Don’t Be Silly COUNTING and ART QUIZ.
 
1. How many pictures of mice can you find in the picture book “Don’t Be Silly?” Include the cover and ALL the pages. Include pictures of mice within the pictures which characters in the story might have made (hint, don’t forget to check pockets)
 
2.What differences can you spot between the double title page (pages 1 & 2, left side), and the last picture page in the book? List eight main differences, and compare notes if you are sharing this quiz.
 
3. The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer is a famous picture. What are the two biggest differences between the original painting, and the picture on the double title page that copies it?
 
4.There are nine pictures of sheep in the book “Don’t Be Silly”. (including the cover). Can you spot them all?
 
5. There are two bells shown in the book. Can you spot them both? And who rings them?
 
6. How many pictures of hats or head wear can you find in the picture book “Don’t Be Silly?” Include the cover and ALL the pages. Wigs, haloes or weird hair styles do not count. Do not count where hats could be hair (Hint: there are three crowns)
 
7. How many pictures of hens can you find in the picture book “Don’t Be Silly?” Include the cover and ALL the pages
 
8. There is one fish in the story. Can you spot it?
 
9. There are 10 types of animal in the story “Don’t Be Silly. Can you list them all? HINT: One can only be found in a painting, and three of them walk on two legs! And one of those three you might forget to include.

10, Where does the cat on pages 13 and 14 (where the children dress up) get the glasses from?
 
11. In the big gallery spread there is a secret hidden in one of the paintings. Can you do some detective work to find out what it is? HINT: it echoes something that happens later on in the book
Picture
The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer, ArtRejksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Answers! (see page by page breakdown in the table below if you cant work out where you missed a mouse  - or a fish!)

1)  53 mice!

2)  Eight differences:

a) The portraits are serious in the first and cheerful in the last image.
b) hatstand in first image
c) portrait of man in boater hat with moustache in last image
d) A child's drawing of family portrait in last image
e) View through the window very different!
f) the mouse artist has made a post-it note gallery on the wall in the last image
g) There is a shoe rack in the first image
h) There is a child's drawing on the wallpaper in the first image.

Did you spot anything else?

3)  In the book version of this famous painting, the milk is being spilt, and there is a cat in the picture. (Activity suggestion: Perhaps you could draw a version of a famous painting, but add some funny differences of your own).

4) 9 images of sheep!

5)  The Judge rings both bells - on page 6, and on page 20

6)  71 hats or headwear!

7)  11 images of hens!

8)  The fish is in the bucket that the horse is looking into, on page 19 (when they reach the town)

9)  10 types of animal: Mice, Cats, Dogs, Horses, Sheep, hens, other birds, a fish, a stag - and humans!

10)  The glasses can be seen earlier on the shoe rack...

11)  Shhh - its still a secret! If you think you know the answer, ask your grown-up to contact me on instagram @padmacandrameek, or twitter @vajratwit. If you are right, I will send you a free personalised bookmark! (Sorry - I can only do this for individuals - not large groups!)