LitWits Printables for
by Meindert DeJong
Make this book a fun, hands-on experience for kids—so they want to read more!
This set of activity printables and worksheets, used with our free creative teaching ideas, helps you bring the story to life in meaningful ways.
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Change their minds—and lives—in just one day.
Our printables and creative teaching ideas get kids INTO this story in fun, hands-on ways! They have a blast doing what the characters did, and learning what the characters learned. They also learn that great books are fascinating—and they want to read more.
Use our printables set and creative ideas to engage, educate, and inspire! Perfect for:
homeschool educators
classroom teachers
book club leaders
teacher librarians
anyone who wants to inspire kids to love great books!
Your resources gave us great ideas and materials for creating a wonderful sensorial experience which, of course, helped to make the learning experience come alive and the lessons better learned/remembered.
-Koren W., teacher.
ACTIVITY PRINTABLES
For supplies lists, instructions, and more fun ideas, see our page of Creative Teaching Ideas forThe House of Sixty Fathers.
Printable: arc template
We wants kids to remember this powerful story forever, and this activity enbeds it in their minds through sensory connections. For each section of the narrative arc, you'll reach into the story and pull out the some of the sensory elements — the sights, textures, even smells — of critical scenes. The kids literally place those elements on the narrative arc as you talk about those scenes, and how each event keeps readers turning pages,
Printable: pantomime prompts
When Tien Pao discovers the injured American in the mountains, he and Hamsun have to communicate to survive. Even though they don’t know each other’s language, they’re able to understand each other through miming. In this activity, kids pantomime a single sentence to a partner, or to the whole group, without using words, noises, or props—and discover that the heart does understand without words!
Printable: calligraphy model
If Tien Pao attended school in his village, he would have learned how to write the common words “house” and “fathers,” and numbers as well. Writing the book’s title in traditional Chinese calligraphy on traditional rice paper lets kids share in Chinese culture and Tien Pao’s story — if only “in title.”
Printable: travel sticker
Here's a travel sticker to prove kids have taken a trip through this great book, LitWits style, and have met some great people and learned some great things on the way!
WORKSHEETS
Weave interactive worksheets between hands-on activities to help kids process ideas and retain information. For The House of Sixty Fathers, your kids can use our four worksheets to:
take notes about the author while watching our short video biography
learn the important concept of the narrative arc, gain an overview of this story's structure, and create symbols as a form of note-taking
locate the setting of the story on a map, and learn some significant dates
practice creatively writing from another character's point of view
Worksheets stand alone, but if you'd like to integrate them with hands-on activities and valuable discussions, check out our page of free creative teaching ideas for The House of Sixty Fathers.
Instant access + money-back guarantee
These printables are for use with our free creative teaching ideas for this book.
On that web page, you'll also find loads of lesson-planning aids: curated learning links, prop ideas, discussion topics, and more.
Use the ideas and resources on that page to build your lesson plan, or just do whatever appeals to you and your kids. There's a lot there—don't feel you need to do it all!
Then read the book, do the prep, and get ready to have a great time!
We've just recently started asking for reviews, some of which you can see right here. As they come in, we'll add them to each product page.
If your kids see the pleasure in the story, and want to read more because of their LitWitty experience, we'd sure love it if you too would leave a review!
Aw, you’re just the right age, whatever that might be! Just kidding—we know what you mean. We find that 8-12-year-olds are consistently “ready to LitWit.” Generally speaking, their reading level is high enough to take on the vocabulary and syntax of literature, and they’ve acquired enough knowledge to grasp new ideas. Yet they’re still full of wonder, and are highly responsive to the “check this out!” nature of sensory immersion.
However, we often have mature kids of 6-7 in our experiential workshops, and sometimes fun-loving kids of 13-14. As a teacher or parent, you know best what your kids are ready for and interested in.
They're on our page of Creative Teaching Resources (linked above), along with Takeaway Topics, Learning Links, Prop Ideas, and other fun stuff to do!
We keep all that virtual so that we can include helpful links, update them regularly, and let you use our materials on a screen. We’re trying to save time (yours and ours) and trees too.
You can right-click to print that page, if you'd like a hard copy—be sure to open all the drop-downs first, so the hidden contents will print.
We're dedicated to being as helpful as possible, so if our products don't work for you, please let us know what went wrong, and we'll issue a full refund.
Sure you can, for your noncommercial use in your family or classroom. As long as you’re not calling your fun time a “LitWits” event or charging a fee, you can use our ideas and printables to do lots of wonderful things!
Just please don’t forward your printables or make copies for people who haven’t paid for them, of course, out of courtesy and to honor our copyright and per our Terms of Service.
You're off to teach the best of this great book in fun, hands-on ways!
We've got 15 years' experience teaching great books in sensory, hands-on ways, and we'd love to help you do the same. If you still have pre-purchase questions or need customer support, please reach out! You can also join our email list to get product updates and discounts.
Becky and Jenny