A free toolkit for reading each Henry book with a group. No child accounts, no logins, nothing to install.
The packs are deliberately light: a group read, a prediction game, counting, movement and a make. Use what fits your session. Feedback from practitioners shapes what we build next; write to[email protected].
Henry and the Crayon Spaceship
Group reading plan (about 20 minutes)
- Warm up (2 min): Show the cover. "What is Henry drawing? What would you draw?"
- Read with the refrain (10 min): Every time the book asks which world is near, stop, let the children guess, then turn the page. Use the page cues below.
- Move (3 min): Buckle, beep, WHOOSH! Then "spin on your side like Uranus", then "wobble in the Neptune wind and go still".
- Count (3 min): Give Jupiter its moons with counters, bricks or children as moons.
- Calm down (2 min): Read the Milky Way page in a whisper and look at the picture in silence together.
Page cues and prediction pauses
| Pages | Scene | Together | Prediction pause |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | One more drawing | Point to the three crayon colours together: red, silver, blue. Ask: what would you draw? | |
| 4–5 | The crayon does something magical | Make a slow 'oooooh' together as the ship grows. Let your child turn the page when the magic is ready. | |
| 6 | Buckle, beep, WHOOSH! | Do the countdown together: three, two, one, WHOOSH! Bounce on the bed if it is allowed. | |
| 7 | Too hot for Cecil! | Fan your faces and say 'phew!'. Ask: is the Sun hot or cold? Should we go closer? | Page 8: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something small and grey is near!" |
| 9 | Little Mercury | Count three craters together. Then say 'hot!' in a big voice and 'brrr!' in a tiny one. | Page 10: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something cloudy is hiding near!" |
| 11 | Cloudy Venus | Squint through pretend clouds together. Ask: what might be hiding down there? | Page 12: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something blue and green is near!" |
| 13 | Home planet | Point to blue, green and white. Ask: what do you love about home? | Page 14: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something red is glowing near!" |
| 15 | Red, dusty Mars | Trace the volcano with a finger: up, over the top, and down. Say 'up' and 'down' as you go. | Page 16: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something ENORMOUS is coming near!" |
| 17 | Giant Jupiter | Count the moons you can see on the page. Then count them again in a different order. | Page 18: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something with rings is sparkling near!" |
| 19 | Saturn's glittering rings | Draw a ring in the air with your finger, round and round. Ask: what are the rings made of? | Page 20: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something's rolling sideways, near!" |
| 21 | Sideways Uranus | Lean sideways together. Then upright. Then sideways again. Which way is Cecil? | Page 22: "Come on, Cecil... look over here. Something cold and blue is near." |
| 23 | Windy Neptune | Wobble gently in your seat, then hold hands and go still. Ask: how did Henry help Cecil feel better? | Page 24: "Come on, Cecil, snuggle up here. One last world is drifting near." |
| 25 | Little icy Pluto | Find the heart. Say: 'Pluto is a dwarf planet, small and icy.' Pull up a pretend blanket and snuggle close. | |
| 26 | The quiet Milky Way | Read this page in a whisper. Then say nothing for a few seconds and just look at the picture together. | |
| 27–28 | Home before bed | Use a slow, quiet voice. Retell the journey together: where did we go first? And then? |
Printables
Draw your own crayon spaceship
A dotted rocket to finish, and a big empty sky for your own world.
Planet colour cards
Big cards for every world, with its colour word. Match them to the book.
scissors: grown-up jobEarth or Mars?
Draw a line from each picture to the planet it belongs to.
Jupiter moon counting cards
Count the moons on each card, then draw your own.
scissors: grown-up jobSaturn ring patterns
Colour the next part of each ring to carry on the pattern.
Colour the crayon spaceship
Henry's spaceship in clean outlines, waiting for red, silver and blue.
Henry and Cecil colouring page
Henry and Cecil, ready for your crayons.
Paper Explorer Passport
Colour in a stamp every time you finish an adventure, on screen or off.
scissors: grown-up jobScience notes for the adult
Facts follow NASA's current descriptions: eight planets, with Pluto classed as a dwarf planet. This section is kept separate from the story copy so science can be updated without touching the games.
- The Sun (star): The Sun is the star at the centre of our solar system. Its surface is about 5,500 degrees Celsius. Never look directly at the Sun.
- Mercury (planet): Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system and the closest to the Sun. A year on Mercury lasts just 88 Earth days.
- Venus (planet): Venus is the hottest planet, hotter even than Mercury, because its thick clouds trap heat. It also spins in the opposite direction to most planets.
- Earth (planet): Earth is the only place we know of with life. About seventy per cent of its surface is covered by water.
- Mars (planet): Mars looks red because of iron-rich dust. Olympus Mons is the tallest volcano in the solar system, about two and a half times the height of Mount Everest.
- Jupiter (planet): Jupiter is the largest planet. More than a thousand Earths could fit inside it. It has more than ninety known moons, and its Great Red Spot is a storm bigger than Earth.
- Saturn (planet): Saturn's rings are made mostly of ice, with some rock and dust. They stretch out a very long way but are mostly less than a kilometre thick.
- Uranus (planet): Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It rotates on its side, tilted by about ninety-eight degrees, so each of its seasons lasts around twenty-one Earth years.
- Neptune (planet): Neptune is the eighth and most distant planet. Its winds are the fastest in the solar system, reaching around two thousand kilometres an hour.
- Pluto (dwarf planet): Pluto is a dwarf planet, not one of the eight planets. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past it in 2015 and photographed a huge heart-shaped region.
- The Milky Way (galaxy): The Milky Way is our home galaxy, with hundreds of billions of stars. From a dark place you can see it as a soft band of light across the night sky.
Henry and the Magic Crayon: Under the Sea
Group reading plan (about 20 minutes)
- Warm up (2 min): Show the drawing page. "Cecil's ear has twitched. Something is humming. What could it be?"
- Read with the refrain (10 min): Every time Cecil peers through the glass, stop, let the children guess who is swimming past, then turn the page.
- Move (3 min): Glug, ping, DIVE! Then be a shoal that turns together, a slow turtle, a leaping dolphin, and an octopus wiggling eight arms.
- Count (3 min): Give the reef its fish with counters or paper fish. Count the octopus arms to eight.
- Calm down (2 min): Hum the whale song low and slow, then read the moonbeams page in a whisper.
Page cues and prediction pauses
| Pages | Scene | Together | Prediction pause |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | A head full of sea | Cup a hand to your ear like Cecil. Ask: can you hear a hum? Where could it be coming from? | |
| 4–5 | A watery glow | Make a slow 'oooooh' as the submarine grows, then hum together, very low, as the hatch opens. | |
| 6 | Glug, ping, dive! | Do the sounds together: GLUG for the engine, PING for the sonar, and a long 'dowwwwn' as you dive. | |
| 7 | The coral reef | Name three colours you can see on the reef. Then listen, very quietly. Is the hum here? | Page 8: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Something silver is swishing past!" |
| 9 | The shoal of fish | Point left, right, up and down together as you read. Then spin round once like Cecil. | Page 10: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Something slow is paddling past." |
| 11 | The sea turtle | Wave slowly with one hand like Cecil. Ask: is she fast or slow? Is she old or young? How can you tell? | Page 12: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Something's leaping and clicking past!" |
| 13 | The dolphins | Make dolphin clicks with your tongue and one big 'Awoo!' together. Ask: is a click the same as a hum? | Page 14: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Something curly is wriggling past!" |
| 15 | The octopus | Count her arms together up to eight. Scrunch your faces and 'try' to change colour. | Page 16: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Something big is gliding past." |
| 17 | The shark | Go very still together, like Cecil. Then wave a slow goodbye. Ask: why are Henry and Cecil safe? | Page 18: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Something's glowing as it drifts past." |
| 19 | The jellyfish | Read this page slowly. Rise up on tiptoes and sink down gently, like a jellyfish. | Page 20: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass... 'STOP!' says Cecil. 'Something's down there. Not past!'" |
| 21 | The shipwreck | Lift the lid with a slow 'creeeeak'. Ask: would you take the bone, or leave it for the fish? | Page 22: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. Nothing but black... and the hum, close at last." |
| 23 | The deep dark | Whisper this page. Close your eyes and listen together. Ask: how did Cecil help Henry in the dark? | Page 24: "Come on, Cecil, peer through the glass. The hum's all around us... Something huge drifts past." |
| 25 | The whale | Hum a long, low note together for the whale's song. Ask: who was humming all along? | |
| 26 | Moonbeams | Read this page in a whisper. Then say nothing for a few seconds and just look at the picture together. | |
| 27–28 | Home to bed | Use a slow, quiet voice. Retell the journey together: who did we meet first? And then? |
Printables
Draw your own crayon submarine
A dotted submarine to finish, and a big empty sea for the creatures you meet.
Sea creature cards
Big cards for everyone Henry meets, with one thing to notice about each.
scissors: grown-up jobCount the fish cards
Count the fish on each card, then draw your own shoal.
scissors: grown-up jobOctopus colour-change colouring page
Three octopuses to colour: pink, purple and blue, plus Henry and Cecil peeking through the glass.
Colour the crayon submarine
Henry's submarine in clean outlines, waiting for yellow, green and blue.
Henry and Cecil colouring page
Henry in his pyjamas with Cecil beside him, ready for your crayons.
Paper Sea Explorer Passport
Colour in a stamp every time you finish a sea adventure, on screen or off.
scissors: grown-up jobScience notes for the adult
Facts follow current marine science as described by aquariums, NOAA and the Natural History Museum. The story stays story; this section carries the checked version.
- The coral reef (place): Corals are animals, related to jellyfish. Reefs grow over thousands of years and are home to about a quarter of all ocean species.
- The shoal of fish (creature): Fish shoal for safety and to find food. A sense organ along their sides, the lateral line, feels the water move, which is how they turn together so quickly.
- The sea turtle (creature): Many sea turtles live for around 50 to 100 years. Females swim back to the beach where they hatched to lay their own eggs.
- The dolphins (creature): Dolphins are mammals: they breathe air through a blowhole. They find fish with echolocation clicks, and each bottlenose dolphin has its own signature whistle, a bit like a name.
- The octopus (creature): Octopuses change colour and even texture in a fraction of a second using skin cells called chromatophores. They have three hearts and blue blood.
- The shark (creature): Sharks have been around for more than 400 million years, longer than trees. They grow new teeth all their lives, and there are more than 500 kinds.
- The jellyfish (creature): Jellyfish are about 95 per cent water. Some make their own light, called bioluminescence, and they have drifted through the oceans for more than 500 million years.
- The shipwreck (wreck): Sunken ships act as artificial reefs. Coral, sponges and fish move in, which is why divers and scientists study wrecks as living habitats.
- The anglerfish (creature): Below about 1,000 metres no sunlight reaches. The anglerfish's glowing lure is lit by bacteria living inside it.
- The whale (creature): Blue whales can reach about 30 metres and 150 tonnes. Humpback whales sing long, structured songs that can carry for many kilometres underwater.
- Moonbeams (place): Sunlight and moonlight only reach the top 200 metres or so of the sea, called the sunlit zone. Bubbles rise because the air inside them is lighter than water.
Henry and the Magic Crayon: On Safari
Group reading plan (about 20 minutes)
- Warm up (2 min): Show the drawing page. "Henry cannot sleep. His head is full of manes and stripes. What animal would you most like to meet?"
- Read with the refrain (10 min): Every time Cecil looks through the grass, stop, let the children guess who is going to pass, then turn the page.
- Move (3 min): Buckle, beep, VROOM! Then trot like zebras, stretch like a giraffe, balance on one leg like a flamingo and stand to attention like a meerkat.
- Count (3 min): Give the mound its meerkats with counters or children as lookouts. Count the elephant family: biggest, middle, smallest.
- Calm down (2 min): Hum the elephant hum low and slow, then read the starry plain page in a whisper.
Page cues and prediction pauses
| Pages | Scene | Together | Prediction pause |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | A head full of manes | Point to the three crayon colours together: green, yellow, brown. Ask: what animal would you most like to meet? | |
| 4–5 | A sun-coloured glow | Make a slow 'oooooh' as the jeep grows, then a big 'CLICK' for the doors. Let your child say 'Let's go!' | |
| 6 | Vroom, beep, off we go! | Do the sounds together: VROOM for the engine, BEEP for the horn, then bounce in your seats as the jeep sets off. | |
| 7 | The great golden plain | Sway your arms like grass in the breeze. Take a big sniff of the air like Cecil. What can you smell? | Page 8: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 9 | The zebras | Trot on the spot together, then stamp out a beat. Ask: can you find two stripes that match? (You can't!) | Page 10: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 11 | The giraffe | Stretch up as tall as you can, then bend right down to say hello. Ask: what can the giraffe see from up there? | Page 12: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 13 | The monkeys | Make monkey chatter together, then one big 'Awoo!'. Swing your arms like branches. | Page 14: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 15 | The hippos | Do the biggest yawn you can. Count the hippo's teeth together. Ask: is Cecil really sleepy? | Page 16: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 17 | The lion | Do a gulp, then a brave grin, together. Ask: why are Henry and Cecil safe? Then give the lion a regal nod. | Page 18: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 19 | The flamingos | Stand on one leg together and count how long you can balance. Read this page slowly as the sun goes down. | Page 20: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 21 | The meerkats | Sit bolt upright and peer around like a meerkat. Count the meerkats together. Who is the lookout? | Page 22: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 23 | The storm and the fireflies | Make a grumbly thunder sound, hold hands when the jeep bumps, then whisper 'look, a light' and go quiet. Ask: how did Henry help Cecil feel better? | Page 24: "Come on, Cecil, look through the grass. Can you guess who's going to pass?" |
| 25 | The elephants | Hum a low elephant hum together. Ask: who is the biggest? Who is the smallest? Who is in your family? | |
| 26 | Stars over the plain | Read this page in a whisper. Then say nothing for a few seconds and just look at the picture together. Ask: do you remember the stars from Henry's first adventure? | |
| 27–28 | Home to bed | Use a slow, quiet voice. Retell the journey together: who did we meet first? And then? |
Printables
Draw your own crayon jeep
A dotted jeep to finish, and a big golden plain for the animals you meet.
Safari animal cards
Big cards for everyone Henry meets on the plain, with one thing to notice about each.
scissors: grown-up jobCount the meerkats cards
Count the lookouts on each card, then draw your own meerkat family.
scissors: grown-up jobZebra stripes colouring page
Two zebras for your own stripe patterns, plus Henry, Cecil and the jeep.
Paper Safari Explorer Passport
Colour in a stamp every time you finish a safari adventure, on screen or off.
scissors: grown-up jobScience notes for the adult
Facts follow current descriptions from the Natural History Museum, the WWF and National Geographic Kids. Story lines stay in the story; this section carries the checked version.
- The great plain (place): Savannahs are grasslands with scattered trees, such as the flat-topped acacia. Weaver birds really do weave hanging nests from grass, often dozens in one tree.
- The zebras (creature): Each zebra's stripe pattern is unique, like a fingerprint. Scientists think the stripes help to confuse biting flies, and 'dazzle' is a real collective noun.
- The giraffe (creature): Giraffes can be over five metres tall, yet they have the same number of neck bones as we do: seven, each one very long. Their dark tongues are about 45 centimetres long.
- The monkeys (creature): Savannah monkeys such as vervets live in noisy troops and use different alarm calls for different dangers. Unlike some South American monkeys, they cannot hang by their tails; they use them for balance.
- The hippos (creature): Hippos cannot really swim; they walk or bounce along the riverbed and can hold their breath for about five minutes. They come out at night to graze on grass. The wide 'yawn' is a display to warn others off.
- The lion (creature): Lions are the only big cats that live in family groups, called prides. A lion's roar can carry about eight kilometres. Only the males grow the mane.
- The flamingos (creature): Flamingo chicks are born grey; the pink comes from pigments in the algae and tiny shrimps they filter from the water. Standing on one leg helps them save energy and keep warm.
- The meerkats (creature): A meerkat family, called a mob, lives in underground burrows. While the others dig for food, one meerkat stands sentry and gives a special call if it spots danger.
- The fireflies (creature): Fireflies are beetles, not flies. Their light comes from a chemical reaction called bioluminescence, which gives off almost no heat, and each species blinks its own pattern. Thunder is the sound of lightning heating the air very fast.
- The elephants (creature): Elephant families are led by the oldest female, the matriarch. A trunk has around 40,000 muscles. Elephants make low rumbles, some too deep for us to hear, that carry for kilometres.
- Stars over the plain (place): Away from city light, the Milky Way appears as a soft band across the sky. The Southern Hemisphere savannah offers some of the darkest skies on Earth. The same Milky Way appears in Henry's first adventure.
- The meerkat mound (place): Meerkat burrows can have dozens of entrances. The mound of dug-out sand makes a good lookout post.
EYFS at a glance
| Area | Where it shows up |
|---|---|
| Communication and language | Listen to narration, follow short instructions, answer prediction prompts, learn planet words and use the grown-up conversation prompts. |
| Personal, social and emotional development | Cecil's caution at the Sun, Henry reassuring Cecil at Neptune, home and belonging, taking turns and a calm bedtime transition. |
| Physical development | Broad tracing, tapping, optional whole-body movement and the print activities. |
| Literacy | The repeated refrain, rhyme, story sequence, vocabulary, prediction, retelling and age-appropriate sound play. |
| Mathematics | Counting one to ten, comparing quantities, pattern, order, matching and spatial words. |
| Understanding the world | The Sun, Earth and how the planets differ, observation, hot and cold, clouds, landscape and our home planet. |
| Expressive arts and design | Drawing, colouring, musical repetition, imaginative role play and inventing new spaceships. |
| Area | Where it shows up |
|---|---|
| Communication and language | Follow the guessing refrain, name sea creatures, describe fast and slow, big and small, and use the grown-up conversation prompts. |
| Personal, social and emotional development | Cecil's gulp and brave grin at the shark, Henry reassuring Cecil in the deep dark, and the calm floating finish. |
| Physical development | Broad tracing, tapping, steering up and down, and whole-body play: wiggling like seaweed, leaping like dolphins, moving slowly like a turtle. |
| Literacy | The repeated refrain, rhyme, story sequence, prediction and retelling from dive to home. |
| Mathematics | Counting fish to ten, comparing more and fewer, eight octopus arms, biggest and smallest, left, right, up and down. |
| Understanding the world | Coral reefs, shoals, turtles, dolphins, an octopus that changes colour, sharks, jellyfish, the dark deep and whales. |
| Expressive arts and design | Drawing a submarine, colouring, sea songs, pretend diving and inventing new underwater vehicles. |
| Area | Where it shows up |
|---|---|
| Communication and language | Follow the guessing refrain, name savannah animals, describe tall and short, loud and quiet, and use the grown-up conversation prompts. |
| Personal, social and emotional development | Cecil's gulp and brave grin at the lion, Henry reassuring Cecil in the storm, the elephant family, and the calm starry finish. |
| Physical development | Broad tracing, tapping, hopping the jeep, and whole-body play: trotting like zebras, stretching like a giraffe, balancing like a flamingo, standing tall like a meerkat. |
| Literacy | The repeated refrain, rhyme, story sequence, prediction and retelling from drive to home. |
| Mathematics | Counting meerkats to ten, comparing more and fewer, high and low, patterns in stripes, biggest and smallest in the elephant family. |
| Understanding the world | Grasslands, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, lions, flamingos, meerkats, fireflies, thunderstorms, elephants and the night sky. |
| Expressive arts and design | Drawing a jeep, colouring stripes, safari songs, pretend driving and inventing new animals to meet. |
For settings outside England, the same activities map naturally to early-learning frameworks such as Head Start domains (approaches to learning, social-emotional development, language and literacy, cognition). We describe practice, never outcomes.