Little Rabbit Foo Foo

Michael Rosen, Arthur Robins (illus)
Walker Books
Age 0-5 years

Little Rabbit Foo Foo enjoys nothing more than speeding through the forest and bopping any poor hapless creatures he comes across on the head. However, he is being watched by the Good Fairy who warns him that he will have three chances to change and if he doesn’t change she will turn him into a Goonie!

This is a funny anarchic tale about a very naughty rabbit who meets his match. The illustrations add to the humour of the story. The rhythm and repetition of the chorus make this fun to join in with or even singalong to.

Share the story

Read aloud
Read the story aloud to your child. Children are likely to want you to read it more than once, lots of times in fact!

Join in
Encourage children to join in with the rhyme as you read it aloud – you might decide to sing the rhyme as in the versions above. Once children are really familiar with story you may find they naturally say words from the chorus at other times, or you could start this off at bath time or when going for a walk perhaps.

Talk about the story

• Talk about Little Rabbit Foo Foo, what he does in the story and what the good fairy says to him.

• What would your child say to him about how he treats the other animals?

• Share favourite parts of the story. Your child might naturally want to look back at one particular page or you could say I like this page because…. which one do you like?

Look at the double page spread before the story starts and talk about all the creatures you can both see in the large picture and what is happening.

Watch Michael Rosen perform the story

Watch an animated version read aloud

 

Things to make and do

Make puppets
Make stick puppets of Little Rabbit Foo Foo and the Good fairy. Use the illustrations in the story to help you. See our information on making stick puppets. Children could help with colouring them in.

Draw a goonie
Give children paper and crayons to draw their own goonie. Talk about the drawing with them. What is it going to look like, what might it do?

Play the story

Children can act out the story as you read or recite it aloud – practice in pretending to bop animals on the head will be important first of all! 
Or you could use the stick puppets you made to have a conversation between Little Rabbit Foo Foo the Good Fairy – it might be fun for children if you take the part of the naughty rabbit and they play the fairy!

 

Find out more

Read more stories for young children by Michael Rosen

We’re Going on Bearhunt with Helen Oxenbury 

This is Our House with Bob Graham

A Great Big Cuddle with Chris Riddell 

 

Visit Michael Rosen’s YouTube channel for poetry performances and story telling 

 

Read more books illustrated by or written and illustrated by Arthur Robins

Max the Flying Sausage Dog

The Teeny Tiny Woman

Macavity the Mystery Cat