Threadbear

There is one thing that has always been wrong with Threadbear. In his tummy is a squeaker that has never squeaked . . .

Can Father Christmas make his wish come true and give him a squeaky tummy or will it be something much more simple that grants him his wish?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

Can you tell the story from Threadbear’s point of view?
The author sometimes uses capital letters when Threadbear is speaking. Discuss why he does this.
Think of some speech bubbles to add to the illustrations in the book.
There is a lot of speech in the text. Use this to think about the use of speech marks and other punctuation.
There are lots of adjectives in the story, e.g. Little, brown, warm, angry. Find objects in your classroom and think of adjectives to describe them.
Choose your favourite toy and write a story about how it feels about different things. What does it like about living with you? Is there anything that it might like to get better at? How could it do that?

Conduct a survey of favourite toys and use this information to make graphs and charts.

The doctor listens to Threadbear’s tummy. Why do doctors do this? What does a stethoscope do?
Threadbear gets hung out to dry. Why do things dry on washing lines? Use this as a starting point for talking about evaporation.
Investigate the volume of different squeaks and other noises. Which is the loudest? How can you measure the volume?

Can you make your own bear using craft materials?
Learn how teddy bears are made. Could you visit a shop which makes them and see the process for yourselves?

Think of different toys and objects which make sounds. Could you use these to compose a tune? Could you make a repeating pattern using the noises?

Think about your favourite toy. Why do you like it? Why is it special?
Thread bear felt like he was letting Ben down. Discuss why this wasn’t true.
Threadbear feels happy when he is swinging on the washing line. Discuss what makes you happy or sad.