Icing on the Cake Book Companion: ‘Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy’

Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy – Book Companion

Bring the classic children’s story Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy to life with this engaging and comprehensive language and literacy resource pack, designed by Speech Pathologists. Perfect for educators, speech pathologists, and parents, this pack builds oral language, comprehension, and phonological awareness skills through a wide range of interactive and evidence-based activities.

This beautifully structured companion includes:

• • Graded Blank’s Questions (Levels 1–4) that develop inferencing, prediction, and problem-solving skills.
  • Vocabulary Activities to deepen word knowledge and boost expressive language.
  • Phonological Awareness Tasks, including rhyme, alliteration, syllables, blending, and segmentation.
  • Assessment Tools to track student progress in language comprehension and phonemic awareness.
  • Extension Activities like retelling with sequencing, small world play suggestions, and sentence construction using conjunction bricks.
  • Instruction Manual and Instructional Video.

With minimal prep required, this resource is ideal for classroom use, therapy settings, or at home. Whether you’re supporting emerging readers or working on speech goals, this pack turns storytelling into a powerful learning experience.

Aligned with evidence-based practices and designed for flexibility, this is your go-to tool for enriching children’s language and literacy through play and story.

You can purchase Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy by Lynley Dodd HERE

This is a great introduction to the wonderful world of Hairy Maclary and his dog friends, by New Zealand author and illustrator, Lynley Dodd. The language level is low due to the helpful use of repetition, with a beautiful use of play with sounds and rhymes. A great read for all, especially dog lovers.

Language level: lower
Plot complexity: lower

How We Have Rated These Books, to help you choose which ones are right for you:

Language Levels:
Lower: Tier 1 vocabulary (high frequency words); a lower language load (not a lot of text); and possibly a high use of repetition. These books would be particularly appealing to younger ages and those at lower developmental stages.
Moderate: Some use of Tier 2 words (less frequently used words, which may be more specific); and some pages may have many lines, increasing the language load.
Higher: many Tier 2 words and a consistently high number of lines per page. The illustrations and patterns in the language used will make these books appealing to all ages and stages, but these books offer a greater linguistic challenge.

Plot Complexity:
Lower: Either a simple theme or story line is used, with few characters. There may be a high use of repetition.
Moderate: A clear narrative structure is used, which is easy to follow. There may be more characters and there may be some dialogue.
Higher: A more complex plot is used, with problems and solutions, twists and turns. Regardless of the language load, these books offer more to remember, predict, and excite.