Family Activities

• At the end of the story, the smile returns to Augustus’ face. Let us imagine that the story continues, and that his smile widens and turns into a loud laugh. What could make him laugh?
• What makes us happy? What makes our child happy? With our child, we can prepare small cards with a little smile on them and others with a big smile on them. We can then draw what makes us a little happy and what makes us laugh on each card. We can group the cards together, and add others with drawings of sad, angry and surprised faces to them. We might want to collect them in a beautiful book that might be titled “This is How I Feel.”
• We can go out together to play, explore, and have fun in nature. We may climb a small hill or make a stick out of fallen branches that helps us to walk or jump on the dry leaves and listen to its rattling.
• “Then Augustus understood that his smile appears on his face when he is happy.” How else do we express our joy? We can play a game called “Mirror of Joy,” where we stand facing our child and make a movement in our face or body that expresses joy that the child must imitate, and vice versa.
• Augustus’ smile slowly returns to his mouth, and his tail also rises to express his joy. We can observe how other animals in our home and environment express their happiness.
• Let’s make our family members laugh! We can all sit in a circle, and the first participant has to say “ha ha” seriously, followed by the second participant who says “ha ha,” and so on. The participant who laughs first must devise a way for the other participants to laugh.
• Books by the author and illustrator, Catherine Rayner, “are full of drawings of animals that she loves so much. It is exciting to see what Augustus looks like when we draw him after he loses his smile, and then again when he finds it.”
• Enjoy your reading and your activities!

רעיונות לשילוב הספר בגן

From the Field