Monkey Puzzle

Product Information

Fortunately the little monkey isn’t alone for long. A well-meaning and friendly Butterfly appears and comforts him, then they set out to find the little monkey’s mum, together. Poor Butterfly keeps finding animals that fit the little monkey’s description but they aren’t quite right. Investigate environmental issues linked to jungles and rainforests. How can people help to protect them? Once children are familiar with the text, this is a great book to have out for children to enjoy independently. You could also read the story before a trip or a holiday to discuss with a young child what they should do if they ever do become lost (not a comfortable idea to entertain but it is certainly an important subject to discuss if you feel your little one is old enough).

This is a lovely book to help children learn vocabulary, especially for descriptive words such as ‘hairy’, ‘slimy’ and ‘baggy’. You could build on this by playing games with children – for example, put out a range of objects or cuddly toys and ask the children to guess which one you are talking about based on your description.

My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. Look at the plants and flowers in the illustrations. Can you identify similar plants using reference books? Look at the patterns and textures on the animals in the story. Investigate what camouflage means and how this helps animals. In the summer, you could also carry out a caterpillar and butterfly hunt and talk to children about their lifecycle.

Monkey Puzzleis a very cleverly written story which is full of humour but also introduces children to a wide range of animals as well as the concept of caterpillars changing into butterflies. The little monkey gets more and more frustrated as the story unfolds and little ones love joining in with the repetition, “No, no, no! That’s a …”. Axel Scheffler’s trademark illustrations add to the humour and we love the expressions on the animals’ faces. This book can be read with many different ages of children. The publisher suggests an age range of three to seven years, but toddlers will enjoy the illustrations and spotting the animals. When reading the book, it is also worth emphasising the rhyming text so that as children become familiar with it, they are able to fill in the final words.Once more this misleads butterfly as she produces a snake, so Little Monkey has to tell him that his mum has more legs than that. Once more this is confusing to butterfly who produces a spider. 'No, no, no! ... 'she'd rather eat fruit than swallow a fly, And she lives in the treetops way up high' is Little Monkey's next clue. This pattern continues with humour and rhyme as the animal pair meet numerous other animals until the monkey is finally reunited with its mum and dad. This book could also be the starting point for playing puzzles with children. You could hide a picture of the mother monkey using positional language such as ‘next to’ or ‘under’ and encourage the child to find it.