The book tells the story of Mr Grinling, the lighthouse keeper, and the trouble his wife has getting his lunch across from the mainland. Mrs Grinling prepares her husband a delicious lunch, but the seagulls keep eating it before it reaches him. After several failed attempts, she finally manages to foil the pesky birds with some mustard flavoured sandwiches! Once their lighthouses are built, show the children how to make a complete circuit with a battery, wire and bulb. They should then work out how to fix this into their lighthouse model, so that the light appears at the top inside the lantern section. More able, or older, pupils could explore various options for getting their light to rotate inside the lighthouse. For an even better way to find EYFS resources, discover tailored suggestions, and much more - visit the EYFS resource HUB! GO TO EYFS HUB

The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch has been successfully adapted for the stage. David Wood wrote a musical play based on the story which was first performed at the Oxford Playhouse in 2000 with two professional actors and a large cast of children drawn from local schools many of whom had never been inside a theatre before. It was also adapted in 2017 by Nicola Sangster and Gareth Cooper for the Pied Piper Theatre Company. Role-play the different characters in the story (Mr and Mrs Grinling, Hamish the cat, and the seagulls). How were they feeling at different points in the story? Sue Cowley takes The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch as inspiration for four fun-filled, ocean-themed activities... My Review: I saw this book in use in a primary classroom this year, in a year 1 - 2 split setting. It was used for the five weeks i was there and it worked very effectively, the children loved it. Children could look at light alongside this text. Looking at sources of light, the lighthouse is one can you think of any other.On a trip to the beach with their children, the Armitages saw a wire which ran from the cliff to the lighthouse and their son wanted to know what it was for. David suggested it was for the lighthouse keeper’s lunch… The children could redesign the basket so that it is ‘seagull proof’, exploring a range of different materials and designs before examining which one would work best. But they might also come up with something else to go in the basket/lunch to put the seagulls off - lateral thinking is the key! Plan and carry out an investigation to find out the strength of different materials. Which would be best to protect the lighthouse keeper’s lunch?

Finally, ask each group to present their ideas to the class. Have they found a better solution than Mrs Grinling? Is their lunch more delicious than the one that Mrs Grinling made? Take a whole class vote to decide on the winning group, and then re-write the story, using the alternative lunch, and an ending which features your winning ‘seagull proofing’ idea. Activity 2: Ray of light For an even better way to find KS2 resources, discover tailored suggestions, and much more - visit the KS2 resource HUB! GO TO KS2 HUB Children can work out the weight, price or size of the different foods in his lunch. They would be faced with children which needs them to focus on measurements and calculations such as addition and subtraction.Mr Grinling is an ‘industrious’ lighthouse keeper. What does this mean? Can you think of any words that mean the same thing? NARRATIVE PLANNING _ Now includes planning for innovating and changing the story with blanked out story maps for children, conjunctions active inspire screens, Text changed to include er an est suffixes and planning template for the ‘Independent Application’ section.