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Look Up!

Nathan Bryon, illus. Dapo Adeola
Puffin Books
Age 5-7 years

Rocket is fascinated with the stars and space and wants to be an astronaut when she grows up just like Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space. She is very excited that there will be a meteor shower visible that night and thinks everyone should witness it. When her brother reluctantly agrees to take her to the park to watch for it and lots of other people turn up as well Rocket worries whether the meteor shower will appear or if she has got them there on false pretenses. Fortunately, it proves worth the wait and even her brother, usually glued to his phone, appreciates it too.

Look Up is an engaging story with an appealing main character, a dash of humour and an important message about how much we miss if we look down (eg at our phones!) and not up at the world around us.  The illustrations are gorgeous and add to the storytelling. There are lots of interesting ‘did you know….’ space facts included as well.

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Share the story

Read aloud

Before beginning to read the book talk about the cover together. What might happen in this story? Read the book to your child, pausing to talk about what is happening in the story and the pictures as you go.

Join in
When you read the story again children might like to join in with parts of the text such as the ‘Look up’ and ‘look down’ and ‘did you know?’ and other parts perhaps those in bold text or repeated.

Talk about the story

  • Look closely at some of the illustrations eg all the space toys in Rocket’s bedroom, all the people in the street scene looking down at their phones

  • Share favourite parts of the story, this might be something funny for example.

  • Talk about Rocket and her brother Jamal and the ways they are different

  • What you found interesting, what else you would like to find out.

  • Watch author Nathan Bryon read the story aloud and illustrator Dapo Adeola show how to draw Rocket’s cat.

From Puffin Storytime

Things to make and do

Be a star spotter
If you get the opportunity, look at the night sky together. Being very quiet, what can you hear? What can you see? After this experience your child might be inspired to draw or paint a picture of what they have seen.

Make up a dance
When Rocket hears Jamal will take her to see the meteor shower, she makes up a happy dance. Have a go at making up your own – this could be fun to do together, or you could try copying some of Rocket’s moves.

Make a cardboard box rocket
If you can get hold of a large cardboard box your child could decorate it like Rocket does. Then you could cut a hole in the top so that the box goes over your child’s head. Then your child can try the box on and practice zooming.

Make a Look Up poster and an announcement
Make a poster telling people to stop looking at their phones or to start looking up at the night sky. Your child could have a go at making an announcement about looking up at home to the family or toy ‘reporters.’

Make a ‘did you know’ book about space
Give your child a mini book to make their own ‘did you know’ space book with facts they have found out from the story or links below about meteors, space explorers or something else space related which interests them.

 

Find out more

Find out about meteors and meteor showers here 

Find out about Mae Jemison or other female space explorers:

Mae Jemison by Jodie Shepherd Scholastic books

A Galaxy of her Own by Libby Jackson Corner stone books.

Find out about the making of ‘Look Up!’

The illustrator Dapo Adeola describes creating the book and character of Rocket here.

 

Boundless Sky

 

Amanda Addison, illus. Manuela Adreani   
Lantana
Age 5-7 years

One Autumn day a small bird embarks on a long journey, over land and sea, crossing a desert where she rests in an oasis and meets a young girl called Leila who offers her a welcome drink. Bird’s journey continues to her summer home. On her return journey, Bird cannot find Leila, she is gone. We find out Leila has embarked on a long journey of her own. This is a story of a dual migration, of a swallow and a young girl, possibly a refugee. Their journeys mirror each other and weave together.

A beautifully illustrated story suggesting the wonder of bird migration which draws parallels with the movement of humans. It suggests the importance of offering help to those in need.

Watch the story read aloud by its author, Andrea Addison.

 

lovemybooksactivitiesorangecentreShare the story

Read aloud
Before beginning to read the story to your child look at the cover and end papers together, follow the flights of Bird with your fingers and talk about what the title might mean. Pause after the first page of text to think about how amazing it is that a bird might flying half way around the world.

Read the story aloud to your child to find out what happens and talk about it together. Read it again more slowly a second time so that you can really look closely at the detailed illustrations together.

Join in

If you make a bird puppet (see below) your child could hold it and let it fly from page to page as you read. Your child could take the part of Leila and Alfie saying their words as they welcome Bird or say goodbye.

Some pages read like a poem and you could choose a page or two to read together.

Talk about the story

  • The illustrations are beautiful, share your favourite pages, looking closely at the details

  • Talk about anything your child finds puzzling eg unfamiliar words such as ‘boundless’ and ‘oasis’, why birds fly south in the summer or why Leila may have left her home.

  • Do you know anyone who has left their home country and migrated to the UK? Talk about what it must feel like to arrive somewhere far from your home.

  • This might lead to a discussion about refugees, look for the illustration of the boat in the stormy sea full of people, is this what happened to Leila?

Things to make and do

Make shapes with your hands

Look back at the first double page spread and the way the hands cup the tiny bird reflecting the bird’s wings. Cup your hands imagining you are holding a tiny bird what might it feel like? (Be sure to tell your child that you should not really try to hold a wild bird). Make shapes with your hands like the wings of a bird. You could try creating shadows of a bird flying with your hands on the wall after dark.

Be a bird spotter

Look up high in the sky, looking at how vast it is, can you spot any birds in flight? Look out for flocks of birds. Talk about what you see together.

Be a map reader

After reading the book with your child, look at the picture of the map at the front and back of the book, and trace Bird’s travels. Using a large map of the world, a globe or a children’s atlas, look at the route Bird took and see if you can identify the countries she flew over or stopped at.

Make a bird puppet

Using the illustrations in the book as a guide your child could draw a bird, cut it out, and make it into a stick puppet  to tell the story.

Make a large-scale story map

On a large roll of paper (eg lining paper) draw the different terrains that Bird flew over. Use large crayons or large paint brushes and paints, you could collage bits and pieces, such as dried leaves for autumn, fabric scraps for kites, cotton wool for snow etc. When finished, retell Bird’s journey using your bird puppet or a toy bird.

Write a poem:

Choose a few lines from the story to make a poem eg

Autumn was coming

She swooped and soared and raced

Over the blue sea

Bird was home

Find out more

Listen to the author Amanda Addison talk about her book in this podcast: 

Find out why we have seasons

Find out more about bird migration
Find out in information books or the internet about birds that migrate in the winter, in particular swifts and swallows. 

Find out more about swifts and swallows
If your child is interested in finding out more about swifts and swallow this book may be useful RSPB Spotlight Swifts and Swallows by Mike Unwin

Find out more about human migration
Here are some links which might help when discussing  human migration and refugees with your child.

Your child may have seen on TV that desperate migrants, sometimes accompanied by children, have been trying seek to refuge and asylum in the UK by trying to cross the Channel in boats or on lorries.  This newsround broadcast explains the some of the issues. 

Find out more about refugees 

The Darkest Dark

Chris Hadfield, The Fan Brothers (illus)
Macmillan
Age 5-7

This book is about a young boy called Chris with a vivid imagination. He dreams of flying to the moon in his own spaceship. However Chris often doesn’t sleep, he is afraid of the dark and imagines his bedroom is full of scary aliens.

One exciting night he goes to a neighbour’s house to watch the first moon landings live on TV. Chris is amazed at how dark space is, the darkest dark ever, much darker than his bedroom and very, very beautiful. Chris is no longer afraid of the dark and he dreams of really becoming an astronaut.

Set in 1969, this story about the wonders of Space, fears of the dark and dreams for the future is co-authored by the first Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and based on his childhood experiences. It includes information pages about Chris and photographs and is stunningly illustrated by the Fan Brothers. Guaranteed to inspire young astronauts of the future and all space enthusiasts.

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Share the story

Read aloud
Before beginning to read the story to your child look at the cover and then the initial double page scene. Talk together about what might happen in the story. Read the story aloud allowing time to look closely at the detailed illustrations.

There is lots to talk about and discuss in this story and it is worth sharing more than once.

Share the information about Chris at the back of the book together and look at the photographs.

Talk about the story
When you read the story again see what you can spot in the illustrations, for example all the things in Chris’s bedroom including the number of aliens.

Look closely at the picture of the first men on the moon and talk together about what children can see. What would they like to find out more about?

Share your favourite illustrations.

Talk about Chris’s fear of the dark, have children ever felt like that? What helps to reassure them?

Talk about the fact this book is based on a real person.

Watch a trailer

 Things to make and do

Make a rocket from large boxes
Collect some large boxes and make a rocket together.  Your child could play in the rocket imagining they are taking off for space.

Walk on the moon
In a large space inside or outside do some moon walking with light bouncy steps. This is more fun if you do it together!

Look at the night sky
If possible, look at the night sky together, how dark is it? Can you see anything in the night sky eg the moon, stars or any planets?

Paint a picture of the darkest dark
Use black paints or crayons and paint a picture of the ‘darkest dark.’ Draw coloured pictures of the planets, stars or constellations like those illustrated in the book on separate paper. When the black night sky is dry cut out the moon, stars and planets and stick them on the background to make a darkest dark space picture.

Make a zig zag information book
Make your own mini zig zag book about a real astronaut, Chris Hadfield, Tim Peake, Neil Armstrong or perhaps another. The links below may help you to find information.

Find out more

Find out about author and astronaut Chris Hadfield here

Find out about British astronaut Tim Peake here 

To find out more about the first moon landings see our slide show of images

Look at our activity page for On the Moon

Or this website about the Apollo 11 mission 

 

Buy here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clean up!

 

Nathan Bryon, illus. Dapo Adeola
Puffin Books
Age 5-7

Rocket is really excited; she is going to visit Grammy and Grampy who live in Jamaica. They run whale watching tours, own a wildlife sanctuary AND Grammy is brilliant at surfing! While there, Rocket is shocked by the amount of rubbish on the beach and how it is affecting the wildlife. She decides to do something about it.

This is a delightfully illustrated story with a determined main character who sets out to make a difference. This is a story to raise awareness of the threat of plastic pollution on our oceans and ocean creatures and encourage small scale activism.

 

 

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Share the story

Read aloud
Before reading the story, you might like to look at the cover together and talk about what the story might be about. If children already know ‘Look Up!’ by the same team they might remember Rocket and her family.

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

Join in
When they are familiar with the story children could join in for example with all the things Rocket is looking forward to doing in Jamaica, conversation with Grampy and the ‘Did you know’ page.

Talk about the story

  • Rocket is very excited – talk together about times when you have been excited about going on holiday or on a trip. What would you pack if you were going away on holiday?

  • Look at the page where Rocket imagines what she would do in Jamaica – share thoughts on which things you would like to do – eg surf the waves or dance with a dolphin? Fist bump a turtle or high five an octopus?

  • Have you been to the seaside? What do you remember? What do you like best about being near the ocean?

  • If you child has grandparents talk about where they live, are they near or far away? Do you know anyone who lives in Jamaica? What do you know about it?

  • Did anything surprise you about the story and is there anything you want to find out more about?

  • Which is your favourite page?

    Clean up

    This book grabbed our attention straight away with the bright colourful front cover and snappy title. It was also a great starting point for discussion wondering why the girl was surfing through the rubbish, what danger the turtle was in and what we thought the book might be about.

    Straight away we were hooked, we have a grandparent abroad near the beach and love being outdoors at the beach or on the water. We started reading the book at the start of a summer of water adventures and each time we looked for rubbish and had really good chats about how rubbish gets in the water. We visited various beaches in Dorset, Worthing and went paddle boarding locally. None of the beaches had any rubbish and we knew Rocket from the book would be very proud. We did however see rubbish when we went to Bristol near a jetty for a water taxi and at Southampton dock where we managed to get it out much to the children’s joy. The children were really careful about making sure their rubbish went in bins and really conscious about waste over the holiday which was lovely to do it in a fun way.

     

    We had a look at some of our food packaging and waste, Lizzie often helps with the recycling, so she helped sort through. We had a chat about what she personally could do to reduce her waste and what food we ate with packaging we could avoid. She now has her school snack in a reusable bag which again we think would make Rocket proud.

    We had a look at the hard plastic packaging recycling for one week and made a mermaid sculpture out of it to see exactly how much we had and link back to rubbish in the oceans. We had good discussions about what we could do to reduce it as a household and talked about what we were doing well and what we needed to improve on.

    Next, we did the science experiment, we chose 5 different items to bury in soil and then check back each week to see what had rotted away and what hadn’t. We made predictions and recorded our results and the children were really keen each week to see what had happened.

    Such a great fun book for having some really good discussions and making some really good changes. The story is written in a fun way and the illustrations are lively and really add to the story with brilliant facial expressions, and an insight into Jamaican culture. We loved the variety of activities and the mix of art, writing, science and geography and learning about a really important subject  in a fun way.

    We didn’t get to make such a big contribution as Rocket but we are doing some small things differently and have made a start.

     

     

Things to make and do

Make a ‘Did you know’ book
Find out more about plastic pollution in the ocean using the information in the book and other information you find (see links below). Make a zig zag book and start each page with ‘Did you know … then write your fact with an illustration.

Make a sculpture
In the story an artist makes a sculpture from plastic waste found on the beach. Children could save some plastic containers and make a sculpture from it perhaps shaped like a sea creature like the one in the story. This link might give you some ideas.

Make a poster
Make a poster to go in the park or at the beach to encourage people to take their rubbish home and keep the beach or park clean. you need paper A4 or larger thick pens or crayons. A ‘slogan’ a clear message – practice on scrap paper and an image.

Be a plastic detective
Looking at the shopping as it is unpacked and the products in your cupboards, to see how much plastic is used. Is it all necessary? Could your family buy shopping with less plastic packaging? Let your child help you sort your rubbish for recycling, maybe setting up different bins for different material.

Do a science experiment

Experiment to find out how long different materials take to decompose. In a container, such as an old fish tank, or washing up bowl place a layer of soil. Choose items together to see if they decompose eg a banana skin, newspaper, cardboard box and a plastic container. Cover with another layer of soil and dampen with a drop of water. Churn over every 4 or 5 days with a metal spoon. Check after two weeks to see if any of the objects have started to decompose by raking through the soil or tipping onto newspaper. You may prefer to wear protective gloves for this. Talk about what you find with your child and what this means to the environment. Find out about how long it takes for plastic to break down – see links below.

Find out more

Watch the book’s creators, Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola, introduce  the book and talk about their own top tips for reducing plastic and saving the oceans here  

Read another book about plastic pollution ‘A Planet full of Plastic’ by Neal Layton.

Find out more about pollution in the oceans here and here on Newsround 2015

Find out about whales and whale conservation here

Find out about Jamaica here

Look at a globe or atlas and try to find Jamaica on it.

Imani Wilmot is a famous Jamaican surfer who is mentioned in the story. She describes herself as a ‘wave dancer.’ Watch a video to see why

Read Look Up another book by the writing and illustrating team about Rocket and her family. See our activity ideas here  

Stop the Clock

Pippa Goodhart, illus. Maria Christiana
Tiny Owl
Age 3-7

Joe’s mum is in a rush, they are late for school. When he arrives, the teacher is in a rush too and hurries the children to finish their paintings before break. Joe has had enough – he decides he wants more time. He shouts, ‘Stop the clock!’ and time actually stands still. Joe finds he notices so much more, as he relives his journey to school, the people he passes on the way, the miniature natural worlds around him and even the reason his little sister had been crying that morning.

This is a story about the value of taking time out from day to day rushing to notice and appreciate the world around us.

Watch a read aloud of part of the story

https://youtu.be/ty841QCDHqE

Watch an interview with Pippa Goodhart about the book

https://youtu.be/_qmH5VlEUeU
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Share the story

Read aloud
Think about changing your pace as you read this story to your child, for example reading at a fast pace for when Joe’s mum and teacher are rushing him and a slower pace for when Joe stops the clock. There is so much to notice in the illustrations, pause to look at them if your child wants to or return to look more closely after reading the story.

Read the illustrations
When you have read the story once go back through and ‘read’ the illustrations together, talking about the details you both notice.

Join in
When your child is familiar with the story, they may like to join in with phrases such as ‘Stop the Clock,’ ‘Hurry up Joe!’ and ‘Tick, tock!’

Talk about the story
• Talk about why mum is in a rush and share times that you have been in a rush and how you felt.
• Talk about clues to who lives in buildings, or the kinds of shops Joe passes
• Find the page where Poppy loses her teddy
• Talk about Joe’s feelings at different points in the story.
• Talk about times you each feel in a rush and have to hurry, the reasons why and how it makes you both feel.

Things to make and do*

Make time to be careful observers
Ask your child to draw a picture of what they see on the way to school from memory. You could try this too! The next day on your route to school, see what you both missed. If possible, leave a little earlier than usual, or do the same journey at the weekend so you can stop and really look. You could repeat this on different days choosing something in particular to look out for, eg
• Plants or animals
• People and what they are doing
• Traffic
• Shops or buildings.  

Talk about what you both notice.

Become a miniature world spotte
Look really closely at a plant growing in a garden or park, spot drops of dew, insects or seeds and draw what you see in a minibook.

Paint the sky
Notice all the colours and shapes in the sky on different days and take photos or paint a picture.

Learn about clocks and telling the time
• Look around your home for clocks, watches and devices which tell the time. If you can, collect some of these together. Talk about how the time is displayed on each of these. Older children may be interested in learning about the meaning of ‘digital’ and ‘analogue.’ Talk about how they work eg wind up, battery, electric, pendulum.

• Find an old broken clock that can be taken to pieces, maybe from a charity or junk shop. Help your child to use a screwdriver to dismantle it. Look closely and talk about the shapes and names of the different parts.

• You could use the parts to make a model, perhaps a robot, a vehicle or even a time machine – sticking on cogs to a small cardboard box or tubes.

• Make a clock using a paper plate, cardboard hands and a split pin to secure them. Turn the hands and help your child to start learning to tell the time, starting with the hours and half hours.

*With thanks to Joan Thurgar for several of these suggestions.

Find out More

Find out more about author Pippa Goodhart 
Pippa Goodhart – Home Page. Picturebooks include:
Best Test and Fair Shares illus. by Anna Doherty
You Choose series illus. by Nick Sharratt

Watch an interview with the illustrator
Maria Christiana, illustrator of ‘Stop the Clock’ Interviewing Illustrator Maria Christania About Stop the Clock! – Tiny Owl

Miró’s magic animals

Antony Penrose
Thames & Hudson
Age 5-9 years

When he was a child many years ago in the middle of the 20th century, Antony Penrose met the famous Spanish artist Joan Miró. Antony’s mother was a well- known photographer and his father was an artist and they often had famous artists come to visit them.

This delightful book tells us about Antony’s meetings with the artist, including a visit to London zoo, but the book is also a playful introduction to Miró’s work. It is highly illustrated and carefully put together with photographs, reproductions of Miró’s works and illustrations by children.

The book is one of our Top books to inspire young artists

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Share the story

Read Aloud
Read the book together slowly, taking time to the look at the photographs of Antony as a young child, at the photos of Miro and his paintings, and children’s illustrations.

The author asks questions as you read through the book and asks, for example, if you have noticed particular animals or whether you can imagine what various animals are thinking.

Listen to the book read aloud here  https://youtu.be/SFawbf6Czs4?si=raWrZVHwgFPwuezm

https://youtu.be/SFawbf6Czs4?si=raWrZVHwgFPwuezm

Talk about the book

Ask your child/children what they have found out about the artist Miró from reading the book – where did he come from, what did he like to paint, what colours do you think he liked?

Ask your child/children  to pick out a favourite painting (eg look at paintings on pages 7,8 &, 10, 14, 17, 21 and 26) – what things do they notice about the painting?

Animals are featured in most of the paintings – can you help your child/children to imagine what the donkey on page 10 might be thinking, or the cat on page 14, or the dog on page 15?

Miro enjoyed visiting London Zoo and made some fantastical drawings of the animals. Children have drawn their own animals for the book, using some of Miró’s ideas. Look through the children’s drawings and pick out favourites. Look at the beginning and end papers to see many of the children’s drawings.

Things to make and do

Be an Artist
Choose one or more animals either from your imagination or from the book and see if you can use Miro’s lines and curly marks to draw and paint your animal, making it look as magical as Miró’s.

Make a collage
Miró loved strong colours such as bright blue, yellow and red. You might like to use one of these colours to paint a background then let it dry before cutting out the animals you have drawn and sticking them on to the background to make a collage.

You could design a poster about Miró such as the ones on page 43 to persuade people to come to an exhibition of Miró’s work – you will need to give the exhibition a title and you could illustrate the poster using your own animals.

Be a writer

Write a letter to Miro. First of all you could make a list of questions would you like to ask him about his life and his paintings. You could tell him what you liked about his paintings.

Look carefully at the picture on page 14 The Dog Barking at the Moon. Can you write a speech bubble or short caption for the picture to say what you think the dog might be thinking.

Write a list poem with your child, or with your class. Look at the painting by Miró called Birds and insects on page 26 and think of individual words to make a list poem, writing one word on each line, for example:

Miro’s Birds and Insects

Blue

Smiles

Wings….

Find out more

Miró grew up in Spain on a farm. He became an artist and was part of a movement in art called Surrealism. His paintings have a dream-like quality – someone described him as ‘dreaming when he was awake.’

His paintings are also sometimes described as ‘Magical realism’ because he liked to show the magic in everyday life in his paintings and scupltures.

Find out more about Miro’s life from watching this video made for children

The author of this book, Antony Penrose, also wrote a book The Boy Who Bit Picasso about memories of meeting and biting the famous artist Picasso! The book is out of print but good second-hand copies are available if your child is interested or you are working on an art theme with your class.

You’re snug with me

Chitra Soundar, illus. Poonam Mistry
Lantana
Age 3-7

In her den in a snow drift Mama Bear gives birth to two tiny cubs. Curious about their surroundings but a little nervous the two cubs ask their mother about the wider world. She tells them about the landscape, the ice, sea and its creatures and what will happen when they leave their cosy den.

This story reads like a lullaby with the reassuring refrain ‘You’re snug with me.’ However it also has an important message, introducing the wildlife of the polar lands and suggesting their interdependency. It highlights our responsibility to look after our precious world only taking what we need, a message reiterated in the author’s letter to the reader at the end of the book.

The illustrations are stunning with lots of detail to discover if you look closely. Intricately woven in silver, grey and gold they dazzle the reader revealing the beauty of the Polar Regions and its wildlife.

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Share the story

Read aloud
Read the story aloud – do this slowly to allow time to really look closely at the images there is so much to spot. You might want to read the book quietly, perhaps even whisper the Mama Bear’s words to echo her soothing reassurances.

Re read
As you read again children could join in with Mama Bear’s refrain ‘Hush now you’re snug with me.’ Or take the part of the cubs asking their questions.

Talk about the story:

  • Share favourite images and favourite lines from the story.

  • Talk about any puzzles your child may have eg about unfamiliar vocabulary such as ‘drift’ or ‘faltered’ or creatures they are not familiar with.

  • Look again at the illustrations and see if you can spot:

  • The baby bears curled up inside their mother

  • Mama Bear licking them after they are born

  • What is under the ocean

  • Other polar animals

Read the author’s note at the end of the book and talk together about what you know about the polar regions and what everyone can do to look after our world.

You’re snug with me

The beautiful pictures in this book are so imaginative that I wasn’t sure if my 3 yr old granddaughter would recognise them as polar bears, so before we looked at the book we watched a short video about polar bears and read a book about them. Nancy loves anything to do with wild life so she was very interested in the bears and where they lived. She is also a great fan of ‘Octonauts’ and loves anything about oceans, under water creatures and penguins. We looked through ‘You're snug with me’ together, talking about the pictures and pointing out different things she recognised.. fish, seals, bears, mountains, ice etc.

We set up a small world in a baking tray using ‘SnowBall play’, a pretend snowlike substance which is great for messy play. 
Nancy helped me to measure and gradually add water to the powder and loved watching it grow and become snowlike. It isn’t cold, like real snow, which we had an interesting discussion about. (We remembered making a snowman last winter and getting cold hands and wet gloves.) Nancy then added a plastic toy mummy polar bear and two bear cubs. She made a den in the snow and hid the bears inside it and said they would be nice and cosy. We added some more snow animals, such as an artic fox, a white seal, snow hares and penguins. There was lots of imaginative play and discussion. “Polar bears hunt for fish to feed their babies” “Snow hares dig under the snow for plants and carrots” “Penguins hunt for fish. They live in the Antarctic in the South Pole” Nancy added more water and said “The ice is melting”

The next day we looked at the book again. This time I told, and sometimes read, the story. Nancy was fascinated with the pictures and we talked about the two bear cubs cosy and safe inside mummy bear's tummy. Nancy remembered that she was once in her mummy’s tummy, and her mummy was once in my tummy. We talked about when the polar bear cubs were born mummy bear was licking them to clean them Nancy said “Mummies don’t lick babies though, they have a bath” “Babies can see but not polar bear babies” Nancy liked the pictures of the snowflakes and said they looked like some of their Christmas decorations.

We decided to make our own den out of a white sheet and white pillows. Nancy helped to peg it together and we snuggled inside with her favourite soft toy, which happens to be a white seal. We imagined the cold, snow and wind outside. “You’re snug with me” I said. Nancy asked grandad to be a polar bear and to catch fish. “The carpet can be the sea, and you dive down for fish.” Nancy said “I don’t like fish. I like sweet corn and fish fingers.” I said that fish fingers were made of fish and showed her the packet. Nancy said “Can I have some now?”

When I came to mind Nancy the following week I brought some homemade sparkly play dough with me. I had kept it white and added lots of silver glitter. We made a cave from the dough and Nancy put the polar bears inside. She covered the entrance so that they could sleep. We talked about animals that hibernate. Nancy put the other snow animals inside the den to be snug together, We played ‘hide and seek’ in the play dough, hiding each animal in turn, counting to ten, and then trying to find them.

After we had cleared the play dough away, we snuggled up to look at the book again. This time I was able to read more of the text and Nancy joined in with ‘You’re snug with me.’

I looked at the activity ideas about the book on ‘Lovemybooks’ and printed off the pictures to colour in. Nancy painted the polar bear mask. We then painted the picture of the globe together. I started to paint the oceans blue, and Nancy helped. She has a globe in her bedroom which we talked about and about how much of the world was water. We talked about the animals that lived in the seas “Whales, seals, fish and dolphins” said Nancy “and don’t forget the octopus.” We talked about what colour to paint the land and chose green, “Elephants live there” said Nancy. “We have to paint the sand yellow, camels live there.” I asked her what colour should we paint the polar bears land and Nancy said “White.” We talked about how the snow animals were camouflaged and couldn’t be easily seen.

A few days later I was minding Nancy again. We were sitting on the settee and I had the book on my lap. Nancy asked if she could have some milk and read the book with me. Nancy was again very interested in the pictures and asked lots of questions. She said that the polar bears are cuddling up with their mummy. She asked if we could play with the animals and snow again. I had the animals with me but hadn’t got any snow. Mummy came to the rescue with some ‘magic’ blue sand

We put this in the baking tray and Nancy added the polar bears. Again she made a den for them, and hid the babies inside to keep them cosy and snug. I introduced some ice cubes shaped like stars, which mummy had made with her the day before. Nancy was fascinated watching them melt, and tried putting sand on top to keep them from melting. We talked about how ice is made and that it turns into ice water as it melts. There was lots of imaginative play with all of the snow animals... trying to climb onto the land to get out of the water, splashing in it, making footprints, diving down to catch fish, sliding on the ice. All the animals had to climb onto the blue sand because it was the only land left. They squashed together. All the ice was melting and they had nowhere to go. We talked about what would happen if all the ice melted, and Nancy said “We can make some more.” We put some more water in the ice moulds and I said we need to put them in the freezer because the room was too warm to freeze them. Nancy kept checking every 10 minutes to see if they had frozen. We talked about it needing to be very cold for the water to freeze and if the world gets too warm the ice will melt and the snow animals will have nowhere to live.

Nancy really enjoyed the book and all of the activity ideas that sprang from it.

 

Things to make and do

Make a cosy den
Make a cosy den for the baby bears. Your child could place little toy bears or other soft animal toys in a shoe box full of ‘snow’ made from wadding, foam packaging or cotton wool to replicate the den Mama Bear made.

Imagine a snowy or icy world
If it happens to be snowy or icy weather you could go for a walk in the snow and have fun making footprints. If there is an ice rink nearby have a look at that to imagine a polar world. If no snow or ice is available outside your child can feel how hard and cold ice cubes are.  See below for some ice experiments.

Make a snowflake picture
Draw snowflakes with white crayons or paint on dark paper or make snowflakes torn or cut from paper doilies or cut out your own from folded paper and arrange them to make a big picture like the beautiful end papers of the book. See here for how to make snowflakes

 

Make an information book about polar bears (over 5s)
Talk about what your child already knows and what they would like to find out. Make a list of questions eg ‘What do they eat?’ Or ‘How long do they live?’ Use the websites and YouTube videos in our find out more section to try and answer your child’s questions together. Make a zig zag book with a page for each fact about polar bear, things your child already knew and things they have found out.  Encourage your child to illustrate the book too.

Find out more

Find out more about author Chitra Soundar

Chitra’s website includes activities based on the book designed by illustrator Poonam Mistri

Chitra’s other books include

You’re safe with me also illustrated by Poonam Mistri
Pattan’s Pumpkin illustrated by Frané Lessac
Many story collections including the Prince Veera series

Find out more about illustrator Poonam Mistri

 

Find out more about polar bears

Here is a video with more information

See here and here for  websites with information:


Find out more about threats to polar bears here


Experiment with ice

Make some ice with your child how long does it take to freeze? Put an ice cube in a bowl and see how long it takes to melt – does this happen quicker if the ice is in a warmer place?


Read more books about looking after our world

See our ideas for exploring 10 Things I can do to help my world   and see our collection of books about Our World 

 

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!

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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

The Last Wolf

 

 

Mini Grey
Jonathan Cape
Age 5-7

In a clever twist on the well-known fairy story Little Red sets off to catch a wolf. Her mum isn’t too worried about this plan as wolves disappeared long ago. Hunting for wolves isn’t so easy though and as Little Red goes deeper into the wood it becomes shadowy and quite scary.  Finding a welcoming door she is surprised to actually meet a wolf and also a bear and a lynx. They are friendly but rather hungry with only acorns to eat. They tell her about the good old days when the forest was much bigger and food was plentiful. Little Red shares her packed lunch with them and they help her get home safely. But Little Red is determined to help them and decides more trees are what they need. Mum helps her to plant some, but sadly they will take a very long time to grow.

There is lots to talk about in this ecological story, both about the impact of the loss of woodland habitats on wildlife and in the detailed, often amusing and sometimes quite moving illustrations.

 

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We’re delighted to have been sent these sketches and illustrations by Mini Grey, click on each to enlarge.

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Share the story

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

Join in
When you re read the story children can join in with parts eg Little Red saying ‘I’m off to catch a wolf’ and the punch lines in bold eg ‘bin bag’ ‘tree stump’ ‘last wolf in the land’

Talk about the story

  • Other stories like this – children might mention Little Red Riding Hood or other stories with wolves in.

  • Share favourite pages in the story

  • Talk about the illustration of the endless miles of forest. What animals can you see? Your child can look for the wolf, lynx and bear and also a badger and woodpecker amongst others.

  • Look through the illustration of the last woods. Talk together about what is different and what might have happened to the woods.

 

Esme was keen to make her own ‘wanted poster’ and she cut out the letters from newspapers – checking with the book so that it was ‘the same as Red’s.’ The poster was placed in the front window to make sure people could see it and let her know if they spotted a wolf!

We talked about the characters and the links we found to traditional stories. She’s learning about these at school, so it fitted in well.  Esme was keen to re-enact the story wearing a little red cape and roping in her brother to play the part of the wolf. She strapped on her lunch bag to take food for the animals and even recruited the family cat to play The Last Lynx!

Later she planted some conkers ‘to grow a new forest’ and has written a postcard to the Last Wolf in role as Red, thanking him for the tea and for walking her home, and letting him know she’s planted some new trees! We loved the environmental theme of the story and opportunities for outside play, great fun. Thank you!'

Things to make and do

Play the story
What would you need to go hunting to catch a wolf? Dress up as a hunter and try lurking, stalking and slithering through an imaginary forest. To be a hunter you have to be very quiet, creeping without being heard. You could make this into a game like ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’ with one of you as the last wolf.

Go for a woodland walk
Go for a walk in the woods or park if no woods are nearby. Look out for different trees, which are the oldest, youngest. Can you identify any from their leaves? See here

If it is Autumn you could look out for acorns or other seeds such as conkers. Stand very still, can you hear any birds?

Grow a tree

See here. If you look after it carefully and it starts to grow into a sapling you could think about where to plant it together.

Make a poster
Look at the wanted posters in the book at the beginning and end. Make your own wanted poster for more wolves, other animals or more trees. Children could cut out letters from a newspaper or magazine to make the words, arrange and stick them on a piece of paper and then draw their illustration.

Make a tree house for the Last Wolf

Mini Grey creator of The Last Wolf and Lovemybooks patron has created a lovely resource on her website with templates and instructions to make your own tree house for the LastWolf.

 

Find out more

Mini Grey writes about the background to this story here 

Read more stories by Mini Grey

See our activity pages for these titles:

Biscuit Bear

Traction Man is Here!

Space Dog

Toys in Space

The Bad Bunnies’ Magic Show

 

Find out about woodland animals here and here

Find out about disappearing woodland here.

 

Buy the book

 

 

The Snail and the Whale

Julia Donaldson,  Alex Scheffler (illus)
Macmillan
Age 3-7

A very tiny snail seeking adventure sails around the world balanced on the tail of a huge, humpback whale. The story and pictures describe their travels past icebergs, volcanoes, islands and coral caves, until the whale loses its way and becomes beached on land. The tiny snail decides she needs to help. This is a story which suggests however small you are and however big the world is you can make a difference. There is lots to look at in the varied landscapes and the humour and rhyme make this a great book for reading aloud and re reading.

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Share the storywhale

Read aloud Before reading the story, encourage children to look at the cover, the back and front, and to talk about what they see. What do they think the story will be about? If the characters/animals were speaking, what might they be saying?

Join in As you read and reread the book, encourage children to join in with the reading, especially with the repeated patterns. If you pause before the rhyming word, children can guess the rhyme.

Talk  about the story Which pages did children like? Discuss and share favourites together. Where would children like to go if they were the snail?

How did the whale and the snail feel at different points in the story? Children might talk about being big, doing ‘big’ things or being and feeling small.

What do children know about snails and whales? See the links below in our ‘Find out More’ section.

Tell the story Using the pictures in the book to help them, children can turn the pages and tell the story in their own words.

Watch the Story

From Storyvision Studios UK 


Things to make and do

Make a model snail
Using the pictures in the book or  websites or by looking at real shells make a snail from modelling material. You could do this together and talk about the spiral shape.

Make a scene from the story

Use a large tray (a builder’s tray is ideal for this) or a sand and water tray to create a seascape for the snail’s adventures. You can add sand, gravel, twigs and rocks.Children can help you add water and arrange the scene.  Add a toy whale and your model snail. You can use your scene to retell all or part of the story together.

You could make icebergs with your child by putting water in different shaped containers in a freezer to add to the scene and talk about what happens when the ice melts. To make a homemade volcano see here

Write a speech bubble
What do snail and whale say to each other when they first meet? Have an imaginary conversation then children can write their own speech bubbles for snail and the whale.

Persuade the snail
Help snail to decide what to do. Should she go sailing with whale or stay with her friends? Look at the beginning section of the story where whale says, ”Come sail with me”.

Think together about 2 or 3 reasons why snail should go with whale, for example: Go because you’ll see the world and have adventures!

Then think of 2 or 3 reasons why her friends want snail to stay on the rock, for example: Don’t go we’ll miss you so!

What would children decide if they were snail?

Send a postcard
Snail wants to send a postcard to her friends to tell them about the places she’s visited.

Using the postcard template, children can draw a picture of their favourite place snail visits and write a message.

 

Find out more

Read more about books by Julia Donaldson here

Titles include:

* The Gruffalo

A Squash and a Squeeze

* Room on the Broom

The Stick Man
*Tyrannosaurus Drip

* See more lovemybooks ideas

Find out about whales and snails
Use websites and books to find out more about humpback whales and snails. Just how big is a humpback whale compared with a bus? To find out more about humpback whales look here.

To find out about sea snails look here.

 

Buy here