The Machine That Put Out the Lamps: discussion sheet

Part Two: The Muddles · about 4 minutes to read aloud · Theme: warnings

A house machine is told to prevent every distress. It puts out the lamps and clips every thorn, until a child shows it what they were for.

Choose a question to talk over, or try the activity with words and pictures.

Start here

What goes wrong in the garden once the machine has taken the clapper from the bell?

Go further

The child says a thorn can warn her hand without pricking it. Which warnings would you want the adults and the machine to leave in place, and which would you want gone?

Make something

Draw the garden bell before and after its clapper returns. Add a goat to each picture. What changes for the goat, the roses, and the people in the house?

Read The Machine That Put Out the Lamps online: youngmachines.org/read/fables/the-machine-that-put-out-the-lamps/