Kenneth Grahame 8 March the Author, Kenneth Grahame, Was Born on This Day in Scotland in 1859, but Spent Most of His Life Living Around London

Kenneth Grahame 8 March The author, Kenneth Grahame, was born on this day in Scotland in 1859, but spent most of his life living around London. He is most famous for his book ‘The Wind In The Willows’ which was written from tales he told his son, Alistair. It follows the adventures of Toad, Rat, Badger and Mole. ‘Toad of Toad Hall’ was a play written by A.A. Milne and is based on the book.

Hold A Book Club Get a copy of the book and chat about favourite childhood authors, books read in school and any passages they can remember from the books.

Other famous books to discuss could include ‘The Water Babies’, ‘Robinson Crusoe’, ‘The House At Pooh Corner’, ‘Heidi’, ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland’, ‘The Children Of The New Forest’ and ‘Lorna Doone’.

This is a great addition to your life story work as well.

Talking Books ‘The Wind In The Willows’ is available as a talking book which you should be able to get hold of from your library, RNIB or an online talking book source such as Calibre. These are a great way of sharing literature in a group, as well as being a useful tool for individuals who may not be able to see well enough to read.

Other Ideas Quotes “There is nothing, absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply Arrange a trip to your nearest messing about in boats.” (Rat) riverbank. Choose a nice day or There is an impressive list of quotes from the book available online. plan an outing for later in the Explore them in a group. year. Take a picnic and see what wildlife you can spot. Quiz Watch a film. There are several Print off famous quotes from classic books, or the first or last line of the versions of ‘The Wind In The book, and see if they can guess where it is from. Willows’ available. Alternatively, print off the pictures of famous book covers, blank out the name of the book and see if they can guess it. Talk about friendship because the book is based on the friendship between the animals. Book & Author Matching Game Who are your residents’ This initially takes a bit of time to make, but once completed is a great favourite characters? Print off cupboard standby. pictures of each to promote Try and grab a volunteer or student to help. memory. (Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger). What To Do Do they have a Toad or a Cut A4 paper into strips about 3cm wide and then cut them in half. (You Badger character in their family? can make the strips bigger if you want so they will be easier to see, just make sure they are all the same size.) Write the name of a famous book on one strip and the author on another. It is worth writing the answer in tiny writing on the back in case whoever is running the game doesn’t know! Laminate the strips and use as a matching game. If you have time and/or help you could draw a visual clue on each piece such as a rabbit for ‘Watership Down’.

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