Handa's Surprise

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Draw a map showing Handa’s route to see Akeyo and add pictures which shows the events which took place along the way. Gather some fruit and use this for data handling activities… What is the favourite type of fruit in the class? Make a graph to show how far each type of fruit has travelled from its country of origin. What is the average number of grapes in a bunch? Created in collaboration with the book’s publisher, Walker Books, this EYFS Reception Topic Planning Web: Handa’s Surprise is a perfect resource for practitioners who are planning work around this wonderful book. Handa is carrying a basket of fruit to her friend Akeyo. She is carrying it on her head and doesn’t notice that animals she is passing are taking fruit out of the basket. Eventually the basket becomes empty but an antelope chasing her runs in to a tree as Handa walks beneath it and fills the basket with tangerines. When Handa reaches Akeyo with her surprise she is surprised herself.

This activity is based on the popular book by Eileen Browne, Handa’s Surprise. This colourful book tells the story of a young girl, Handa, who wants to take a basket of delicious fruits to her friend. Read the story, then have a look at this fun fruit printing activity. The children in nursery found the book quite funny as all these animals were able to steal fruit from Handa without her even realising: ‘silly Handa!’ It is accessible as a video story, which is even more enjoyable and engaging given the moving visuals and sounds

Try to make a similar story where a child organises a surprise for somebody else, but there is a surprise for them at the end of the story. The book ‘Handa’s Surprise’ by Eileen Browne tells the story of a girl named Handa, who decides to take seven tasty fruits in a basket to her good friend, Akeyo. However, along the way, the fruits in her basket are eaten one by one by some cheeky animals – a monkey, an ostrich, a zebra, an elephant, a giraffe, an antelope and a parrot. There’s one final twist to the story which involves a goat and some tangerines! Rewrite the story from Handa’s point of view. What does she think happened to the original fruit in her basket?

Handa's Surprise is a lovely story by Eileen Browne about a girl who wants to treat her friends to delicious fruit but her plans go awry as several pesky different animals steal the fruit from her basket! A monkey takes the banana, an ostrich the guava, a zebra the orange, an elephant the mango, a giraffe the pineapple, an antelope the avocado and a parrot the passion fruit. It has lovely illustrations and could be used to introduce children to different types of fruit or animals as part of an art or geography lesson.

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In the story Handa’s Surprise, written by Eileen Browne, we follow a little girl named Handa, who belongs to the Luo tribe in south-west Kenya. Retell the story in the form of a storyboard with captions and speech bubbles for each character / animal.

The book uses relatively simple language and could probably be read independently by a six or seven year old. This said, it uses a variety of punctuation marks which could possibly used as a platform for a more advanced lesson. The story is based in south-west Kenya. Can you find this on a map? Can you find out more about the country? How is it similar / different to where you live? Watch this travel guide about Kenya for some ideas:The story is full of questions. Look at the use of question marks in the story. Can you write your own questions and put a question mark in the correct place?