"A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?" "A gruffalo! Why, didn't you know? He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws." And so begins the story of a quick-witted mouse as he encounters a host of predators who seem to think he might make a tasty treat. As he ventures deeper into the deep dark wood, stumbling across a hungry fox, a not-so-wise owl, and a slimy snake, spinning ever-extraordinary yarns about the scary, scaly gruffalo, he quickly realises that the hungry beast he has been talking of isn't imaginary after all.
Investigate the rhyming in the books. Which words rhyme? Can you think of other words that rhyme with those?
The story uses lots of different types of punctuation. Look at each type of punctuation and explain why it has been used.
Turn the story into a play, using the correct layout. Could you perform this to others? Watch this version for some inspiration:
Add speech bubbles to the illustrations shown in the book.
The word 'terrible' is used to describe the Gruffalo. Can you think of synonyms for 'terrible'? Can you think of other words to describe the Gruffalo?
The mouse pretends to be 'the scariest creature' in the wood. What other 'scary' animals can you think of? Why are they scary? Can you write a story about a scary animal?
Watch this video in which Julia Donaldson talks about how she wrote the book:
Comments
Kathy
20th November 2015
I am new to your site and I love what I see. This is a fun place with so many wonderful and exciting ideas. The CCSS is an extra plus!
rEKHA mALKANI
24th February 2016
Smashing resources for my perfect Year 1 Class!