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Farah Loves Mangos

Sarthak Sinha
Flying Eye
Age 5-7

Farah absolutely loves mangos, especially the mangos which grow every year on her grandpa’s tree. One year they don’t grow at all, and Farah is very upset. She tries everything she can think of to make them grow but nothing works. Eventually her grandpa shows her that her favourite tree has many other purposes and potential, even though it can no longer bear fruit.

A story about adapting to change, using your powers of observation and imagination, family relationships, the wealth of life in a tree – and lots of mangos!

lovemybooksactivitiesorangecentre

Share the story

Read aloud
Read the story aloud to your child pausing to talk about what is happening in the story or pictures when your child wants to.

Join in
Encourage your child to tell you the story using the illustrations to help them.
Spot the word mango on the different pages.

Talk about the book
◼︎Farah says she loves mangos SO much she could live in one or swim in an ocean full of them – do you love any kind of food that much? Which is your favourite fruit?
◼︎Talk about what you both like or dislike about the story, is anything funny or surprising?
◼︎Look in the book at the picture of the mango tree containing all the different animals and objects. What can they find in the mango tree?
◼︎Look at the types of mangos on the front and back fly leaves, see if the mangos you spot at the shops or buy are like any of thes


Things to make and do

Go shopping
Go to a market, green grocers or supermarket and look at all the variety of fruits. Talk about their different colours, sizes, shapes and textures. Choose some different fruits to buy including a mango. When back at home, feel and talk about the different colours and textures of the fruit

Taste the mango and the other fruit
Describe the taste, and talk about which you like best. Are you like Farah and LOVE the mango? You could make this into a fruit tasting game, wear a blindfold and taste a small piece of fruit, can you guess which fruit it is?

Look inside
With supervision, let your child cut the fruit in half and see what’s inside. Draw a picture of the whole fruit and what you can see inside it.

Go for a walk
Look at trees what might be living in them? Can they think what might be found in a large tree in their garden or park. Go for a walk in the park and look at the trees and see if you can spot anything in them. Look out for bird or bat boxes.

Decorate a tree like grandpa
Collect some long twigs, preferably with some leaves on and put in a jar, plant pot or vase.

Collect together or make small items to hang in the ‘tree’. Discuss with your child what they would like to have in their tree. Add small toy snakes, birds, insects and climbing mammals

Make a smoothie
Use the mango and other fruit to make a smoothie or a fruit salad. Look up other simple recipes that use mango. This activity may lead to a conversation about eating fruit as part of a healthy diet.

Find out more

Find out about the book’s creator
Find out more about author illustrator Sarthak Sinha https://catagencyinc.com/sarthak-sinha

Find out more about trees and the creatures which live in them.
Look at information books and the internet to see which creatures live in trees. Here is a video reading of an information book which gives a sense of this (from Ms Kay’s reading corner)

Encourage birds to come to the garden
If you have a tree in your garden, you might be interested in putting up a bird box or
making a fat ball for the birds to hang in a tree

Plant some seeds
With supervision, let your child cut the fruit in half and see what’s inside. Collect any seeds or pips and lay on kitchen roll to dry. Make labels for the seeds, so you don’t forget which is which. seeds can be planted in small pots to see if they gro.  You could also use your seeds to make a collage picture, adding others from seed packets if needed.

With thanks to Joan Thurgar for her activity suggestions