The Phantom Tollbooth is a unique and whimsical book. This is a classic twist on literature that you will not want to miss delving deeper into! Here are several ideas to extend your curriculum based on The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. The level for these activities is generally sixth grade, but you can easily modify these ideas for students in grades 3-8.

1. Host a banquet for Milo- Involve family or homeschool co-op friends in this endeavor. Encourage each participant to dress up as a character from the book (simple costumes will do), such as Humbug, Milo and King Azaz. Set up a large table for a banquet style feast. Fun banquet snacks include Alpha-Bit cereal snack mix, alphabet letter french fries, cookies baked in letter shapes or alphabet pasta salad.

2. Play games inspired by The Phantom Tollbooth- Scrabble, Boggle, Appleletters, Bananagrams, musical chairs and a fun spelling bee.

3. Have your child or children create a poster sized map for Milo's journey. Include places like Expectations, The Doldrums, Dictionopolis, Old City of Wisdom, Forest of Sight, Valley of Sound, Conclusions, Digitopolis, Sea of Knowledge, Castle in the Air and Mountains of Ignorance. Have your homeschoolers draw pictures to go along with the areas on the map as well. If desired, you can have a group of children work on an oversized map made from a 3-6 foot piece of butcher block paper.

4. Hold a debate where your children need to debate the importance of words or numbers. The children can act as King Azaz the Unabridged and The Mathemagician or as representatives of these characters.

5. Create a Literature Lapbook for this fantastic tale. Check out Homeschool Share for free templates and ideas: www.homeschoolshare.com/phantom_tollbooth.php

However you choose to extend your curriculum when reading The Phantom Tollbooth it is sure to be fun for both you and your children. This story makes for a great read-aloud for the entire family, and leads to plenty of discussion regarding figurative language.