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Teaching The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh

A Bear of Very Little Brain gives us a ton of food for thought.

  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 114

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Beyond the cuteness—somehow you've got to look beyond the cuteness—The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh is a remarkably complex book that has as much to say to adults as it does to kids. Pooh has been cemented in our pop-culture minds thanks to the continuous cranking-out of stuffed animals with his likeness, but there's nothing quite like the original text for capturing elementary imaginations. Here at Shmoop, we're taking you back to the genius literary work that made our bear friend so famous in the first place.

It's not all honey pots and Tiggers; Winnie-the-Pooh offers a stalwart argument against systematic instruction at an early age. Does early structured education detract from learning social and emotional skills? Milne's classic and nostalgic view of what childhood used to be—what's beautiful about youth—gives us some excellent talking points.

In this guide, you'll find

  • an invitation to students to make observations about Pooh's poetic structure and then play with language on their own.
  • an exploration of friendship in the novel in order to imagine a new animal for the story.
  • an evaluation of the book's map and chance to create a classroom-centric version.

Like the book itself, Shmoop's guide is inherently engaging and full of entertainment. Surely your students will remember the lessons for the rest of their lives…unlike Pooh, who has trouble remembering what he ate for breakfast.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
  • A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Like the book itself, Shmoop's guide is inherently engaging and full of entertainment. Surely your students will remember the lessons for the rest of their lives…unlike Pooh, who has trouble remembering what he ate for breakfast.

Want more help teaching Teaching The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: It's impossible to read A. A. Milne's novels without picking up on the theme of enduring friendship. Each chapter practically begs the reader to take a selfie with Shepard's illustrations and insert a #BFFs! after every photo. And seeing as how there is no one who can get you into trouble quite like your best friend on an overdose of sugar, A. A. Milne also delves into the world of foolishness and folly. Check out these Shmoop articles here and here for more information.

Using friendship and foolishness as an outlet to display personalities, A. A. Milne has developed some deep, interesting, and may we say, quite entertaining characters. The goal of this activity is to help your students analyze characters and draw inferences from the text. By noting characteristics of the existing creatures in the 100 Acre Wood, they'll use their findings to develop a new animal for the novel.

Materials Needed: Copies of the text, paper, pencils, markers, or other coloring utensils

Step 1: Read through the following chapters with your students or divide your students to read the chapters in groups. Ask them to write down as many observations as they can about the way the characters are interacting with one another. Are they being kind to one another or condescending? Showing envy? Displaying trust? Are they taking selfies and instagramming everything?

  1. Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter 2: In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place
  2. Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter 9: In Which Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water
  3. The House at Pooh Corner, Chapter 1: In Which a House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore

Step 2: As a class, discuss the different observations your students made. You may want to write these observations on the board or ask them to take notes on anything their group doesn't already have so that they can refer to it later in the activity.

Step 3: Divide your students into groups of two or three and have them answer the following questions:

Animal Characteristics:

  1. Can you find a time when Pooh Bear acted like a real bear ?
  2. Can you find a time when Owl acted like a real owl?
  3. Can you find a time when Eeyore acted like a real donkey?

Friendship Characteristics:

  1. Was there a time when Pooh Bear proved he was a good friend?
  2. Was there a time when Christopher Robin proved he was a good friend?
  3. Was there a time when Piglet proved he was a good friend?

Childlike Characteristics:

  1. Was there a time when Pooh Bear acted like a young child would?
  2. Was there a time when Owl acted like a young child would?
  3. Was there a time when Eeyore or Piglet acted like a young child would?

Step 4: Now it's time for your students to make up their own new character. Their character should demonstrate the three traits from the questions above: animal-like qualities, childlike qualities, and of course, good friendship qualities. Using paper and coloring utensils, your students will choose and draw an animal for their character. Whether or not the animals are real is completely up to you. If you're fine with unicorns skipping through the 100 Acre Wood, well, then to that we say: dragons are so much better.

Step 5: Lastly, have your students answer the questions, verbally or in written form, from Step 3 again, applying them to their own newly created character. They can make up scenarios or place their characters in events that took place in the book.

Once they've chosen a real or made-up scenario, have them write out the scenes with their new character in a short story. This can be completed in groups or individually as homework.

Step 6: If you'd like to add a digital component, your students can create video interviews of their new characters. Once complete, having a viewing party to share one another's interviews and the new characters they made.

Instructions for Your Students

The characters in this book all live together in the 100 Acre Wood, but they are very different. Try to imagine someone like Tigger and someone like Eeyore becoming friends in real life—it doesn't seem possible.

Eeyore: I just don't think I'll find anything wonderful about myself today.
Tigger: WELL HERE'S THE WONDERFUL THING ABOUT TIGGERS!

It'd be a little odd. But the author, A. A. Milne, shows us that people of all types and backgrounds can live together peacefully and even become friends.

Through the different events in each chapter, Milne reveals bits and pieces about his characters and their personalities. Today you'll create your own character to add to the family in the 100 Acre Wood. Consider it Chapter Eleven, in which Awesome Students Bring a New Friend to the 100 Acre Wood and He/She Becomes the Most Beloved Character Ever, Sorry, Pooh.

Step 1: Read the following passages with your teacher and write down any and every observation you make about the characters, their actions, and their responses to the various scenarios.

  1. Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter 2: In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets into a Tight Place
  2. Winnie-the-Pooh, Chapter 9: In Which Piglet Is Entirely Surrounded by Water
  3. The House at Pooh Corner, Chapter 1: In Which a House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore

Step 2: Working in small groups, answer the following questions:

Animal Characteristics:

  1. Can you find a time when Pooh Bear acted like a real bear ?
  2. Can you find a time when Owl acted like a real owl?
  3. Can you find a time when Eeyore acted like a real donkey?

Friendship Characteristics:

  1. Was there a time when Pooh Bear proved he was a good friend?
  2. Was there a time when Christopher Robin proved he was a good friend?
  3. Was there a time when Piglet proved he was a good friend?

Childlike Characteristics:

  1. Was there a time when Pooh Bear acted like a young child would?
  2. Was there a time when Owl acted like a young child would?
  3. Was there a time when Eeyore or Piglet acted like a young child would?

Step 3: Next, it's time to create your own 100 Acre Wood character and make your animal come to life. In your groups, draw out a picture of your animal in detail. Be sure to include any accessories your animal is likely to come with, like how Pooh Bear is rarely seen without a honey pot.

Step 4: When you're finished, go back and re-answer the questions from Step 2 about your own character. You can make up situations for your character or place your animal in situations that A. A. Milne already wrote. Creativity and silliness are always welcome, just make sure you answer the questions, even if you run into Heffalumps and Woozles along the way.