Marmalade

Buy This Book * More books by  David Walliams

One morning, deep in the forest, a beautiful baby panda was born. The panda was different to all the others, as he had dazzling orange fur.

“I will call you Marmalade,” his mummy whispered.

Meet Marmalade, the little panda who goes on a big adventure as he sets off to explore the forest one day to find where he belongs. Along the way, he meets all sorts of animals… until he sees he has come full circle and is back home with his mum, which is where he always did belong, of course!

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Could you write your own story about an animal who is an unusual colour?
• Look at the illustrations and think of some speech / thought bubbles for each character.
• Can you find all of the adjectives in the book. What do they describe? Can you think of synonyms for some of them?
• Marmalade has ‘dazzling’ orange fur. Can you think of other ways to describe it?
• The collective noun for a group of pandas is an ‘embarrassment’. Can you find out the collective nouns for other animals? Make a poster to show some of these.
• Retell the story (or a part of it) from Marmalade’s point of view. Can you add how he is feeling at different parts?
• Retell part of the story from the point of view of Marmalade’s mother (or the Elder Panda). Can you explain how they feel about the arrival of the little panda?
• Write a newspaper report about the birth of the first orange and white panda.
• Write an advert for a zoo with the only orange and white panda in captivity.
• There are lots of examples of onomatopoeia in the story (e.g. doink, splash, bump). Can you find / think of any more?
• Marmalade meets a number of other animals in the story (e.g. the monkeys, an ibis, tigers). Create a new page in which he meets a different animal. How might they react to seeing him?
• Find some speech in the story and change the direct speech into reported speech.
• Can you find different synonyms of ‘said’ in the story (e.g. thundered, cheered)?
• Write a sequel to this story. What might happen to Marmalade next?

Maths

• Estimate how many animals Marmalade meets throughout this adventure.

Science

• Research some information about pandas and write a report about them. Can you present this as a leaflet, a written report or an audio / visual / multimedia report?
• Find out about camouflage? Why do animals have fur / skin with different colours and patterns? Why can some animals change their own colour?

Computing

• Make a stop-motion animation about a panda who goes on an adventure.
• Listening to this extract from the audiobook. Try to record your own audio version of the story:

• Watch this trailer for the book. Could you use presentation or animation software to make a book trailer?

Art

• Can you create your own illustrations of pandas?
• Draw pictures of your favourite animal with unusual coloured fur, feathers or skin!
• Look at the facial expressions of Marmalade and his mum throughout the story. Can you create pictures of a cartoon animal with different expressions / body language to show how they are feeling?
• Learn how to draw Marmalade by watching this video from the book’s illustrator:

Geography

• Create a story map that shows the different places that Marmalade visits during the story (and what happens in each place).
• Where can pandas be found around the world? Make a map that shows their habitats?

PSHE

• Marmalade and his mum teach the other pandas that they all belong together, even though they are different. Think of all of the ways that people can be similar and different from each other.