The Missing Piece (Bloomsbury Children's Books), tells the story of Sunny, who’s attempting to complete a one thousand piece puzzle gifted to her by her Gran. This story is a great way to teach little ones about the importance of friendship, identity and wellbeing .
Listen to author Jordan Stephens and illustrator Beth Suzanna tell the story
This event formed part of our #Take10ToRead campaign.
Exploring your home!
Everybody has a different identity, and every family is unique and special. In The Missing Piece, all of Sunny’s friends’ homes look and feel different to their own.
This video will help you explore what makes your home unique – and what makes others homes unique too. Watch Jess think about her own house, and then her Mum’s house in the video below.
Now you’ve watched, it’s your turn! You will need: paper and crayons.
Have a think about what kind of feelings are in your home. What makes it special? What colours remind you of your home? What does it smell like? Draw it, using the colours and the special things in it that remind you of being home.
Now have a think about a friend or family member’s house – what does their home feel like? Are there any colours? What do you find interesting about it? Draw it and compare how your homes are similar and how they are different.
Make a magic friendship mixture
This mixture will remind us of what it means to be a friend.
In the story, Sunny makes lots of friendships during her search for the missing jigsaw piece. She ends up having lots of fun with them playing, searching for the jigsaw piece, and learning about differences.
In this video Jess will think about adding the different ingredients a friendship needs to a spell pot – if we do all of these things, we make a magical friendship. After you’ve watched, it’s your turn to make your own mixture!
You will need: a bowl and some ‘ingredients’ (these could be anything from scarves and feathers to sticks and glitter! It can be as messy as you want it to be).
