Grades: intermediate
Before your visit:
Introduce the popular children’s books that A.A. Milne has written:
When We Were Very Young (1924), Pooh Goes Visiting (1926), Pooh and Piglet Nearly Catch a Woozle (1926),
Eeyore Has a Birthday (1926), The House at Pooh Corner (1928), Favourite Stories (1928), The Christopher Robin
Story Book (1929), A House is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore (1946), Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest
(1946), The World of Christopher Robin (1958), Winnie the Pooh’s Birthday Book (1963), The Pooh Story Book
(1965), Winnie the Pooh’s ABC (1990), Eeyore Loses a Tail (1991), Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting (1992), Roo’s Big
Adventure (1994) and Tigger Has Breakfast (1996).

Make a tally chart to determine which of these books the children have read. Convert
the data into a bar graph. Have the students make a graph showing which of these
books is their favorite.
Share these interesting facts about A. A. Milne:
1. A.A. Milne was born Alan Alexander Milne on January 18, 1882.
2. His father, John Vine Milne, was a schoolmaster where Alan first received an
education.
3. He graduated in 1903 from the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College with a
degree in mathematics.
4. He initially wrote essays and humorous poems which were published for years in
Punch magazine.
5. A.A. Milne served in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment of the British Army in World
War I.
6. Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne, was born in 1920 and many of the characters
in the Winnie the Pooh books are based upon his son and his son’s toys or stuffed
animals.
7. Most of the Winnie the Pooh characters are based upon the stuffed animal toys of A.
A. Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne, including: Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, and
Tigger.
8. In the 1920s, Milne was successful at writing plays and stage adaptations of books,
including The Toad of Toad Hall which was based on the book, The Wind in the
Willows.
9. In 1924, Milne started writing children’s poetry and When We Were Very Young was
published.
10. Several short stories were published in 1925. Many of these stories were included in
the Winnie the Pooh books.
The FairKids Field Trips are a program of The Learning Centers at Fairplex, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization.
Grades: intermediate
11. The setting of the Winnie the Pooh stories, the Hundred Acre Wood, is based
upon Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest where A. A. Milne lived.
12. A.A. Milne wanted to be a successful adult book writer and did write several
adult books and mystery books, but he is known mostly as the writer of the Winnie
the Pooh children’s books.
13. A.A. Milne retired in 1952 after suffering a stroke and brain injury that made him an
invalid. He died on January 31, 1956 at the age of 74.
14. Several movies have been made based upon the books of A. A. Milne, including:
Winnie the Pooh, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Tigger Movie,
Winnie the Pooh Seasons of Giving, Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, Pooh’s Heffalump
Halloween Movie, and Pooh’s Grand Adventure.

If possible, read and discuss one or more of the above children’s books that he wrote.

Go to You-Tube and listen to a chapter of one of the Winnie the Pooh books or short
movies.
Visit the website www.just-pooh.com/milne.html to learn more
about him, his characters, and play games.
The FairKids Field Trips are a program of The Learning Centers at Fairplex, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization.
Grades: intermediate
During your visit:

Look at the A. A. Milne/Winnie the Pooh display in the Adventures in Literature exhibit.
How many of the books that you learned about in class are displayed there? Do you
recognize artwork or drawings of the many characters in A. A. Milne books? Are any of
the student entries from Southern California about A. A. Milne’s books?

Why do you think there is such an amazing following for the Winnie the Pooh books
even after 90 years?

Walk around the display. How many books in the display have you actually read? Do
you recognize any of the items from stories that you have read or from the movies
made from of some of these wonderful works of literature?
After your visit:

Read more of the books by A. A. Milne and discuss his ability to develop his characters.

Discuss how the illustrator, E. H. Shepard, helped to make the Winnie the Pooh books a
huge success.

Write a research report about A. A. Milne or E. H. Shepard.

Make a cereal box display of the important events in one of Winnie the Pooh books.

Make a collage of the Winnie the Pooh books or of the characters.

Make an infomercial trying to sell one of A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books.

Choose 2 or 3 characters similar to the Winnie the Pooh characters and write a 5 minute
skit with dialogue that develops the characters and the setting. (Make sure that the
characters are different so you are not infringing upon copyright or trademark laws.)
Videotape the skits and show them at an assembly or at your school’s Open House.
The FairKids Field Trips are a program of The Learning Centers at Fairplex, a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization.