Little Yellow Bus Activities

February 24, 2025
Storie Belden

The first day of school is often filled with excitement and nerves. You can help kids know their feelings are valid by sharing books. Little Yellow Bus is a heartwarming story that encourages readers to practice bravery and a growth mindset. Here are several activities to pair with this book from the Little Heroes, Big Hearts series by Erin Guendelsberger.

Are you getting ready to read Little Yellow Bus by Erin Guendelsberger? Here are a handful of activities to pair with this heartwarming story about the first day of school. This companion includes printable and digital comprehension and vocabulary activities along with a fun school bus writing craft.

About the Book

Little Yellow Bus
Written by: Erin Guendelsberger
Illustrated by: Suzie Mason

Little Yellow Bus by Erin Guendelsberger is a heartwarming book to share on the first day of school. This story addresses the first day of school jitters while encouraging kids to find the courage to try new things.

The Little Yellow Bus had prepared for this day for a long time and how great it would be to pick up children and drive them to their school building―all by himself! Yellow wanted to feel excited, but instead, he was filled with first day worries. With a little help and encouragement from Mom and Dad, Little Yellow takes a deep breath, starts his engine, and decides that it’s time to prove to himself that he can be brave.

If you don’t already have a copy of this book in your school or classroom library, you can find it on Amazon.

This book is part of the Little Heroes, Big Hearts series:

Little Red Sleigh (find activities here)
Little Blue Bunny
Little Purple Tractor
Little Orange Pumpkin

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Little Yellow Bus Activities

This book companion has a large focus on comprehension and vocabulary. This resource has 12 question cards to help guide the discussion as you read. Students can also respond to these questions in writing.

Use these 12 questions to guide the discussion as you read Little Yellow Bus.

After reading the book, students can put the story back together with this cut-and-paste sequencing activity.

After reading Little Yellow Bus, students can put the story back together with this cut-and-paste sequencing activity.

Once students have practiced sequencing the story, they are ready to retell or summarize. There are several different graphic organizers to choose from. Students can also focus on the story with this story elements spinner.

After reading Little Yellow Bus, students can practice retelling or summarizing the story with these graphic organizers. This companion also includes a story elements spinner for additional practice.

For vocabulary, I selected 12 words and phrases for this story. Each vocabulary card has a matching definition. Students can play a memory matching game or use the cards in a pocket chart center. To continue working with these words, students can complete the fill-in-the-blanks page or vocabulary match-up activity.

This Little Yellow Bus book companion includes a focus on 12 vocabulary words or phrases. Not only are there cards with definitions, but students can deepen understanding with these match-up and fill-in-the-blanks pages.

This resource also includes a word search, a maze, and a color-by-code activity to pair with the book.

These Little Yellow Bus activities are perfect for fast finishers or to add a little fun to the culmination of your book study. These activities include a word search, a color-by-code page, and a maze.

Little Yellow Bus Craft

After reading the book, students can put together this school bus craft.

After reading Little Yellow Bus, students can put together their own school bus craft. While this craft can stand alone, you can also pair it with one of the included writing prompts to create a colorful hallway or bulletin board display.

This craft includes printable templates so students can create a school bus (shown above). I have included several suggestions for writing prompts, but you can always choose your own. If you don’t have time to do the writing piece, the craft can stand alone.

Little Yellow Bus Digital Activities

With many classrooms going paperless, I decided to add some digital options to this book companion. In addition to the printable PDF, you will find a Google Slides link that can be used with Google Classroom. I have also included a fillable student PDF. Please note: these digital options do not include the school bus craft. Instead, there is a slide with a clipart image and a text box for a student response.