Are you looking for some new ideas to do with your novel study of Fantastic Mr. Fox? Then be sure to grab these Fantastic Mr. Fox teaching activities. You’ll find novel study samples, a technology craft, an anchor chart, and other ideas.
The story is about a clever fox who lives with his family in the woods next to three farms.
Mr. Fox routinely goes out each day to one of three neighboring farms to steal dinner for his family. The farmers of these three farms have had enough of Mr. Fox’s daily visits. They decide it’s time to stop him. The farmers camp out by Mr. Fox’s hole with plans to shoot him as he comes out to get his dinner.
Mr. Fox comes out of his hole only to get his tail shot off by the farmers. When the farmers realize they only have a tail, they decide to dig the foxes out of their den. Naturally, the farmers can’t dig fast enough to catch Mr. Fox. The farmers won’t give up. They get out their tractors.
The story has laugh-out-loud moments as the farmers go to unreasonable lengths to catch the fox. This includes digging down the whole mountain and camping out by Mr. Fox’s hole.
The foxes are starving to death when Mr. Fox thinks of a clever idea to help his family. Read Fantastic Mr. Fox to see if the farmers or Mr. Fox wins the battle.
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.
