Toys In Space

An exciting adventure for our furry friends, as they venture deep into the unknown…

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

Write a new story with the title ‘Toys in Space’, ‘Animals in Space’ or ‘Teachers in Space’.
Create a new adventure for the toy characters in this story.
Start a new story using the first line from this book: ‘That summer night for the first time…’
Rewrite the story in the form of a play script and perform this to an audience.
Retell the story from WonderDoll’s point of view.
When WonderDoll’s story begins, a range of adjectives are used to describe the toys (e.g. resourceful, brave, clever…). Can you make a list of these and add your own adjectives? Use a thesaurus to find some more.
When the spaceship arrives, the author repeats the word bigger. Why is this? Can you think of some synonyms for the word ‘bigger’?
Add some speech / thought bubbles to the illustrations at different points in the story.
Write a story about the alien who lost its toy.
Create a ‘Lost’ poster to inform people about the missing toy.
Write a newspaper report about an alien that has been stealing toys around the world.
Write a story about one of the toys in the ‘Room of a Thousand Lost Toys’.
Create an invitation to the Hoctopize’s party.
Write some instructions to teach people how to play a party game.

Find out the cost of various toys and use the prices to make up some word problems. Can you ask a friend to answer these?
Plan a new party to cheer up the Hoctopize. Make a list of the items that you need and find out how much they might cost.

At one point in the story, the toys look up at the stars in space. Can you find out about space / stars and use the information to write a report?
The toys see a shadow when they first arrive on the spaceship. How are shadows formed? Investigate what happens to shadows as objects move closer to the light source.
The lost toys are parachuted back down towards Earth. How do parachutes work? Can you describe the forces involved when something falls using a parachute?
The story takes place over the course of one night and into the next morning. Can you explain why we have day and night?

Create your own audio recording of this story, including the narration, the speech, music and sound effects.
Create your own trailer for this book. Watch this example for inspiration:

On one of the pages, the same illustration is repeated at different times of day (showing the toys laying on the grass). Can you create a similar picture showing the same place in the day and night times?
Create your own illustrations / paintings that show the stars at night. Could you create your own pictures of different constellations?
Look at the patterns on the Hoctopize’s body. Can you create your own patterns on the ‘Hand Outlines’ template below?

The toys explain to the alien that the toys should be returned to their real homes. Why is stealing wrong?