The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler Overview This is the first in a series of planning ideas using a big book as the starting point. Activities are linked to the EYFS Areas of Learning and Development, with suggestions for displays and themed role-play areas. There is also a book list related to the focus book by author, illustrator or theme. Introduction With a scary monster that isn't really scary and a memorable rhyming text, The Gruffalo is a book that can be accessed by children on lots of levels. There are many opportunities for learning, from naming parts of the body to cooking crumbles to inventing silly monsters. Have some of the following resources and activities up your sleeve, but remember to step back and let the book inspire the children to initiate their own learning. Personal, Social and Emotional Development Who is the scariest creature in the wood? Do some circle times on things that make us afraid and why we are scared of them. Who is the bravest creature in the wood? The mouse is actually a bit afraid of the Gruffalo, but he is also brave. Do a circle time on ways that we can be brave - if possible link it to the circle time on the things the children are afraid of. For example, if they are afraid of the dark, does having a small light on help them be brave? Or if they are afraid of getting lost, does holding their grown up's hand make them feel brave? How do the children feel about the Gruffalo? Is he really scary? Read The Gruffalo's Child and talk about what the Gruffalo thinks of the mouse. Spend time at snack time talking with the children about their favourite food. Make some cakes or sandwiches together and share a lunch, tea or feast. Invite parents and carers to join in and bring their family's favourite foods. At the end of the story, the mouse sits in the quiet wood to eat his nut. Sit together in a quiet space outside and listen to the sounds all around. Communication, Language and Literacy Play some rhyming word games. Think of other real or nonsense words that sound like fox, mouse or Gruffalo. Give the children support by making the initial sound. For example, you say 'Fluff' or 'Muff' or 'Puff' and let them make it into 'Fluffalo', or 'Muffalo'. Invent a new monster. His name could be one of the words that rhymed with 'Gruffalo', like 'Huffalo'. Support the children by saying 'His eyes are...', 'His teeth are...' etc. Set up large scale props outside to re-enact the story. A plank for a log, a blue cloth for the lake and stream, and boxes for rocks. Have a large tray with earth and bark chips in, with small world woodland animals and natural objects. Animal sounds - can you squeak like a mouse, hoot like and owl, or hiss like a snake? What sound would a Gruffalo make? Songs and rhymes - Julia Donaldson has written lots of songs herself (look on her website www.juliadonaldson.co.uk). Songs about parts of the body or animal songs would also link in well. Make a Gruffalo recipe book of some of the things the children make together - roasted or scrambled, ice cream or crumble. Take photos of them preparing and eating the food to put in the book. Don't forget puppets, props, story boards, role play and other books by the same author/illustrator. Problem solving, Reasoning and Numeracy My Favourite Food - do a survey of the children's favourite food and represent the results in a picture or block graph format. Do lots of cooking with opportunities for counting, measuring and estimating. Collect little baskets and boxes with lids. Add natural objects such as pine cones, conkers or pebbles to provide opportunities for counting and 'more or less than' discussions as children play. Sort woodland objects such as pine cones, twigs and leaves. Or sort small world woodland animals from farm animals. Talk about size in the story - who is the biggest/smallest? Is the fox bigger than the mouse? Count parts of the body Make numbered stepping stones out of card to play with outside. Use a big piece of blue material to be a stream or lake and see how many stepping stones the children need to get across. Use small world mouse, fox, owl and snake with small boxes or cardboard tubes to represent their houses for simple counting opportunities. How many animals? Hide one in a 'house'. How many left? This could be done as part of children's play in a big tray with earth and woodland objects. Knowledge and Understanding of the World Find out about woods and trees - use non-fiction books and collections of natural objects. Try to get hold of some tree stumps for the outside area. Look at the rings in a stump and show the children how to work out the age of the tree that it came from. Encourage the children to make a nature table and bring in things that they have found. Go on a woodland walk if you can, or have an imaginary woodland walk in the outside area. Make a map of the Mouse's walk through the wood, including the stream, rocks and lake. Investigate mushrooms and toadstools Find out about foxes, owls and snakes - what do they eat? Where do they live? Look at animal footprints. Look at different kinds of nuts. Talk about nut allergies. Talk about mealtimes - tea, lunch, snack time, midnight feasts. What times of day do we have them? What sorts of things do we eat at each of them? Similarities and differences. Get the children to compare themselves with the Gruffalo. Do they have tusks, claws or prickles? Which animals do? (e.g. elephant, cat, hedgehog). But we do have eyes, knees, toes etc. Cook roasted vegetables, scrambled eggs, ice cream and apple crumble. Physical Development Move like a Gruffalo. Can the children plod like a Gruffalo, scamper like a mouse, run like a fox, fly and swoop like an owl and slither like a mouse? Take a stroll like the mouse - walking around in the outside space. Do the children know what strolling is? Have a small world woodland animal treasure hunt outside. Play hide and seek - the seekers could be the Mouse, and the hiders could be foxes, owls and snakes. Set up a mini course with things to go over, under, around and through. Use ideas from the story such as blue material to be a stream with cardboard stepping stones, tree stumps to balance on, planks laid end to end as a path etc. Sing action songs and songs naming parts of the body, such as 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes'. Play 'Duck, duck, goose' but call it 'Mouse, mouse, Gruffalo'! Use construction toys to make little homes for small world woodland creatures. Creative Development Make a monster out of clay. Use googly eyes, pipe cleaners, straws or beads to stick into the clay to decorate the monsters. Use natural objects in clay. Leaves, pine cones or twigs can be pressed into clay to make patterns. Or use them for printing with. Explore the colour red (the colour of the fox). Experiment with making pink, orange and purple, starting with red. Collage - use furry material, or snake skin paper. Make monster masks There are lots of butterflies in the illustrations in the book. Make fold-over butterflies with paper and paint. Gruffalo Music. Select a few instruments that might sound like a Gruffalo, and some that could be a mouse (e.g. drum and symbol, and shaker and triangle). Let the children explore the sounds and choose the best sound for each creature. Make footprints like the Gruffalo's at the beginning and end of the book. Role Play Area Here are some ways to link the role play area to the book: A deep, dark wood - use lots of sheets and blankets to make a dark space. Get the children to help decorate this space with painted leaves and tree trunks, or bring in real branches from trees and bushes that have just been pruned. Collect pine cones and leaves to scatter on the floor, and include tree stumps, or boxes covered with fabric. Help the children to paint some Gruffalo footprints, and make butterflies and birds to hang from the top of the space. Use small world minibeasts and soft toys as woodland animals. Add little rucksacks, torches, compasses, maps and empty plastic drinking bottles so the children can pretend to explore their wood. Include information books about woodland animals and trees. The Gruffalo Cafe - set up small tables and chairs, plastic teas sets and food, a till, and a cooking area if there is space. Invite the children to decorate the walls with pictures of trees, woodland animals, butterflies and birds. Make some picture menus together, including things that have been scrambled and roasted. Add a blackboard and chalk for writing up the dish of the day, and help the children to make a Gruffalo Cafe sign and open/closed signs. Include notepads and pencils for taking orders, old take-away menus, recipe books, and newspapers for customers to read while they wait. Display Displays should be a collection of the products of the children's ideas, interests and explorations linked to the story. Involve the children in putting up the display so they really feel it is their own. Here are some things the children might explore and want to display: The Gruffalo's Footprints - the children could find big round objects to print some Gruffalo footprints to go on the wall. This may lead to them dipping their own feet in paint and making footprints. These could be cut out and displayed to 'walk' around the walls of the setting - the children can have fun making sure they have a pair to put up. If the children have made footprints in other ways, such as impressions in clay or wet sand, these can be displayed on a table near the footprints on the wall. Take some photographs of the children making their footprints and add these to the display. The children may want to look at animal footprints - birds, or cats and dogs. Add any other pictures or ideas as they come up. Trees - the children might become interested in trees as you talk about woods and nature. They could make an enormous tree painting or collage, showing the roots, trunk, bark, branches, twigs, leaves, blossom and fruit. The children might have different ideas about how to make the tree - some may want to print on it, or colour it with pastels, or use rollers and paint. Display this on the wall and make labels for each part. Ask the children to help you put the labels in the right places. Add photographs of the children making the tree. Encourage the children to look for bits of trees at home or on the way to nursery - leaves, twigs or some bark. Help them to add these to the right parts of the tree as they find them. They may do some bark rubbing or leaf printing that can be put up next to the big tree. Some children might want to bring in a photo of a tree they have seen or a picture they have cut out from a magazine. Include some books about trees, and let the display evolve with the children's ideas. Book List Books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler Monkey Puzzle Room on the Broom The Smartest Giant in Town The Snail and the Whale The Gruffalo's Child Charlie Cook's Favourite Book Tiddler Stick Man Books by Julia Donaldson, various illustrators Rosie's Hat What the Ladybird heard Follow the Swallow Tyrannosaurus Drip Books illustrated by Axel Scheffler, various authors Hamilton's Hat Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and Not Now Bernard by David Mckee, are other books with scary beasts in them. Julia Donaldson has her own website with lots of information - www.juliadonaldson.co.uk
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