The Tale of Peter Rabbit - a story about a naughty little rabbit who likes to steal from a gardener

Peter Rabbit is a classic tale written by Beatrix Potter and published by Frederick Warne Penguin Random House. It is about a little rabbit in a blue coat who likes to go and steal fruit and vegetables from a local gardener. The gardener, Mr McGregor, is aware of the little rabbit so he keeps a look out for him. I love this story because you can see things from both sides of the story. Peter Rabbit just wants to eat the nice fruit and vegetables whereas Mr McGregor is growing them for his own consumption and sees Peter Rabbit as a nuisance. Peter Rabbit is obviously very tempted seeing them from his side of the fence and Mr McGregor seems to not want to share.

Activities

• Blackberry picking

• Scarecrow making

• Scavenger hunt

• Pie making

• Fruit/vegetable cutting

• Animal sort (pets/wild)

• Fruit/vegetable listing game

• Garden design

Outdoor

This is a lovely book for outdoor play activities. At the right time of year you could go blackberry picking with your child/children. Just ensure they don't wear light coloured clothes as blackberries stain (I learnt this the hard way when I was 8 and wore a new white top. It was a lovely shade of pink after it had been washed). Another activity could involve collecting an old pair of tights, hat, trousers, top and boots and with a couple of sticks tied in a cross shape you can create a scarecrow. Children seem to love doing this activity, its like making a snowman without the snow. You could do a scavenger hunt for the tools listed in the book. This can be done in your garden if you have the items, in a family member's or friend's garden or in a garden centre. The items mentioned in the book were; wheelbarrow, sieve, flower pot, watering can, hoe and rake. If you have time before the scavenger hunt you could take photos for the child/children to look at to show them what to find. If not you just need to familiarise the child/children with what's on the list. This will help with their reading skills or they can draw them and then look for them. You could also plant some fruit and vegetables with your child/children and they can water them and watch them grow. This would be a good time to talk about how Mr McGregor might feel when Peter Rabbit steals his fruit and vegetables. How would they feel if he took what they had grown?

Cooking/Food

There were a few different foods mentioned alongside the fruits and vegetables including a pie. This could be a fun food to make with your child/children and you could make it from scratch or go with the easy option and buy ready made pastry and a tin of fruit or vegetables. With some left over pastry your child/children can make a shape to go on the top. For example if they make a cheese pie then they could make a little mouse to go on top. You could have a discussion about all the different varieties of pies and that they can be sweet and savoury. Depending on the age of the child you could teach them how to use a knife properly and practice cutting different fruits and vegetables. You can talk them through the health and safety and what to do if they do cut themselves. They have to learn at some point, just stress the fact that they can only ever use sharp knives with an adult. Children love doing this because we don't usually let them use knives and it makes them feel grown up.

Indoor

Lots of different animals can be found throughout the story and your child/children could sort them into pets and wild. You could then discuss with them why Mr McGregor has animals in his garden but doesn't like Peter Rabbit. As you go through the book you can check that your/child children know the names of the different fruits and vegetables and you could play a game of listing (on paper or verbally) as many as they can think of in a minute but they are not allowed to repeat any they have already said. Finally your child could design their own garden. What sort of things are they going to include? Are they going to have a vegetable/fruit patch like Mr McGregor and what are they going to grow? They could draw, use different materials and stick them on or use pictures of plants/fruits/vegetables from a catalogue or brochure (you can often find these free in supermarkets).