‘The children were attracted to the characters they loved the idea that the Bubblecats are secret and no one knows they are there. They also enjoyed using the cut out figures and maps that allowed them to make up their own stories’

Hillstone Primary School

‘When I saw the titles of the cards I knew straight away that they were all Genres that I teach’

Hillstone Primary School

‘The pupils in Y1 were enthralled by the Mud Ants story and the pupils in Y5 would not let their teacher leave the end of the Shell Children story till the next day. They could all recount the story as it had held their attention.'

St Albans Primary School

‘Y4 loved Zinger Pinger and wanted more stories about him, the cards all worked very well and the pupils loved using them.'

St Albans Primary School

‘Due to the fantasy element of these cards they deal with among other things creative thinking skills, problem solving and critical thinking they are open ended as each child will respond at their own level so they are great for the more able pupils’

Kathleen Gillan, Literacy Consultant

‘Speaking and listening is now an intrinsic part of the strategy and these boxes will fit in beautifully also having the Cross-genre links is an excellent idea’

Literacy Consultant

‘The Thinking Hats are a great idea and being able to print them off so the children can have their own will help KS1 pupils a lot’.

Literacy Consultant

‘Including printouts of the characters and the locations allows the children to work in a similar way to having puppets; they really use their imaginations and get involved with the characters.’

Literacy Consultant

'This Literacy resource contains a number of activities all connected to a band of Mud Ants. The pack includes a story book and I started off by reading this to the class, who found the idea of playing in the mud very appealing and wished they could be Mud Ants themselves! They also found the names of the characters – Gogo, Zoot, Juffy and Ono – very appealing and humerous.

There are 10 different Writing Adventure Cards included and six copies of each one. They range from ideas such as writing a shopping list, composing a poem and writing a fantasy story - so there's a wide range of genres. The cards themselves are very colourful and clearly set out. On one side you'll find the task and on the other instructions on how it can be completed. My class loved having their own set of cards and said they felt very ‘grown up’.

There are many ways of using the cards, depending on the ability of your class, including shared writing, guided writing and independent writing. The teaching notes proved very helpful and easy to follow. Linked to this there's also a book with activities to photocopy for each adventure, which I used with my less able groups, as they provided more structure for the children.

With this resource the pupils are introduced to the idea of Edward de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats. Using these in association with the Adventure Cards should give pupils a context within which to generate ideas that are logical and creative, and in so doing discover the thinking process. I found making six Thinking Hats for the children to wear helped them to focus their thoughts, particularly with my visual and kinaesthetic learners (available on CD ROM). It is worth taking time to discuss the use of the Thinking Hats in order to gain the full benefit.

A CD ROM is included with the pack, which contains electronic versions of the following:

• Storybook
• Writing cards
• Six Thinking Hats
• Activities
• Teaching Notes.
• Link to website for further support
• Ability to print out characters and worlds

This means that the teacher can lead class or group discussions by projecting the resource on to a whiteboard in a guided learning situation.

In summary, the Mud Ants are very appealing characters, and they could be used in several ways within the classroom to introduce different genres. I can see that they would have a particular attraction for the younger age group and those with Special Needs.

In brief:

• Introduces the children to different genres through the characters of Mud Ants.
• Encourages the children to consider different ways of thinking.
• Photocopiable resources are particularly appropriate for SEN learners.

Children’s comments:

“I like the names of the Mud Ants, they look fun.”

“I enjoyed making the shopping list for the Mud Ants.”

Kingscourt Writing Adventures are available in 6 levels for Years 1–6 / P2-P7. The reviewer was using Mud Ants – Year 1/P2.

Primary Choice Magazine

"We introduced the story in each year group in the first week of term to get the children familiar with the characters. We plan to tie it in to our new units of work for the renewed Primary Framework, and use as a stimulus for extended, creative writing at the end of a unit of work.”
Denise Burgess – Deputy Head

“We introduced story and characters which created real interest. It gave us a great introduction to mystery and adventure stories. The children were really interested in predicting what might happen with the pumpkin juice clouds, and what might happen to the world. A great resource to encourage use of imagination. It created lots of questioning, and really encouraged questioning skills and conversational skills.”
Carol Ward – Year 3 teacher

Year 4 pupils who said that Mrs Wood (Year 4 teacher) introduced the story to them on the interactive whiteboard. They said they could clearly see the text on the board while it was read out to them and they really enjoyed the story.

“The story was very very interesting and we thought the Zinger Pinger looked quite funny”
Amy McGuire

“We like the Zing Zongs that came in the box.”
Abbie Mosely

“I like the detective birds the best”
Jake Konopka

“I like the Zinger Pinger and how the Zing Zong sent messages”
Luc Trampenau

“I liked the Castle of Strings the best.”
Terry Thew

“I like the Forest of the Kings and the Castle of Strings the best.”
Sophie Rance

“I liked sewing the Zinger Pingers. It only took 2 days to make!”
Ella Maycock

“I liked the bit where the boy got on the Zinger Pinger’s back. I also liked decorating the puppets that we made.”
Daisy Turner

“We are going to have a class project, which will be on-going in Golden Time. The children were very keen!”
Jane Anderson – Saturn Class (Year 4)

Gothic Mede Lower School , Bedfordshire

“We purchased this resource because of the link to the Edward de Bono Thinking Hats, and to improve writing. I like the Mystery Objects, the Thinking Hat explanations, and the ‘Worlds’. The children really like the Mystery Object too.

I use this resource with whole classes and in the Thinking Zone with Years 2, 3 and 6. The children enjoy the mystery element.”

Louisa Lawson, Lydney C.E Primary, Gloucestershire

Kingscourt Writing Adventures – Mud Ants

I am currently using this resource with a group of children who attend the Specialist Learning Centre (complex needs). Children are aged 7½ to 10½ with reading ages from 5 to 7½. All are reluctant writers.

The children really enjoy the story – we use an Interactive Whiteboard. We have started to use the materials on the cards. The children have used the white, green and red hats so far – we use them in other curricular areas too. The classroom displays are all centred around the ‘ants’ topic. The large ‘mud ants’ display and the ‘thinking hats’ display have been commented on by visitors.

We have set up an ant farm and plan to develop non-fiction activities based on ants (wearing our ‘white thinking hats’.) We have sequenced sentences to show how to set up the farm. We all know what myrmecologists are and can clap the syllables!

• The resources have stimulated a great deal of speaking and listening activities and we are working towards written work
• We have an ‘oral story’ based on the text – with some changes from the children. We use actions and repetition to help us remember it
• We have learned the rhyme ‘Birthday Parties’ with actions
• We have made a display of our golden rules using ants carrying the rules on their backs. The children have made the model ants and given them names with the same initial sounds as their own names.

One of the main areas I wanted to focus on is developing the children’s imagination. The ‘mystery object’ has certainly supported this. The children have enjoyed talking about playing in the mud and we are currently exploring what we think will happen when it rains in Mudland.

I think this is a very useful resource and intend to use it over the next few months – adapted to suit the children I work with. There is a wide range of materials and they cover a range of literacy topics – the children can work at their own level from simple captions and simple sentences to more complex sentences. They are building the confidence orally to suggest new ideas and use their imagination.

Mrs A Rees – Durrington Junior School , Durrington