Blown Away

Meet Penguin Blue. It’s a windy day, and he has a brand-new kite – but where’s he going on this maiden flight?

Penguin Blue and his friends go on a gloriously illustrated adventure full of good ideas, homesickness and the perils of kites.

English:

Look at the front cover. Who is the penguin? What is happening? Where is he going?
Retell the story from Penguin Blue’s point of view.
Write a prequel to this story. Where did Penguin Blue get the kite from?
Make a list of rhyming words in this story. Use them to make a rhyming dictionary.
Look at the illustrations and add some speech / thought bubbles.
Make a list of words and phrases that describe Antarctica and the tropical island. How are they similar / different?
Write a set of instructions to teach people how to fly a kite safely.
Create some speech between the characters. Write this using direct and reported (indirect) speech.
Write a newspaper report about the flying animals.
Make a Character Profile for Penguin Blue.
Look at the final illustrations in the book and create a story based on them.
Look through the story for different types of punctuation. How / why are they used in different places?

Look at the illustration of the animals as they fly through the air. How many eyes do they have? How many feet?
How do we measure the speed of the wind? Use simple anemometers to record wind data over several days.

Make a food chain that includes penguins.
Create a report to teach others about penguins. Where do they live? How are they adapted to living there? What do they eat?
Make a list of similarities and differences between Penguin Blue’s home and the jungle.
Create a diagram that shows the forces acting on a kite when it flies in the sky, and on the boat when the wind blows the boat’s sail.
Investigate which materials would be waterproof, strong and light enough for a kite.

Create an animation showing animals being pulled through the air by a kite.
Make a game in which Penguin Blue flies through the air and has to touch the numbered clouds.
Create a digital storybook that retells this story.

Design some patterned materials that could be used to decorate a kite.
Create some illustrations of Penguin Blue and the other animals in the story. You can follow this tutorial from Rob Biddulph:

Watch this musical version of the book. What instruments are being played? Could you compose a melody to accompany part of the story?

Create a map that shows the locations in the story. Add labels to indicate what happened at each location.
Look at a map of the world and locate Antarctica and various tropical jungles. Plan a route between them.
Create some directional instructions to guide Penguin Blue home.