Cooking can be a fun science activity for young children. After reading the nursery rhyme with your class, bake a batch of muffins. You can purchase a mix at the grocery and follow the directions on the box or find a basic recipe and discuss what role the different ingredients play, depending on the age of the students. If you wish, copy the directions on a large sheet of paper or the chalkboard so that you can read them along with the class. Choose class members to help participate in each step of the process. When they are completed, enjoy the muffins you baked with your class.
Read the nursery rhyme with your class and ask the child to imagine what the Muffin Man from the story may look like. Provide a variety of art materials such as paints, markers and crayons and have the child draw or paint a picture of her own Muffin Man. Create this drawing on large butcher paper so the character can be life-sized. Cut out the image and display it on a wall in the classroom.
Read the rhyme once and then ask students to join in reading as many words as they are able. Repeat the reading until the students are familiar with the rhyme's predictable wording. Ask the students to think about what might happen next if there was another verse to "The Muffin Man." Using one sheet of paper, have them illustrate this idea and write their new verse. Ask one student to design a cover for the class book. Assemble the class's pages and cover and place the book in the classroom library.
Young children enjoy finger painting, and you can develop an activity using paints and this nursery rhyme. Print out a black-and-white line drawing of a muffin on your computer. Give this to the child along with various finger paints and ask him to paint his favorite type of muffin. Provide fanciful craft items like glitter, foam stickers and even feathers for decorating the muffin tops. These paints can be messy, so give the child a smock or old clothes to wear during the activity. Bring the class together and ask each student to share his artwork and tell the class about his favorite flavor of muffin.