In kindergarten, learning to follow directions is one of the most important skills that is taught. Following directions for kindergarten is not just about classroom rules—it’s about helping kids build listening skills, focus, and independence. Check out these 5 book titles to help your students learn this vital social skill.
Why Use Read Alouds?
So why use read aloud books for listening and following directions activities for kindergarten or first grade students?
Read-aloud books that center around following directions give a fun, low-pressure way to talk about those skills.
The stories help students see real-life situations where listening matters. Tey get to laugh and learn through the characters’ mistakes.
For many students, hearing a story where someone forgets to listen—or gets mixed up because they weren’t paying attention—makes it easier to connect to their own behavior. They’re not being called out; they’re reflecting along with the character.
And after the story, we can use it as a springboard: ‘Remember what happened when so-and-so didn’t listen?’ Or ‘What did so-and-so learn about using their ears?’ It gives us a shared language.
Plus, read aloud books naturally supports language development and comprehension. This is because they often have clear sequences of events and simple cause-and-effect. This creates a win-win as kids are building literacy skills and social skills at the same time.
Books About Following Directions For Kindergarten
Here are 5 titles of books about following directions for kindergarten or first grade students.
Teach Your Dragon To Follow Instructions by Steve Herman
In this following directions story for kindergarten, you’ll find a fun, cute, and entertaining story with amazing illustrations. The main character, Drew, has a pet dragon. Throughout the story, he works on training his dragon as it often wants to try to do things its own way, which is the wrong way. It is an engaging read aloud great for teach kids about the importance of listening and following instructions.
Things My Way: A Children’s Book About Following Directions by Sarah Read
Another great following directions read aloud kindergarten focused book is Things My Way. In this read aloud, the main character, Dominic, likes to do things his own way instead of following the adult direction. He sees in example after example how that doesn’t work and begins to change. This book is geared specifically towards 4-5 year olds so it’s an excellent choice. The illustrations are realistic as are the examples of moments of struggle.
Follow Me, Flo! byJarvis
In the book, Flo the duck is supposed to follow her daddy to a relative’s new nest. He even sings a fun little song with the directions—‘up, down, in, and out’—to help her remember the path. But Flo gets a little too creative and starts changing the words. This is a great book to work on following directions in kindergarten because it shows the importance of doing what you are told by the adult or something icky could happen like it did to Flo.
Press Here by Herve Tullet
This book is for slightly younger children. Press Here is a great read when working on following directions for preschoolers. The story has paint dots in bright, primary colors as the main feature. Each page gives a direction to follow that the child actually does on the page. Directions are simple – such as tap the dot one or give the book a little shake. The next page shows what would happen to the dot[s] if the direction was followed. So if the direction is to press the dot, the next page might have 2 dots on it because it was replicated. This silly book is a great read aloud for younger students because it shows a very direct, simple cause-and-effect.
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
This fun book is a classic. The main character, Amelia Bedelia, is a maid for the Roger’s family. The family leaves a list of things for her to do and she does exactly what is on the list. But things turn out all wrong because she takes everything literally. While this isn’t your typical book to read about following directions because Amelia does indeed “follow directions,” it makes for great conversations about what the directions really meant. This is a great book to use with students who already have the basics but need a bit more work still.
Direct Instruction With Following Directions Lesson Plan For Kindergarten
Sometimes students need some direct instruction on a subject. In kindergarten (and even first grade) kids are still developing their listening and executive functioning skills. We can’t assume they automatically know how to follow directions—especially multi-step ones. That’s why direct instruction is so important. We’re not just telling them what to do—we’re teaching them how to listen, what it means to ‘follow directions,’ and how to check that they understood correctly.
Some students need repeated, consistent practice and visual or verbal cues to build confidence with following directions. And that’s okay!
Kindergarten is all about learning how to be part of a community, and learning to follow directions is a big part of that. When kids know exactly what’s expected—and have been taught how to do it—they’re much more successful, and the day runs more smoothly.
If you aren’t sure where to start with direct instruction on this subject or just don’t have time to prep a whole lesson with corresponding activities, no worries! Check out this teaching resource. You’ll find a 2 page semi-scripted following directions lesson plan along with a page of extension activities. There are 2 sets of task cards to help students practice their new learning. And a corresponding activity that is part of the lesson. This engaging lesson will get everyone on the same page what it means to follow directions and how to do it. Grab it here.
Oh and don’t forget to grab this *FREE* free printable following directions worksheets for kindergarten or first grade students. They’ll learn strategies to help them follow the direction correctly. Then students will identify what strategy could be used in a real-life scenario and how that would look. What are you waiting for? Download it now by clicking here!
Make sure to look deeper into these read alouds all about following directions for kindergarten students to get them better at this important social skill!
Happy Teaching!
