This is the first book in the FUNNYBONES series and introduces the skeletons - a big skeleton, a little skeleton and a dog skeleton.
They live in a dark dark cellar of a dark dark house on a dark dark hill and so the word repetition continues through this lighthearted story for early readers. The skeletons venture out of their cellar one night to find someone to scare, but everyone is in bed so they amuse themselves by scaring each other and playing with the skeleton animals that live in the zoo.
The story includes lots of speech. Can you use this to create a play script and perform it to others?
When the dog's skeleton is put back together, the letters in the word 'WOOF' get mixed up. Can you choose a word (e.g. 'skeleton' or 'funny bones') and make anagrams, or find other words using the letters in them?
Create a character profile for each of the skeletons. What are their real names? What are their personalities like? What are their favourite things?
There are lots of examples of onomatopoeia in the story (e.g. woof, miaow, boo). Can you think of any more?
Watch the animated series and explain which you prefer. There are lots of episodes available online. Here is one of them:
Maths
There are 206 bones in an adult human body. How many different calculations can you think of with the answer of 206?
Science
Learn about skeletons and why they are important for our bodies. Here is a video which might help:
Look at the skeletons of different animals. How are they different / similar?
Draw around somebody you know on a large piece of paper and label the different bones inside their body on it.
The pictures in the story are all based in dark places. Investigate light and different light sources.
Explore how shadows are made? Could you draw the shadow of different skeletons?
The skeletons like to explore at night time. Why do we have day and night? What happens to the Earth and Sun to give us light times and dark times?
Design Technology
Could you make some skeleton puppets and perform your own Funnybones puppet show?
Art
Draw your own skeleton pictures using different types of bones. Can you cut them out, jumble them up and then put them back together?
Draw skeletons for different animals.
Draw a picture of one of the rooms inside the skeletons' dark dark house.
Stick paper and / or white art straws onto a black background to make your own skeleton pictures.
Music
Sing the song 'Dem Dry Bones' with your class.
Watch different performances of the song 'Dem Dry Bones'. Which do you prefer?
Can you make up a tune for the songs that the skeletons sing?
Geography
Draw a map showing all of the places in the skeleton's dark dark town.
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