Are you looking for fresh ideas to use with your Fantastic Mr. Fox novel study? You’re in the right place. These Fantastic Mr. Fox teaching activities include novel study samples, a technology craft, an anchor chart, and other engaging ideas to bring Roald Dahl’s clever woodland adventure to life.
Reading Level
Lexile 600L
Interest Level
Grades 3-5
Length
241 pages
Award
Read Aloud BILBY Award
Jump to Section
About the Book
Fantastic Mr. Fox tells the story of a clever fox who lives with his family in the woods beside three neighboring farms. Each day, Mr. Fox sneaks onto one of the farms to steal dinner for his family. The farmers — Boggis, Bunce, and Bean — are furious about his nightly raids and decide they’ve had enough. They camp out near Mr. Fox’s hole, determined to shoot him the moment he emerges.
Their plan nearly works. When Mr. Fox comes out of his hole, the farmers fire, shooting off his tail. Realizing they’ve only injured him, the farmers escalate their efforts. First, they try digging the foxes out by hand, but Mr. Fox and his family dig faster. Refusing to give up, the farmers bring in tractors and begin tearing up the entire hillside.
The story is filled with laugh‑out‑loud moments as the farmers go to unreasonable lengths to catch Mr. Fox, digging down the whole mountain, camping out for days, and destroying their own land in the process. Meanwhile, the fox family grows hungrier and more desperate as the farmers’ siege continues.
Just when it seems hopeless, Mr. Fox comes up with a brilliant plan to save his family — and help the other underground animals as well. Read Fantastic Mr. Fox to discover whether the farmers succeed or whether Mr. Fox’s cleverness wins the battle.
⭐ Book Details
| Publication Date | April 20, 2006 |
| Reading Level | Lexile 600L • Scholastic Guided Reading Level P |
| Interest Level | Grades 3–5 |
| Major Awards | Read Aloud BILBY Award • Books I Love Best Yearly: Younger Readers Award |
| Length | 241 pages (approx. 34,160 words) |
| Estimated Reading Time | About 2 hours and 17 minutes |
| Audiobook Length | 2 hours, 59 minutes (includes *Esio Trot*, *The Enormous Crocodile*, and *The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me*) |
| Genre | Adventure • Magical Realism |
| Setting | British countryside — farms and underground |
| Point of View | Third person, from an unseen narrator |
| Themes | The Importance of Family • Pride • Socioeconomic Status • Intelligence • Hypocrisy • Parenting • Environment |
| Memorable Quote | “I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice.” |
| First Line | “Down in the valley there were three farms.” |
Fantastic Mr. Fox Teaching Activities
Book Unit Samples
This sample includes activities from Chapters 1-2 including vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, and constructed response questions.
Teaching Idea #1 – ASCII Art
ASCII art is a graphic design that uses the standard keyboard to type a picture. Pictured is a simple fox. Have students try to duplicate this fox.
If your students enjoy this, here are a couple of websites with generators to experiment a little more.
Text to ASCII Art Generator (TAAG) – patorjk.com This generator has a space to type something. It turns your text into a bubble-looking image.
ASCII-Art-Generator.Org This generator will let you upload an image. The generator converts the image to ASCII art. Imagine making a cute bulletin board with student-drawn scenes from the novel converted to art. NOTE: If you wish to paste your finished art into a document, you must use monochrome text. This means all the letters are equal in size. Try using Courier New for this.
Teaching Idea #2 – Anchor Chart
This anchor chart pairs well with the constructed response question found in the unit sample.
Have students plan their answers. Once finished, students can write ideas on sticky notes to place on an anchor chart.
If you missed the link above, here it is again.
Teaching Idea #3 – On the Web
Storyboard That has a section devoted to the book.
Download a free descriptive writing activity from Twinkl.
Teaching Idea #4 – Create Board Games
Have students create a board game based on the story of Fantastic Mr Fox Teaching ActivitiesThey can use game mechanics that reflect the themes and events in the book.
Here are some sample questions:
Trivia questions:
What is the name of the farmers who are trying to catch Mr. Fox and his family?
What type of animal is Mr. Fox’s friend, Badger?
Who is the smallest animal in Mr. Fox’s family?Fantastic Mr Fox Teaching Activities
Strategy questions:
What is the best way to get past the farmers’ security systems to steal food?
Should Mr. Fox try to steal food from a farm with a lot of chickens, or one with a lot of apple trees?
Should Mr. Fox help the other animals who are also struggling to find food, or just focus on his own family?
Word game questions:
What is a seven-letter word that means “a secret plan or scheme”?
Rearrange the letters “P A S H T” to make a five-letter word for a type of farm animal.
What is a six-letter word that means “an underground animal home”?
Creative questions:
Design a new animal character that could join Mr. Fox’s team of food thieves.
Write a new chapter of the story where Mr. Fox and his family encounter a new challenge.
Create a drawing or model of one of the farmers’ security systems that Mr. Fox needs to get past.
See the product that inspired this post.
Fantastic Mr. Fox Novel Study includes vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, constructed response writing, and skill practice.
