I’m very fond of the Mr Gumpy books by John Burningham. I love the illustrations and the bizarre happenings. Why does Mr Gumpy let so many people on his boat or in his car? Is he really lovely, or is he a bit daft?!
Concepts include fun, leisure, friendship, welcome, risk, kindness, naivety, community, generosity, stupidity, tolerance, mistakes.
There are many big questions which this story can inspire – for example:
Is it possible to be too nice?
Should we welcome everybody?
Would you rather be very generous or very selfish?
Use talking points to get students thinking and talking about a painting
Get your pupils thinking and talking about resilience, barriers, beauty and more
Does it matter if UK children use words and accents from the USA?
A fun picture book which can provoke big thinking
What will your class make of these contrasting images of children’s lives around the world?
Could preventing some children from having best friends help others?
Get your pupils thinking about the rights and wrongs of activism
Over 200 guides to help you do philosophy with children
Enquiry-based learning is fantastic, but has to be based on facts
Creating space for students to discuss challenging current events