Tidy by Emily Gravett is a super book.
Badger wants to tidy everything! He snips off flowers that don’t quite match, he picks up sticks, he gets rid of all the fallen leaves. And MUCH more…
Read it to children and ask them what it makes them think or wonder, or what they think is interesting or important in it.
From their thoughts, some big ideas and philosophical questions are likely to emerge.
Big ideas
perfection, nature, change, responsibility, beauty, neatness, messiness, consequences
Philosophical questions
Being extremely tidy – good idea / bad idea?
Should we tidy up everything?
Is it possible to be too tidy?
Does making something look better always make it better?
Can someone do the wrong thing for the right reason?
Should we leave nature alone?
Would you rather play somewhere that is extremely tidy or extremely messy?
Who decides what is beautiful?
