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What Friends Do – Exploring Inclusion

The Book

Strictly No Elephants

Written by Lisa Mantchev, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo

This heartwarming book talks about friendship, inclusion, and embracing differences. The book follows a young boy and his tiny pet elephant as they excitedly approach a pet club meeting, only to be turned away by a sign that reads “Strictly No Elephants.” Undeterred, the boy and his elephant set out to create their own inclusive club, welcoming all kinds of pets and friends.

This uplifting story encourages children to practise personal and social skills to interact respectfully with others (AC9HPFP02 – Foundation Year, Health and Physical Education). Through the experiences of the main character and his elephant, young readers can identify characters who have been excluded, explore the reasons behind their exclusion, and discuss how others could have acted more inclusively. The book’s gentle message, paired with its expressive illustrations, reinforces the value of belonging and the power of creating welcoming spaces for everyone. Strictly No Elephants is an inspiring read that fosters empathy, emotional intelligence, and social awareness in young readers.

View Book

Resource creator

Kristina Wood

Subject

Health and Physical Education,

Level

Foundation,

Description

In this activity, children will explore inclusion and exclusion through a read-aloud of Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev. They will discuss the feelings of the characters, experience exclusion in a hands-on way, and work together to create a class poster about making everyone feel welcome.

Learning Intentions

• We are learning to recognise how it feels to be excluded and to think of ways to make sure everyone feels welcome in our classroom.

Successful Criteria

I can:
✅ Talk about how it feels to be included or left out.
✅ Think of ways to make everyone feel welcome.
✅ Help create a class poster with ideas about being a good friend.

Curriculum Alignment

AC9HPFP02 9.0 (Health and Physical Education Foundation): Practise personal and social skills to interact respectfully with others

• explaining their reasons and actions in response to challenging situations in shared play experiences
• identifying characters in texts who have been excluded from a group, exploring why they have been excluded and discussing how other characters could have been more inclusive
• cooperating, collaborating and negotiating with others when participating in physical activities to achieve agreed outcomes
• identifying behaviours that may be disrespectful and cause hurt or harm to others during play

Materials

  • Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev
  • Large piece of butcher’s paper
  • Coloured pencils, markers, wind-ups or small coloured cards (or an alternative way to randomly assign exclusion for the discussion)

Instruction

Read-Aloud & Discussion

  1. Read Strictly No Elephants aloud to the class.
  2. Pause at key points to discuss:
    • “How do you think the boy and his elephant felt when they weren’t allowed in the pet club?”
    • “What was the solution they found?”
    • “Have you ever felt left out? What happened?”

‘What Friends Do’ Poster Discussion

  1. As a group, discuss:
    • “What should we do in our classroom to make sure everyone feels welcome?”
    • Encourage children to share ideas with their partners.
    • Teachers can suggest ideas while children chat.
  2. Exclusion Twist:
    • Give out random colour cards (or pencils and wind-ups for colour distinction).
    • Only certain colours are allowed to share their ideas for the poster.
    • Pause and ask: “How does it feel if you weren’t chosen?”
    • Discuss how exclusion happens in real life and how it makes people feel.

Collaborative Poster Creation

  1. Use a large piece of butcher’s paper.
  2. One by one, invite each child to add a drawing that represents how to make everyone feel welcome.
  3. The teacher scribes key words next to each drawing.
  4. Children with similar ideas can add drawings next to each other.
  5. Once complete, discuss the poster and display it in the classroom as a reminder of how to be inclusive.

Extension

  • Revisit the Book’s Solution:

    • The teacher reminds children that, in the book, the boy and his elephant created their own playgroup where everyone was welcome.
    • Ask: “What can we learn from this?”

  • Plan a Class Play or Game:

    • Encourage children to come up with their own inclusive game or play.
    • Emphasise kindness and making sure everyone gets to join in.
    • Let the children decide the rules to make it fair for all.

  • Play the Game Together:

    • Try out their ideas and reflect on how it feels to be part of a game where everyone is included.

Related Activities

AC9HPFP02 (Health and Physical Education – Foundation)

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