1,2,3 Storytelling
Look at the front cover together. Ask your child to tell you what they can see and what is happening. Take note of their questions / comments. Read the story to your child. Ask your child to tell you about the lonely beast.
Storytelling 1
Read the whole story. It is likely that your child will want to tell you what is happening and will talk about the pictures.
Storytelling 2
Read the story and ask your child about each page and the illustrations, for example,
“How do you think the lonely beast felt when all the people in the city ran away?
Storytelling 3
Ask your child to share the story with you. They tell you the story using the pictures on each page.
Watch Emma read The Lonely Beast here
Activities
Make
Draw the journey – Draw pictures to show the Lonely Beast’s journey. Label each place that he goes to. Use the Lonely Beast puppet to tell the story and describe what it’s like in each place.
Make a jellyfish – use a paper plate and string.
Bake the beast’s cakes – Bake simple cupcakes. Encourage your child to talk about each part of the recipe using doing words (verbs) such as mix, scoop, stir, beat.
Make the beast – Use playdough or clay, and then make friends for him by changing the shape of the body/head/arms/legs so that they all look slightly different.
Play
Lonely Beast charades – Ask your child to pretend to be the beast and act out a part of the story, for example, swimming through the sea, climbing down the cliff. The adult has to guess which part of the story it is.
Party Games – Pretend to be at the Beast’s party and play some party games, such as musical statues (when the music turns off, the child has to freeze), or musical bumps (when the music turns off the child has to sit down.)
Experience
Experience swimming under the sea.
Name the different creatures that you see: coral, ray, fish, turtle, shark.
Songs
We’re Going on a Beast Hunt
To the rhythm of Michael Rosen’s “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”
Chorus: We’re going on a beast hunt
We’re going to find a lonely one,
What a wonderful day! We’re not scared.
(This chorus is repeated after each verse)
Uh oh, a forest, a thick, dark, forest
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to go through it (crunch, crunch)
Uh oh, a river! A wide, dangerous river!
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to go through it (swish, swish)
Uh oh, a cliff! A high, crumbling cliff!
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to go down it (scramble, scramble)
Uh oh, a waterfall! A giant, towering waterfall!
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to go down it (wheeeeee!)
Uh oh, a cave! A deep, dark cave!
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to go through it (tip toe, tip toe)
Uh oh, a mountain! A tall, snowy mountain!
We can’t go under it, we can’t go round it
We’ll have to go over it (stumble, stumble)
Uh oh, the sea! The choppy, blue sea!
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to swim through it (splash, splash)
Uh oh, the city! The busy, crowded city!
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to go through it (excuse me, excuse me)
Uh oh, the park! The neat, tidy park!
We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it
We’ll have to go through it (Hello? Mr Beast?)
The beast’s not here!
Back through the city: Excuse me, excuse me
Back through the sea: Splash, splash
Back over the mountain: Stumble, stumble
Back through the cave: Tip toe, tip toe
Back up the waterfall: Wheeeeeee!
Back up the cliff: Scramble, scramble
Back through the river: Swish, swish
Back through the forest: Crunch, crunch
There he is! It’s time for a party!
Poem
I am feeling so blue
What can I do?
I walk and I walk,
But do not talk.
I have no friends,
It makes me sad.
Just one other beast,
Would make me so glad.
The Lonely Beast is written by Chris Judge and published by Andersen Press.