Flat Stanley

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Stanley Lambchop wakes up one morning to find a notice-board has dropped on him in the night, leaving him happy and healthy, but only half an inch thick. It’s a little unusual, but he finds he can fly like a kite, be sent on holiday through the post and can use his special new skills to catch some art thieves. Still, he’s glad when his brother Arthur thinks to use the bicycle pump to inflate him back to his normal shape.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Stanley is ‘as flat as a pancake’. Can you think of any more similes to describe him… or other things?
• There is a lot of speech in the story. Could you turn it into a play script and perform it?
• Make a list of the positive and negative aspects of being flat like Stanley.
• Stanley gets a letter from his friend in America, inviting him to go and see them. What might this letter include? Could you write it?
• Make a list of the things that Stanley might need on his trip to America.
• Write Stanley’s diary during the time that he was in America. What did he do? What did he see? How did he cope with being flat and being in a different country?
• Stanley’s envelope is labelled ‘Valuable’ and ‘Fragile’. Can you think of words that mean the same as these? Can you think of other things that are valuable and / or fragile?
• Mr. Dart, who lives in the flat above the Lambchops, becomes gloomy one day. Can you think of other words which describe emotions?
• Create a ‘Wanted’ poster to help people to identify the criminals who might have stolen the paintings from the Famous Museum.
• Plan and create a new visitor guide for the Famous Museum.
• Write the newspaper article which tells the story of Stanley helping to catch the criminals.
• There are a number of other stories about Flat Stanley. Could you write another adventure about him?

Maths

• Draw Flat Stanley on squared paper. Can you work out the area that he takes up on the paper?
• Flat Stanley is four feet tall, about a foot wide and half an inch thick. Look at these measurements on a ruler. How big is he in centimetres? Could you draw a picture of him to scale?

Science

• Could Flat Stanley survive if he was a real person? What would happen to the organs inside his body? Use this as a starting point for learning about the different parts inside our bodies and what their function is.
• Stanley piles books on top of himself at one point in the story. Can you make a ‘flat’ person using different materials (e.g. paper, card, fabric, newspaper, foil) and test their strength?
• Stanley gets used as a kite. Use this as a starting point for learning about air resistance and / or gravity.

Computing

• Use a paint program to draw a picture of Flat Stanley.
• Use word processing or publishing software to write a newspaper article about the incidents in the museum.

Design Technology

• Draw a life-size version of Flat Stanley!
• Decorate the Flat Stanley template below.
• Draw / paint one of the paintings that might have been stolen from the Famous Museum.
• Stanley doesn’t like the disguise that Mr. Dart chooses for him. Could you design a new one?

Art

• Draw a life-size version of Flat Stanley!
• Decorate a Flat Stanley template (see Resources below).
• Draw / paint one of the paintings that might have been stolen from the Famous Museum.
• Stanley doesn’t like the disguise that Mr. Dart chooses for him. Could you design a new one?

Geography

• Draw a map of the museum to add to a new visitor guide.

PSHE

• Arthur gets jealous of Stanley. What does this mean? Have you ever felt jealous of somebody else?
• Mrs Lambchop gets nervous when Stanley goes to America as he has never been away from home alone before? How would this make you feel?
• Stanley becomes famous. What would it be like to be famous?

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