Hippo Has a Hat by Julia Donaldson: Printable Activities and Worksheets

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Title: Hippo Has a Hat

Author: Julia Donaldson
Illustrator: Nick Sharratt
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
Language: English
Themes: animals, clothes
Age-range: infant-preschool, 4 – 8 years

There is chaos in the clothes shop when the animals go on a glorious shopping spree. Zebra’s zip is stuck and Toad’s tracksuit is far too big, but Flamingo finds a stylish bag, and Caterpillar’s shoes are really cool. There has never been a fashion show like it.

Rhyming text is perfect for interactive play with young children and inspires them to play dress up. With its bold colours and big pictures ‘Hippo has a Hat’ by Julia Donaldson is a perfect story book for toddlers. Even the smallest toddler will enjoy the wonderfully silly animal antics in this book. Trademark Julia Donaldson rhymes and rhythms are perfect to read aloud, and Nick Sharratt’s mischievous and funny illustrations make the bright and playful Hippo Has a Hat a sure winner. So join in the fun!

Culture and Vocabulary:

animals (hippo, tiger, leopard, cat, camel, goat, toad, pig, duck, zebra, caterpillar, gorilla, flamingo, stag)
clothes (shirt, skirt, hat, cardigan, coat, anorak, tracksuit, jeans, zip, shoes, slippers, bag, string of beads)
interrogative word “What”
verbs (to try, to like, to have, to find, to be, to say, to buy, to look)

Grammar:

What are you wearing? I’m wearing + NAME of the CLOTHES (I’m wearing a hat)
What is the + ANIMAL wearing ? (What is the leopard wearing? The leopard is wearing a skirt)
In the present tense, regular verbs are conjugated by adding an –s in the third person singular (tries, likes, finds, says, buys, looks)

Phonology:

accents of words, phrases
falling intonation on a question that does not have a yes or no answer (“What is the leopard wearing?”)
the pronunciation of -s at the end of verbs in third person can be pronounced in three different ways (/ ɪz /, / s / or / z /)
rhymes (shirt/skirt, hat/cat, coat/goat, big/pig, stuck/duck, bag/stag, smart/start)