Talk about

Explore local folklore by asking grannies, grandads, aunts, uncles and adults in school etc. to share any stories that they know about fairies and engage in story telling with each other back in class. (You may wish to invite someone in to school to tell their favourite fairy story.)
Compare city and country stories about fairies; and stories from different parts of N. Ireland. Contact other schools with which you are linked in N. Ireland or Europe, do they know any interesting stories about fairies too?
Record the best stories on to cassettes for your class listening corner so that you can enjoy them again and again! You could engage other classes in school too in the search for the most exciting fairy story! Post them on your school website so that other readers can share them too.
Do you believe in fairies? Engage in a class discussion/debate about fairies. Try to persuade others of your point of view by giving arguments for and against the existence of fairies. Invite another class from your school or another school to take part in the debate.

What do you think the fairies do on fairy hill? What do you think they do with all the teeth that they collect? Are there different types of fairies? Do they have different roles and responsibilities? What do you think these roles might be?
Do they all have different names? The fairy in this story was called Iris. Think of another name for a fairy and pass it round your group or class using ‘chinese whispers’ i.e. whispering very softly so that they can just about hear what you are saying, gather together all the different fairy names. Which are the most original fairy names and why?

In the story, none of the animals wanted to listen to Ant. Generate a range of options that you would use to:

get attention when it’s important
engage others in active listening i.e. to hold their attention
persuade others of your point of view or your idea
know who is the most appropriate person to listen to you, in different circumstances