How To Train Your Dragon

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Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was an awesome sword-fighter, a dragon-whisperer and the greatest Viking Hero who ever lived. But it wasn’t always like that. In fact, in the beginning, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was the most put-upon Viking you’d ever seen. Not loud enough to make himself heard at dinner with his father, Stoick the Vast; not hard enough to beat his chief rival, Snotlout, at Bashyball, the number one school sport and CERTAINLY not stupid enough to go into a cave full of dragons to find a pet- It’s time for Hiccup to learn how to be a Hero.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Could you make your own instruction guide teaching people how to train a dragon?
• Create some character profiles about the various people in the story… What are their personalities like? What are their strengths / weaknesses? How do they change throughout the course of the story?
• Use the map outlines (see Resources below) to design a location for a new part of the story. Write a description of this location using a range of vocabulary and then write the story which is based there.
• Watch this video in which the author talks about what inspired her to write her books:

• Listen to the audiobook version of the story, read by David Tennant. Could your class present / their own audio version, using expression to make it interesting for the listener?

Science

• Make an imaginary report about dragons… What do they eat? Do they have any predators? What abilities / special features do they have??Where do they live? How are they adapted to living in that location? What is the environmental impact of having dragons living there?

Computing

• Ask your class to plan, storyboard and film a trailer for the book. You could watch the trailer for the film as inspiration:

Art

• Look at existing images of dragons (see Draconika for some great examples) and use these as inspiration for designing your own.

Music

• Ask your class to compose a soundtrack for the book. What instruments could be used? What tempo would the soundtrack be? You could listen to the film soundtrack for inspiration.

Geography

• Use the map outlines (see Resources below) to make some Viking maps, adding a range of geographical features (mountains, lakes, islands, caves, rivers etc.).

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