Support your students’ comprehension and sequencing skills with our purposeful The Speedy Sloth: The Animals in the Story activity. Designed to accompany a whole class reading of The Speedy Sloth by Rebecca Young, these no-prep worksheets focus on the characters and animals featured throughout the text.

This resource allows students to engage closely with the story by identifying, drawing, and describing the different animals featured. By focusing on characters like the sloths, Peter the cheetah, and the racers who pass Spike, students will strengthen their ability to recall story details, describe characters, and track sequences of events. It’s a meaningful way to link comprehension with visual and written responses.

Multiple versions are included to cater for different ability levels and classroom needs. Whether students are simply drawing the animals or combining this with sentence writing, these tasks help consolidate understanding while allowing opportunities for creativity and personal expression. Perfect for Foundation and Early Years learners, the worksheets are suitable for literacy rotations, small group instruction, whole-class lessons, or independent work.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Identify key characters and animals from a shared text
• ✅ Sequence events by tracking characters’ appearances in the story
• ✅ Describe characters using visual and written responses
• ✅ Strengthen reading comprehension and recall skills
• ✅ Practise drawing and early sentence construction

What’s Included:

• Five differentiated worksheet options:
•     - Drawing the sloths in the story
•     - Drawing and describing the sloths in the story
•     - Drawing Peter the cheetah throughout the story
•     - Drawing and describing Peter the cheetah
•     - Drawing the animals that pass Spike in The Great Race

Materials Needed:

• Printed worksheets (choose versions based on class needs)
• Pencils, crayons, or markers for drawing and writing
• Optional: A3 paper for enlargement to provide more drawing space

How to Use:

1. Read The Speedy Sloth as a class, paying attention to the different animals that appear in the story.
2. Discuss Spike’s race, the animals she meets, and how their actions affect the story sequence.
3. Select the worksheet that best fits your students’ abilities and focus areas.
4. Students complete the task by drawing, and optionally describing, each animal.
5. Use completed work as part of a comprehension check or as a display for your reading area.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use after a class reading to support comprehension and recall
• 💡 Include in a guided reading session as a follow-up to text discussion
• 💡 Turn into a sequencing activity by asking students to number the animals in order
• 💡 Add to your Book Week display featuring The Speedy Sloth
• 💡 Use as a scribing activity for early writers - students describe, and you write their ideas

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Enlarge pages to A3 for students who benefit from more space to draw and write
• 💛 Encourage students to refer back to the book when completing their drawings for accuracy
• 💛 Display the finished pages as part of a visual character study wall
• 💛 Use photos or toys of animals for hands-on matching before the drawing activity

Check out more amazing resources related to The Speedy Sloth in our The Speedy Sloth Book PACKAGE.

Available in our basic fun font and all Australian state fonts.