Cave Baby

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A hairy mammoth takes a cheeky little baby on a thrilling ride through a moonlit landscape populated by a sabre-toothed tiger, a leaping hare, a laughing hyena and even, just maybe, by a big brown bear… But where are they going? And what has it to do with the baby’s scribblings on the cave wall?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• The back cover of the book features quotes from different newspapers. Could you make up your own quotes about this book or another?
• Look at the use of punctuation in the story. Can you find any brackets? Why have they been used?
• Can you find the rhyming words in the book? Is there a particular pattern for the rhyming?
• Retell the story in the form of a diary entry from the cave baby’s point of view.
• Imagine that you went on an adventure with a woolly mammoth. Can you explain what happens?

Science

• Look through the story and find the different animals that are mentioned. How many of them are still alive today? How many are extinct?
• Imagine that you lived with a real sabre-tooth tiger / hyena / hare / mammoth / bear. Can you make a poster to teach people how to look after them?
• Look at the footprints of different animals. Can you draw the footprint of a woolly mammoth?

Design Technology

• Think of the similarities / differences between living in a cave and a house.
• Design a new toy to entertain the cave baby when he’s bored. What materials might the toy be made of?

Art

• Look at examples of cave paintings. Can you make your own pictures that look like cave paintings?
• Look at the use of colour in the illustrations. Could you create some paintings in a similar style?
• Watch this video in which the illustrator shows us how she draws the main character. Could you use her tips to draw your own picture?

Music

• Listen to the Cave Baby song, sung by Julia Donaldson. Can you sing along?

PSHE

• Look at the illustrations. How is Cave Baby feeling at different points in the story? How do you know?