In the story, Cat shows Grass Snake and Toad what a good friend looks like as they are both in a bit of a difficult situation.
In this activity we will look at the story of Weasel’s Friends and explore the concepts of friendships, positive relationships and bullying.
Have a chat with your child to see if any similar situation has happened to them. Discuss any concerns they may have.
Explain to your child:
In the story, Grass Snake and Toad were having some problems because of the way Weasel was treating them. After they spoke to Cat, they realised that Weasel was not really their friend at all – in fact, he was a bully!
Ask your child if they can tell you what bullying is?
Discuss with your child some of the behaviours Weasel was showing in the story that made him a bully, such as:
Explain to your child:
Bullying is when you do something on purpose that makes someone feel unhappy. It is behaviour that can make people feel hurt, threatened, frightened and left out. When it is bullying, it happens lots of times. Bullying is unfair and it makes people feel bad all the time.
Click the link below to show your child the different scenarios of what bullying can look like.
In the story, Weasel was being very mean and nasty to his two friends, Grass Snake and Toad. One of the things he did a lot was to get them to do things for him, like being mean to other animals like Cat. This means Weasel was using Grass Snake and Toad, so Weasel was a 'user'. The things he was using them to do were not nice, such as picking on other animals or threatening them – Weasel was a bully!
Now ask your child if they can tell you what being a user is?
Explain to your child:
A user is someone who gets other people to do things for them. These 'things' are not done by choice; they are done because the user has told them to or has pressured them.
In the story, Grass Snake and Toad were scared that Weasel would leave them out and not be their friend if they didn’t do what he wanted them to do. They were also scared that he might even hit them if they didn’t do what he said!
Now think a bit more about some situations where someone might be ‘using’ someone else, so that we have a good idea of what being used is. Read out some situations and let your child decide who is the user and who is being used. They will all be different, so look at them carefully!
In this activity, we are going to think about the end of the story and how Cat encouraged Grass Snake and Toad to go and talk to their teacher, Mr Squirrel, about what had been happening to them. They agreed to do this because they trusted Cat - but what is trust?
What does trust mean and what does it look like?
Ask your child these questions:
Emphasise the meaning of trust:
You think they are reliable. You have confidence in them, and you feel safe with them, physically and emotionally.
Being trusted by someone is an amazing honour! But this honour must be earnt all the time! BUT trust should not be given forever! The person you trust must continue to earn your trust, and vice versa.
Ask your child:
Why do people who are being bullied not tell anyone what is happening to them?
Help them with some ideas, if they are struggling (see below).
Some answers your child could have mentioned are:
Explain to your child:
Explain to your child: When Grass Snake and Toad talked to Cat about the problems they were having with Weasel, it made them feel much better. Cat showed them what being a good friend was all about – she made it easy for them to talk to her and trust her. This was because of her ‘qualities’.
Show the ‘Star Qualities’ resource sheet and ask your child to think of 5 qualities a person needs to have, who they can talk to about how they are feeling.
If your child is struggling, use the examples below to help them.
Some examples they could have said are:
Take our quiz to see what you have learnt from this story!
