Handa's Surprise

Product Information

In the story Handa’s Surprise, written by Eileen Browne, we follow a little girl named Handa, who belongs to the Luo tribe in south-west Kenya.

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.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 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. For more resources on the topic of healthy eating, have a look at our Healthy Eating: Food Word Search, which will help children expand their vocabulary and improve their spellings, and this Healthy Eating Sorting Activity. Fantastic facts about Fruit:

Retell the story in the form of a storyboard with captions and speech bubbles for each character / animal. 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:

Teaching about the latest events?

What surprises have people organised for you? Can you think of a nice surprise that you could arrange for somebody else?

This activity is based on the popular book by Eileen Browne, Handa’s Surprise. This colourful book tells the story of a young girl, Handa, who wants to take a basket of delicious fruits to her friend. Read the story, then have a look at this fun fruit printing activity.Rewrite the story from Handa’s point of view. What does she think happened to the original fruit in her basket? The book uses relatively simple language and could probably be read independently by a six or seven year old. This said, it uses a variety of punctuation marks which could possibly used as a platform for a more advanced lesson.

It has lovely illustrations and could be used to introduce children to different types of fruit or animals as part of an art or geography lesson. 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? Created in collaboration with the book’s publisher, Walker Books, this EYFS Reception Topic Planning Web: Handa’s Surprise is a perfect resource for practitioners who are planning work around this wonderful book.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. Draw a map showing Handa’s route to see Akeyo and add pictures which shows the events which took place along the way. Are you looking for activities to support reading ‘Handa’s Surprise’ with your children? We have so many for you to try! We’ve teamed up with Walker Books to bring you a wealth of learning resources that will enhance their understanding of the story. You could combine all these resources together and plan an entire cross-curricular topic all based on this lovely story. What is the story of Handa’s Surprise about?