I love books that teach kids about language and literature in fun and interesting ways. My focus in grad school was literacy, so I spent a lot of time learning about language and literary elements, and it can sometimes be a dry topic. So I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to check out this hilarious book about the element of surprise, and saw how easily it made the topic fun and engaging!

Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post. I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise was written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein. This hilarious story is the sequel to the Caldecott Honor Book Interrupting Chicken. When the little red chicken comes home from school, she asks her father to help her with her homework. She tells him that her teacher taught them that every story has an “elephant” of surprise in it.

Her homework assignment is to find it in 3 different stories. While her father tries to convince her that the teacher meant “element” of surprise, the little red chicken is determined to prove him wrong. As they read through some classic stories, the little chicken inserts an elephant into the middle of each one.

This story is laugh out loud funny, for both kids and their parents. It provides a wonderful jumping off point for teaching kids about the element of surprise in a fun and engaging way. The illustrations are rich and detailed, while also being a lot of fun, showing a cute elephant in the middle of well known stories.

Making Your Own Elephant

Elephant Surprise Craft – This easy elephant craft is a fun way to give kids a surprise of their own. Paint a paper plate blue and cut a small hole for the elephant’s mouth (about 1 inch). Have kids cut two elephant ear shapes out of blue paper and glue them to the sides of the plate. When the glue has dried, insert a party blower through the hole, so the part that unrolls is in the front. Have kids hold the masks in front of their faces and blow out, unrolling the party blower to become the trunk. I used tape on the back of the plate to keep the party blower in place.

I glued white paper eyes to the front of our masks, but in the future, I would actually cut holes for the eyes instead. My daughter really wanted to see the trunk unrolling when she blew into it. She loved that the horn made noise, and asked me to reread the story over and over so she could make the horn noise and shout “Surprise!” at the appropriate times in the story. It made reading the book even more fun!

Having Elephant Sized Fun

Elephant Trunk Game – The adorable elephant in this story provides a perfect opportunity for playing this fun game. First, cut several small peanut shapes out of brown construction paper and scatter them around a tabletop. Next, give each child a straw to use as their trunk. Have kids suck air through the straw “trunks” to pick up the peanuts and place them into a bowl on the table. You could make this more difficult by having them carry the peanuts from one tabletop to another, or make it a race to see who can pick up more peanuts first.

Peanut Fine Motor Game – This game is a fun way to work on fine motor skills. Provide kids with a set of tongs or chopsticks and lay paper peanut shapes, or real peanuts in the shell around a table. Have kids practice picking up the peanuts and placing them into a bowl.

Related Post: 14 Children’s Books about Punctuation and Grammar: Having Fun with Learning Language

Finding the Elephant/Element of Surprise

Elephant Stories – Encourage kids to get creative while rethinking their favorite stories. Retell your favorite stories out loud, adding an elephant into the middle of it, just like the little chicken! This would be a great game to play in the car, either taking turns telling your own stories, or inserting the elephant into each other’s stories at the right moment.

Element of Surprise – This book is a great way to introduce kids to the element of surprise in literature. Use Papa Chicken’s definition in the story to help kids understand what they are looking for, and encourage them to look for it in their own stories. Which part of the story makes them say “Whoa”? How does that change the rest of the story?

Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise is a great way to have some fun with elephant games and activities. What are your favorite elephant games or crafts? Share in the comments below!

More Posts You May Enjoy: