Have you seen Elephant?

David Barrow
Gekko Press
Age 3-5

In this story we meet a little boy and an elephant who wants to play hide and seek. This is a lovely picturebook with minimal text and a clever ending. The illustrations tell most of the story, they are soft, warm, appealing and great fun.

Watch the story read aloud

Share the story

Read aloud
Before you begin reading the story look at the cover together. Talk about what you both see and what might be happening. Read the story to your child pausing to allow them to spot the elephant and think about the illustrations as you do so.

Join in
Encourage your child to join in once they become more familiar with the story, for example with the counting –you could point to the numbers as you read them.

Talk about the book

◼︎Talk about all the places the elephant hides
◼︎Which page is funniest? Share your favourites.
◼︎Talk about mum and dad and their reaction to what the little boy says.
◼︎Talk with your child about whether or not elephants would be good at hide and seek?
◼︎Would tortoises be good at running races?
◼︎ Look at the illustration of an elephant – talk about the parts of its body – the trunk, big ears, tusks.
◼︎If your child is interested in finding out more about elephants see the links below.

Things to make and do

Tell the story
Encourage your child to tell you the story, in their own words, using the pictures to help them.

Play hide and seek
Play a game of hide and seek with your child remember to have the countdown first. Will you both each be easy to spot like elephant, or much harder?!

Play tag
If you have a large space or can go to a park you could play a chasing (tag) game together.

Draw a picture
Give your child paper and crayons to draw their own picture of an elephant hiding, they could draw one of the ideas for a hiding place form the story or choose their own funny place.

Find out More

Find out more about elephants CBeebies – Our Planet, Elephants and Bird Plumage, The features of elephants (bbc.co.uk)

Read more books by author illustrator David Barrow

The Big Race

Fergus Barnaby Goes on Holiday

Good Dog! and My Mum Looks after Me So Much written by Sean Taylor

Read another story about a hide and seek game
Here are some suggestions:

Bear and Hare: Where’s Bear? by Emily Gravett

How to Hide a Lion by Helen Stephens

Where’s Spot? by Rod Campbell

This book has echoes of Not Now Bernard, with mum and dad not really listening to their child.