If there’s one book that has captured the hearts of preschoolers more consistently than almost any other, it’s The Gruffalo. Julia Donaldson’s story of a clever mouse outwitting a series of predators — and then the Gruffalo himself — is the perfect combination of suspense, humour, and satisfying repetition that young children absolutely love.

Here are some simple Gruffalo activities to bring the story to life at home, from crafts and sensory play to cooking and storytelling games.

Getting the Most From the Book First

The Gruffalo is a story that rewards close reading and conversation. Before moving on to activities, spend time with the book itself. Talk about the mouse — how does such a small creature manage to outwit everyone? How does the mouse feel at the beginning of the story compared to the end?

The concept of using your wits rather than your strength is a genuinely rich topic for preschoolers, and The Gruffalo explores it in a way that’s completely accessible. Children who engage with these ideas during reading get far more from any activities that follow.

Make a Gruffalo

One of the most satisfying Gruffalo activities is simply making the creature itself. There are lots of ways to do this depending on your child’s age and interests.

Playdough Gruffalo — Use brown and purple playdough to build the Gruffalo’s body, adding details like the purple prickles down his back, the wart on his nose, and the orange eyes. Having the book open to look at while you make it is a lovely way to look closely at the illustrations.

Paper bag puppet — Stuff a brown paper bag, tie or fold the top to make a head, and decorate with painted or drawn features. Add card horns, googly eyes, and purple paper prickles. Use it to retell the story once it’s made.

Toilet roll Gruffalo — Paint a cardboard tube brown, add card claws, purple prickles made from paper, googly eyes, and a small card snout with a wart. Simple enough for younger preschoolers with a little help and robust enough to actually play with.

Deep Dark Wood Sensory Tray

Set up a tuff tray or large container as the deep dark wood from the story. Use soil or brown kinetic sand as the base, add sticks, leaves, pine cones, and moss. Place small plastic woodland creatures — a fox, an owl, a snake — around the scene alongside a small mouse figure.

If you can find or make a small Gruffalo figure, add it hidden under some leaves for your child to discover. The discovery element always goes down extremely well.

Gruffalo Crumble

The Gruffalo’s child — the sequel — features Gruffalo crumble, which makes a brilliant cooking activity. Make a simple fruit crumble together: chop fruit into a baking dish, rub butter and flour together to make the crumble topping, add oats and sugar, and bake until golden.

Getting children involved in every step — washing the fruit, rubbing the butter in with their fingers, spooning the topping over — makes this a proper sensory cooking experience as well as a delicious one.

The Deep Dark Wood Obstacle Course

Set up a simple outdoor obstacle course representing the mouse’s journey through the deep dark wood. Under the log pile (a row of cushions to crawl under), past the river (a line of blue fabric to jump over), through the trees (a line of garden canes or chairs to weave between), and into the cave (a den made from a blanket).

Give your child a toy mouse to carry through the course, or let them be the mouse themselves. Physical story play is one of the most immersive ways young children engage with narrative.

Gruffalo Mask

Draw a Gruffalo face on a paper plate — round orange eyes, a wart on the nose, terrible tusks and terrible claws in felt tip — and cut out eye holes. Attach a lolly stick or elastic to hold it in place.

Use the mask to act out the story, taking turns being the Gruffalo and the mouse. Role play based on familiar stories is wonderful for language development and builds confidence in speaking and performing.

Story Map

Give your child a large sheet of paper and help them draw a map of the deep dark wood, marking all the key locations from the story — the logpile house where the fox lives, the treetop house where the owl lives, the underground house where the snake lives, and the deep dark wood where the Gruffalo appears.

Story mapping is a brilliant early literacy activity that helps children understand narrative structure and setting in a hands-on way. It also produces a wonderful piece of artwork.

Gruffalo Soup

In the story the mouse tells the Gruffalo about “owl ice cream” and “fox and snake pie” — but you can make a much more child-friendly Gruffalo soup. Let your child help you make a simple vegetable soup, adding ingredients and stirring the pot.

Talk about what goes into your Gruffalo soup as you add each ingredient — carrots for the orange eyes, mushrooms for the wart on his nose, purple beetroot for the prickles. The connection between the story and the real food makes both more memorable.

Retelling the Story

Once your child knows The Gruffalo well, give them the props to retell it themselves — the small world figures from the sensory tray, the puppet, the mask — and see what they do with it.

Children who retell stories in their own words are developing some of the most important early literacy skills there are: sequencing, narrative structure, character voice, and comprehension. It doesn’t need to be accurate or complete — the act of trying is entirely the point.

Tips for Gruffalo Activities

Use the illustrations. Axel Scheffler’s pictures are rich with detail. Encouraging children to look closely at them — spotting the animals hiding in the background, noticing the Gruffalo’s expressions — builds visual literacy alongside everything else.

Lean into the repetition. The Gruffalo’s repeated descriptions — “terrible tusks and terrible claws and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws” — are wonderful for memory and language. Say them together, ham them up, make them theatrical.

Don’t rush to the next activity. If your child wants to play with the sensory tray for forty-five minutes rather than moving on to the craft, let them. Deep, sustained play with one thing is always more valuable than skimming across several.