Handa's Surprise

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Explore Eileen Browne's sequel with Handa's Hen Activities for Early Years Children. What is Handa's Surprise? This book is a wonderful book to read to your children. It features some beautiful and colourful illustrations to help bring the story to life. Handa's Surprise is a book about a Kenyan girl (Handa) who visits her friend with a basket full of seven different fruits as presents. Along the way to Akeyo's village, Handa contemplates which fruit Akeyo will like the best. However, each time Handa thinks about a certain fruit an animal pops along and takes that particular fruit. For example a monkey steals the banana. Unaware that various animals have taken these tropical fruits, Handa contiunes along her journey, at which point a goat bumps into a tree and a bunch of tangerines fall into Handa's basket. Much to Handa's Surprise Tangerines are Akeyo's favourite fruit. This book encapsulates the idea that ‘less is more’. The simple text and the descriptive pictures, are what I believe are the key features that lend to the brilliance of this book. Based on the latest guidance for reception, this topic planning web provides a range of exciting activities for all seven Areas of Learning. These ideas will enhance your provision and help your children explore the story and extend their skills and knowledge at the same time. There are suggestions here both for adult-led sessions and for continuous provision.

Gender and race must be intrinsically reflected in all children's media. If it isn't, childrengrow up seeing inequality as normal. So yes, diversity in picture books is very important. Rewrite the story from Handa’s point of view. What does she think happened to the original fruit in her basket? You could also ask your children to call out the different fruits and count them to help our children with their counting skills and fruit recognition too. Your children can reinforce their understanding of the story by putting together these story sequencing cards. This would be great as an individual or group activity. Who is Eileen Browne?Try to make a similar story where a child organises a surprise for somebody else, but there is a surprise for them at the end of the story. Writer-illustrator Eileen Browne talks about the enduring appeal of Handa's Surprise, and all about her new Handa adventure: Handa's Noisy Night.

What surprises have people organised for you? Can you think of a nice surprise that you could arrange for somebody else?Handa's Surprise is a lovely story by Eileen Browne about a girl who wants to treat her friends to delicious fruit but her plans go awry as several pesky different animals steal the fruit from her basket! A monkey takes the banana, an ostrich the guava, a zebra the orange, an elephant the mango, a giraffe the pineapple, an antelope the avocado and a parrot the passion fruit. The story is full of questions. Look at the use of question marks in the story. Can you write your own questions and put a question mark in the correct place?

As she is walking to see Akeyo, she is so busy thinking which fruit Akeyo will like best, she doesn’t even realise some animals are stealing her fruit! She’s in for a bit of a surprise when she gets to the village! Are you looking for activities to support reading ‘Handa’s Surprise’ with your children? We’ve teamed up with Walker Books to bring you a wealth of learning resources. You could combine these resources together and plan a whole topic based on this lovely story. Here are just a few to get you started: Richly-illustrated, brimming with luscious fruit and cheeky wild animals, this mouth-watering story is for the youngest of readers. In the best pantomime spirit, children will long to tell Handa what's happening right behind her!The ideas in this wonderful EYFS Reception Topic Planning Web: Handa’s Surprise will be perfect for you if you're looking for enjoyable and engaging learning activities for your reception children based on this much-loved book. Handa puts seven different delicious fruits in a basket to take to her friend Akeyo as a surprise. But Handa’s walk takes her past a variety of animals, and the fruits do look very inviting...” This year I'm celebrating the 25th anniversary edition of Handa's Surprise and thepublication of Handa's Noisy Night. Gather some fruit and use this for data handling activities… What is the favourite type of fruit in the class? Make a graph to show how far each type of fruit has travelled from its country of origin. What is the average number of grapes in a bunch? Handa carries seven delicious fruits to her friend Akeyo as a surprise But thanks to some hungry animals she meets along the way it's Handa who's in for a surprise! --cover

As she carries the basket on her head to her friends house, various animals steal the fruits, piece by piece but an accident results in her arriving with a basket full of tangerines which are incidentally Akeyo's favourite fruit. I love visual jokes, and tried to incorporate one into the second Handa story, Handa's Hen. Ididn't manage to do this, but have been able to in Handa's Noisy Night. Handa's having asleepover at her friend Akeyo's house. She hears strange noises and can't see what's makingthem–but the reader can! Once I'd worked out the story, illustrating it was a mammothtask. I spent a lot of time looking at the sky's changing colours as day turned into night – andeven longer illustrating it! Drawing giraffes and bush babiesThe location of the story is unknown to most readers and this opens up lots of discussionbetween children and adults: 'Where is it set?' (Kenya, in Africa), 'What's different to whereyou are?, 'Any zebras around?', 'Why is Handa carrying a basket on her head?' and 'Whydon't you carry things this way?' One of the most enjoyable elements for me has been discovering some of Kenya's animalsand fruits and this enthusiasm seems to have passed on to children and teachers. It'shumbling to visit schools and witness the wonderful work produced around this story –thedramas, fruit tastings and fabulous wall displays. So the book probably endures with thecombination of humour, the discovery of a different location and its capacity to inspireextended learning, including the tasting of delicious fruits.