Pack a basket, lay out lunch and follow a cup of tea from empty to finished. This printable set has two four-step stories, eight unnumbered picture cards, matching order boards and separate answers. Choose one story for a short round, then try the other when you are ready.
Choose Your Download
The complete pack contains 7 pages. Both paper sizes include the same content. Downloads open directly without an email sign-up.
| File | A4 | US Letter |
|---|---|---|
| Complete pack (7 pages) | A4 PDF | Letter PDF |
| Mixed story cards (2 pages) | A4 PDF | Letter PDF |
| Ordering boards (2 pages) | A4 PDF | Letter PDF |
| Answers (2 pages) | A4 PDF | Letter PDF |
| Instructions (1 page) | A4 PDF | Letter PDF |
Print and Cut the Story Cards
Choose A4 or US Letter to match your paper and use portrait orientation at actual size / 100%. Print the two mixed-card sheets and the two order-board pages on the same setting so their spaces match. The cards are 82 × 76 mm; each board has four spaces of that size. The complete file also includes two answer pages and one instruction page, so you do not need to print those separate downloads again.
Cut only the mixed-card sheets along the outer rectangle and shared straight grid lines. Keep the order boards whole. There are no little tabs to trim or pieces to fold. For sturdier cards, use card stock suitable for your printer, or glue an uncut sheet to backing paper, let it dry flat, and then cut. Keep each four-card story together.
Picnic Basket: from Packing to Lunch
Begin with the brown basket standing alone on the green ground. Next comes the basket with food showing above its rim. The pink checked mat appears beside that packed basket in the third picture. Last, the basket is empty again and the food has moved onto the mat. That last change is worth looking at together: an empty basket can belong at either end, but only the final picture has lunch laid out beside it. Ask, “Where did the food go?” rather than using the basket alone as the clue.
Tea Cup: Look Inside the Cup
The cup starts empty. A dry tea bag appears inside it, then amber tea fills the lower part of the cup around the bag. Finally, a round lemon slice rests at the rim. Compare the two pictures with tea: the lemon marks the ending. These are pictures to order and talk about; no drink preparation is needed. A child might narrate, “First the cup was empty. Then someone put in a tea bag.” Invite an ending in their own words while keeping the visible four-picture order.
Use the Board and Tell the Story
Put one story’s four shuffled cards beside its matching board. Find the starting picture and place it in space 1, at the top left. Continue left to right across the top row, then across the bottom row: 1, 2, 3, 4. The card fronts have no step numbers or words, so look for a visible addition, movement or change each time.
If the child hesitates, compare two cards and ask, “What is here now that was not here before?” You can place the first card together and leave the other three for them. Keep the answer page aside until they have made a choice. Then compare all four pictures with the reference; move a card and tell the story again if needed.
Invite a sentence for each card using first, next, then and last, or simply let the child point and describe. Ask what the last picture shows rather than requiring one exact spoken sentence. Mix the same four cards for another round, or switch stories. Store the two story sets separately with their boards so preparation is easy next time.
You may print these files for personal, family and classroom activities. Share this resource page rather than selling or rehosting the PDFs.