John Fardell learning resourceCreative activities inspired by Manfred the Baddie, The Day Louis Got Eaten, The Secret of the Black Moon Moth and The 7 Professors of the Far North

CfE Level 1 and 2 (Age 6-11)

Resource created by Scottish Book Trust, Alison McAllister, Mel West and Ruth MacDonald

About this resource

This resource is full of cross-curricular activity suggestions to help you find out more about John Fardell and explore some of his books. Adapt and use these activities as you see fit! Whether you own a class set of the books or just one copy, we hope there’s something in here which inspires you to set up some fun, creative learning.

About John Fardell

John Fardell is an award winning writer and illustrator whose picture books and novels have delighted children since the publication of The 7 Professors of the Far North in 2004. As well as his fast-paced adventure novels, John writes and illustrates picture books, and both Manfred the Baddie and The Day Louis Got Eaten were voted the nation’s favourite picture book by Scottish children in 2009 and 2012. John specialises in richly detailed illustrations combined with charming, deadpan humour. You can find out more about him at his Scottish Book Trust author profile: http://bit.ly/John-Fardell-About

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Activities for Manfred the BaddieCreate your own hideout ENG 1-31a, TCH 1-12a, EXA 1-03a

Manfred has a hideout on a rocky pillar up in the mountains. Use the worksheet below to get pupils thinking about hideouts and what their own hideout might be like! You can extend the activity by asking them to make a model of their own hideout using recycled materials.

Manfred has a hideout on a rocky pillar up in the mountains. Why do you think he’s chosen this place to hide in? ____________________ _____________________________________________________________

If you could make a hideout, where would it be? ______________________ _____________________________________________________________

What would it be made from? _____________________________________________________________

Can you draw a picture of it in the box below?

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Come up with your own invention EXA 1-03a, LIT 1-28a

Most inventions start out being the answer to a problem. No one knows who first thought of the early inventions like the wheel, clothes or making fire. They were probably discovered by accident!

Can your pupils think of an invention which would solve a problem, perhaps something that would make an everyday house or garden task easier to do? Ask them to make a few sketches of different ideas, and then choose a favourite and write a short paragraph about it.

When your pupils have drawn and written about their favourite, challenge them to present it to the class, giving step by step instructions for its use and explaining all its benefits.

Comfort food LIT 1-31a, HWB 1-15a

Manfred wants a bowl of warm soup when he isn’t feeling well. What do your pupils eat and drink when they’re not feeling well? What words would they use to describe the taste of these foods and drinks? Ask pupils to write a short poem describing the way these things taste and how they make them feel.

Favourite stories LIT 1-11a, EXA 1-12a

When Manfred isn’t well, he wants someone to come and read him a story. What kind of stories would your pupils like to hear if they were unwell? Would they want to hear a story about ghosts and monsters, or maybe something a bit gentler?

When someone reads us a good story, it can help us to forget about problems for a little while. Can your pupils find a good story and act it out as a play to help Manfred forget about his cold for a while?

Activities for The Day Louis Got EatenMake your own frog MNU 1-11a, TCH 1-12a

Louis’ sister uses a ‘hiccup frog’ to get Louis out of the various monsters’ stomachs. Your pupils can make their own frogs and use them for various activities.

Follow these instructions to make an origami jumping frog: http://bit.ly/Origami-Frog. The instructions are excellent, but bear in mind the video has a slightly rude word at 4:17, so it

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may not be suitable for pupils, but it will show you clearly how to construct the frog! The instructions can be downloaded as a PDF at this website: http://bit.ly/Tavin-FrogHowTo

Origami can be quite complex, but this could be a good opportunity to get older pupils to come in and support younger ones.

Once the frogs are created, pupils can have a competition to see whose can ‘jump’ the furthest. This is a good chance to practice measuring skills, and pupils can create a chart afterwards to see which frog jumped furthest. Pupils can also find out how their frogs compare to real life frogs – the American bullfrog is 20cm long and can jump 10 times its own body length, for instance, so you can ask pupils to measure this out and see how theirs match up.

Pupils can find out more about frog behaviour here: http://bit.ly/DK-Find-Out-Frogs

Food chains SCN 1-02a

In the book, one thing is eaten by a bigger thing until we reach the top of the food chain with the biggest monster! This can lead nicely to some work around food chains.

Here are some resources to help you introduce food chains:

This short BBC video talks generally about how food chains work: http://bit.ly/FoodChainsBBC

This short presentation and game from the RSPB gives a slightly more in depth explanation: http://bit.ly/FoodChainChallenge

This card sort activity from TES is also useful – you’ll need to create a free login for the site to access the resource: http://bit.ly/FoodChainsTES. You could choose to cut off the text on the cards and ask pupils to get in groups, take a card each and stand in the correct order.

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Activities for The Secret of the Black Moon MothPlot the journey SOC 2-14a, Lit 2-14a

The expedition to Wilfred’s Island, Pulau Nigi Gaga, takes the children almost halfway around the world. Why not ask pupils to plot their journey on a large world map? You can follow the journey in chapter 8 of the book on page 66. Ask pupils to find out as much as they can about each of the countries that the children fly over. Pupils can work on maps individually, or you could assign groups to find out about different countries.

You can get a printable map of the world from these websites:

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-maps/world-map-printable.html

http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/world.html

After pupils have created their plotted journeys, they can share them with other classes or parents, telling them what they’ve found out about each country.

After this, there are lots of options. You could do imaginative writing, asking pupils to create characters and take them on a journey to a different part of the world. Alternatively, you could investigate one of the countries in more depth as a class, studying its language, culture and geography.

You can use the next task as a good proxy for the learning in this one, as it draws on research skills.

Native wildlife Lit 2-14a

When the children first arrive on the island they are amazed at the variety of wildlife –monkeys, birds, flying lizards, flying snakes and even flying frogs! When they have to sleep out overnight in the rainforest Sam sees a moon moth and they all enjoy listening to the baboons “singing” in the morning.

Ask pupils to find out about the type of animals and insects that live in the region around Indonesia. They’ll find that moon moths have beautiful markings on their wings that look like a sort of map!

One of the most unusual animals that lives only in Indonesia is a reptile called a komodo dragon. Pupils can find out more about komodo dragons from these websites:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/komodo-dragon.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/reptiles/lizard/Komodoprintout.shtml

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Komodo_dragon

http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/komodo.htm

A lot of rainforest wildlife in Indonesia is endangered: http://bit.ly/Indonesia-Forest. You can encourage pupils to find out more about deforestation, how it impacts wildlife and the environment, and what they can do to help. This infographic from Friends of the Earth should provide a good starting point: http://bit.ly/FOE-Rainforest. Why not encourage pupils to produce persuasive posters in support of rainforest charities, or dramatic sketches to tell people about deforestation and how it is being challenged?

These packs from the Rainforest Foundation may also be useful: http://bit.ly/Rainforest-Found-Schools

Activities for The 7 Professors of the Far NorthGlobal warming and the Arctic SOC 2-08a

The Arctic region where the children travel to is where we can see the most obvious effects of climate change.

To introduce pupils to what climate change is and what causes it, you can use the first three units of this activity pack from Sunny Schools: http://bit.ly/Global-Warming-Unit.

Here are some good resources to help pupils understand the impact of global warming on the Arctic region:

This time lapse video shows how sea ice in the region has declined in recent years: http://bit.ly/Arctic-Ice-Melt. You can also find this video on YouTube: http://bit.ly/Ice-Melt-Time-Lapse

This PowerPoint on the TES website has a good basic introduction to climate change, and there is a slide on the Polar regions and how climate change affects them. You’ll need to create a free login to download it: http://bit.ly/TES-Climate-Change

More confident pupils may find the WWF’s Arctic section helpful: http://bit.ly/Arctic-WWF

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Looking after our oceans SOC 2-08a

Scientists have recently discovered increased amounts of plastic pollution in the Arctic Ocean. The following resources can help your pupils see the impact of plastic pollution:

Blue Planet 2 clip about the impact of chemicals released by degrading plastics in the ocean (may be a little challenging for more sensitive pupils): http://bit.ly/Blue-Planet-2-Plastic

This Guardian video shows how drinks companies have been responsible for plastic pollution: http://bit.ly/Guardian-Plastic

After finding out about plastic pollution, pupils could:

Start a petition like 7 year old Meredith Moss, who petitioned McDonalds to start using paper straws instead of plastic ones. Pupils don’t have to create a live petition: they can work on some persuasive and informative text that could support a petition.

Start a school project to find ways to reduce consumption of plastic, or recycle plastics. The charity ChangeWorks has some fun recycling activities to get pupils started – here’s a good example that tells you how to make compost in a plastic bottle: http://bit.ly/ChangeWorks-Compost. You could set up a Dragons Den style activity where groups pitch their ideas for recycling plastic bottles – here is a project outline to help you: http://bit.ly/Dragons-Den-Primary.

After finding out how to recycle plastics, it would be a good next step to find out about reducing food waste. Zero Waste Scotland have a fantastic resource pack to help you teach pupils about food waste, and includes resources to monitor and reduce food waste across the school: http://bit.ly/Food-Waste-Schools

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Polar Explorers LIT 2-14a, LIT 2-31a, LIT 2-28a.

Although the children journey to the Arctic, it would be a shame not to look at both the Arctic and Antarctica in lessons – particularly since there are some very famous expeditions to Antarctica which can provide great learning opportunities.

First, though, it’s useful to know how both areas are different from each other. This resource on the TES website is useful – there is a PowerPoint explaining differences, and fact cards which you can print out and use for a fact hunt around the classroom: http://bit.ly/Polar-Differences. There are also worksheets to help pupils understand some of the differences. You’ll need to create a free login to download the resources.

One of the most famous expeditions to Antarctica was by Ernest Shackleton, who attempted to cross Antarctica from sea to sea from 1914-17. The journey ran into significant danger, but the heroic exploits of Shackleton and his crew are legendary. Here are some resources to help your pupils find out more about the expedition:

The book Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill is a beautiful re-telling The film The Endurance is a docu-drama which uses real footage from the expedition This BBC animation shows the journey: http://bit.ly/Shackleton-BBC These fantastic images bring the expedition to life: http://bit.ly/Shackleton-Images

After your pupils have found out about Shackleton’s journey, you could ask them to:

Use the images of the journey as a stimulus for creative writing, imagining what the crew are thinking, feeling and saying to each other

Alternatively, pupils could write diary entries or letters home to family and friends They could also produce survival guides, explaining how polar explorers can keep

warm and what a crew should pack to eat and drink on an expedition

Pupils could produce their own animation of the journey, using large maps and props. IntoFilm have a fantastic resource to introduce stop motion animation – you just need to create a free account: http://bit.ly/IntoFilm-Animation

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