll in and, beginning with a large, single drop of water, the rain begins to fall until the watering hole is once again filled with plenty of water for all the animals.

Story Stretching Educational Ideas for The Water Hole

• Mathematics – Counting: The Water Hole is a natural book for counting with you child since each time a new group of animals comes to visit the watering hole, there is one more than the previous group. First you have one rhino, and then two tigers, etc. Not only is numeral shown on the page, but the number word is also spelled out on the page so your preschooler will learn to associate the number, with the word, with the concept of “one rhino.” These basic mathematic skills are the foundation for all other math in the future.
• Zoology – Animal Habitats: Each group of animals comes from a unique habitat – African plains, jungle, rain forest, snow mountains, rivers and streams, bamboo forest, European countryside, and deserts. This can make for a great chance to begin to talk with your preschooler about different habitats and environments that are needed for different types of animals. Would a snow leopard be happy in the same hot and humid habitat as the panda bears? Would the catfish be happy living in the desert with the tortoises? Discuss reasons why and why not.
• Geography – Countries and Continents: In The Water Hole, many groups of animals come from specific countries or continents. Europe, Australia, North America and South America are the continents shown in the book. Countries discussed include China, Africa, India and Australia.
  A preschooler would have a lot of fun looking on a large, world map to find which areas of the world a certain animal comes from. Find magazine clippings or print pictures of their favorite animals and let them glue the animals to the map in the correct areas. Or have your preschooler draw a picture of their favorite animals to cut and paste onto the large map so they an see visually where each animal is found in the wild.
• Observation – Hidden Pictures: Each page of The Water Hole includes several hidden animals in the illustrations; all animals from that particular environment or habitat. For example, on the North American page we see five moose “wallowing in the water hole”. However, around the edges of the page, in the decorative border, we see several other animals native to North America. These animals; bison, grizzly bear, bighorn sheep, bald eagle, prairie dog, chipmunk, raccoon, puma, and coyote are all hidden into the main illustration of the page making for some hidden picture fun.
• Language Skills – Foreign and Make Believe Words: Another fun aspect of the text of The Water Hole is that each animal group has their own language with the translation in parenthesis below. For example, on the page with the seven pandas they say to each other “Tsk, tsk, tsk” which is then translated, “After you. No, no – I insist.” Talk with your preschooler about how different languages can be used to say the same thing. “Hola” means “Hello” in Spanish, for example. 

Buy The Water Hole by Graeme Base

Purchase the guide for Using Children’s Literature to Teach Preschoolers.

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