The Truck Cat Characters: National Simultaneous Storytime Activity is an engaging and versatile resource designed to help students explore the personalities and relationships of the key characters in The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel. Through drawing and written description, students will reflect on Yacoub, Tinka and Mari—building comprehension and empathy while developing their ability to describe character traits, emotions and roles within a narrative.

This activity provides a creative and accessible way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the story. Using either a drawing-only or lined template, students can illustrate the three main characters and describe them using age-appropriate language. Whether focusing on simple adjectives or exploring more complex emotions and relationships, this task supports students in engaging with character development at their own level.

Templates are provided in a range of line widths (24mm, 18mm and 14mm) to suit different stages of writing development. The drawing-only version is ideal for younger students or those who benefit from expressing ideas visually. The lined version supports emerging writers in organising their thoughts and practising descriptive writing in a structured, purposeful way.

This flexible task can be used during or after a class reading of The Truck Cat, and pairs well with vocabulary-building, guided reading or visual literacy activities. Students will come away with a stronger understanding of how character is shown through words, actions and illustrations.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Identify and describe key characters in a narrative
• ✅ Explore personality traits, emotions and character roles
• ✅ Develop written and visual expression through scaffolded tasks
• ✅ Reflect on relationships between characters

What’s Included:

• Character worksheet templates with and without lines
• Templates in 24mm, 18mm and 14mm line widths
• Space for drawing and/or colouring character portraits
• Available in our basic fun font and all Australian state fonts

Materials Needed:

• Printed templates
• Pencils, crayons or markers
• Copy of The Truck Cat for reference

How to Use:

• Read or reread The Truck Cat to refresh character knowledge.
• Discuss character traits and feelings as a class using quotes and visuals from the book.
• Have students illustrate each character and write a short description based on their understanding.
• Support younger learners with sentence starters or vocabulary prompts.
• Enlarge templates to A3 size for additional space or a collaborative class display.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use during a character study as part of a narrative comprehension unit
• 💡 Display completed work alongside a word wall of emotions and character traits
• 💡 Extend by comparing and contrasting characters’ actions and relationships
• 💡 Use in conjunction with the other resources in our The Truck Cat: Book PACKAGE

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Provide scaffolds such as trait lists or character quotes to prompt deeper thinking
• 💛 Offer choice between drawing-only and writing templates to suit diverse learners
• 💛 Integrate into visual literacy or art sessions to bring the characters to life

The Truck Cat Characters: National Simultaneous Storytime Activity is a fun and flexible way for students to explore character development through visual and written expression—supporting comprehension and creativity in equal measure.