National Writing Day Activities: Year 5 Writing Activities
Hippopotamus
Weighing up to a whopping four tonnes, hippos are the third-largest land-living mammal after elephants and white rhinos. Hippopotamuses love water and can spend up to 16 hours a day in it to keep them cool in the hot sun. However, at sunset, they leave the water to grab a bite to eat.
In this fascinating clip, we will see some hippos dining out in a place we might not expect – the garden of a home in a South African town!

Writing Idea
✍️From the perspective of a hippopotamus, write a review about your dining experience in St Lucia that will be posted on the World Wildlife Web for all hippos to see.
You could include the following:
- Describe your first impressions of your dining area
- Discuss the range of food on offer
- Describe how the food looked and tasted
- Rate your overall experience out of five stars
- State whether you would return to this restaurant and explain why or why not
Take it Further
✍️ Use this information from natgeokids.com to create a fact file on hippos. Make sure you take pride in your presentation, and draw images to accompany the key information you record.