1,2,3 Storytelling
Look at the front cover together. Ask: What can you see? Where is this character? What might happen? Where is the beast? Where might he want to go? How is the beast feeling?
Storytelling 1
Read the whole story to your child. Use actions to go with each doing word (stumbled, climbed, jumped, crept, swam) and ask them to act them out. Encourage them to join in with any repeated words.
Storytelling 2
Read the story again and ask your child about each page and the illustrations. For example: Why has the beast left his home? How does the beast get across the river? Why did the people run away?
Storytelling 3
Ask your child to share the story with you. They tell you the story using the pictures on each page.
Ask: How do you think that the beast felt at the end of the story? Why?
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.
Other books to read and watch at home
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
Billy and the Beast by Nadia Shireen
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.
Activity
Make your own Lonely Beast following these instructions. Click here to open a larger version.
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 Beast Goes Walking
To the tune of: The Wheels on the Bus
The lonely Beast goes stomp, stomp, stomp,
Stomp, stomp, stomp,
Stomp, stomp, stomp.
The lonely Beast goes stomp, stomp, stomp,
Looking for a friend.
Then swap in different movements:
The lonely Beast goes splash, splash, splash…
The lonely Beast goes climb, climb, climb…
The lonely Beast goes swim, swim, swim…
Ask your child to choose the next action
Five Little Beasts
To the tune of: Five Little Ducks
Five little Beasts went out one day,
Over the hills and far away.
One little Beast went off to play,
So four little Beasts came home that day.
Repeat until you reach 0.
Stomp, Stomp, Lonely Beast
Stomp, stomp, Lonely Beast,
Stomp along with me.
Climb up high, bend down low,
What can you see?
Splash, splash, Lonely Beast,
Splash along with me.
Swim so fast, swim so slow,
What can you see?
Tiptoe, tiptoe, Lonely Beast,
Tiptoe quietly.
Look up high, look down low,
Who can you see?
Jump, jump, Lonely Beast,
Come and jump with me.
Jump up high, land down low,
Happy as can be!
The Lonely Beast is written by Chris Judge and published by Andersen Press.