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One dark, stormy night, Owl, Mouse and Rabbit hear a knock on the door. They feel very afraid – could it be The Monster Of The Woods? But the friends soon discover that the creature outside is more fluffy than fearsome… and they learn that most things are a lot less scary than you might imagine!
A warm, funny tale about friendship and facing your fears.
Teaching Ideas and Resources:
English
- Make a set of instructions for the animals to follow when they feel scared by the ‘Monster Of The Woods’.
- Write a list of words that could be used to describe the ‘Monster Of The Woods’ (before the animals meet him).
- Write a list of words that could be used to describe the ‘Monster Of The Woods’ (after the animals meet him). How do the two lists compare?
- Can you find any examples of onomatopoeia in the story?
- Look through the book and find different types of punctuation. Can you explain to a friend why a particular type of punctuation was used in a sentence?
- How many nouns / adjectives / verbs / adverbs can you find in the story? Could you have a competition with a friend to see who can find the most?
- How many synonyms for ‘said’ can you find in the story?
- Make an acrostic poem based on the phrase ‘Tippety Tap’.
- Can you find out about other stories that include monsters? How are they similar / different to this one?
Maths
- What times can you see on the clocks in the illustrations? Can you work out how much time has passed between each picture?
Science
- Design your own monster. Add labels to show any special features / adaptations that it has.
Computing
- Think about the type of sounds that a monster might make. Could you record some of them? Could you use audio editing software (e.g. Audacity or Garageband) to change the sound of your voice and make it sound like a monster?
- Retell the story in the form of a radio play. Can you record and perform it with sound effects and music?
Design Technology
- Make a model of the ‘Monster Of The Woods’. What materials could you use?
- Make a new shelter to protect the animals from the ‘Monster Of The Woods’.
- Design a security system to protect the animals when they are scared.
Art
- Draw the picture that the animals can see when they look out of the window of the house.
- Draw a picture that shows what the animals think the ‘Monster Of The Woods’ might look like.
- Look at the illustration that includes a silhouette. Can you create silhouettes of different animals / monsters / objects?
Music
- Imagine that this story was adapted to make an animation or a movie. Could you compose the theme tune? What kinds of sounds / music would you need to use?
PSHE
- Think of things that you can do to help somebody who is feeling scared.
- Can you explain why everyone is afraid of ‘Snuggles’? What could he do to change other people’s / animals’ perceptions of him? How could the Owl, Mouse and Rabbit help him to do this?