Boy

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Boy wants a warm and cosy place to sleep – but he doesn’t want to share it with anyone else. So he goes off exploring, looking for the perfect place that is all his own.

But in a world full of prehistoric animals and dinosaurs, how will Boy find the one place that’s just right for him?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• The story is written in the third person. Could you rewrite it (or part of it) in the first person, from Boy’s point of view?
• Could you write an alternative version of this story about ‘Girl’?
• Imagine that you are Boy. How do you feel at different points in the story? Why did you choose to go outside?
• Use the speech to turn the story into a play script. Could you perform this to an audience, or create your own puppet show performance?
• The author hoped that a series of books would be published about ‘Boy’. Could you write a sequel?

Maths

• Create a timeline that shows the events of the story. Estimate the times that the events might have taken place. Think of some questions based on your estimates, e.g. How long did it take for Boy to walk from the cave to the leafy green forest?

Science

• Investigate different types of materials to see how well they can keep something warm. Which materials would be best at keeping Boy warm? Which materials would he have had access to?
• Use a thermometer to measure temperatures. Which temperatures are hot / warm / cold?
• Find out about the creatures mentioned in the story. How are they similar / different from animals that live today?
• The creatures in the story are now extinct. What does this mean?
• Can you find out about other extinct animals… or about animals that are endangered? Why is this? What can be done to help them?

Computing

• Create an animation that retells the main events of the story.

Design Technology

• Design a shelter that will keep Boy warm when he is away from the cave. Think about the materials and tools that would be available to him.
• How did stone age manhunt? What tools did they use?

Art

• Try to create your own cave paintings in a similar style to the ones in the story.
• The illustrations show many different shades of the same colours. Can you try to create a range of shades of the same colour using different types of Art materials?

Music

• What types of music would Boy’s family have made in Stone Age times? What instruments would they have played?c

Geography

• Which different geographical features can you see in the illustrations (e.g. caves, volcanoes).
• Create a report about volcanoes. What are they? How are they formed? Can you find out the locations of different volcanoes around the world?
• Draw a map that shows Boy’s journey to different places in the story. Add labels to show the events that took place in each location.

History

• Can you find out about the cave paintings that people have created in the past? How were they made? Can we still see any of them today?
• Were people alive at the same time as all of the creatures mentioned in the story? How could you find out?