The Snowman

One winter’s night, a snowman comes to life and an unforgettable adventure begins.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

‘One winter’s night, a snowman comes to life and a magical adventure begins…’. Use this idea as the starting point for your own story.
Watch the animated version of the story. Which do you prefer? Why?

Make a list of the similarities and the differences between the book and the animated movie.
Compare this book to the sequel: The Snowman and the Snowdog. Write a review of your favourite.
Use the images of the boy making the snowman to write a sequence of instructions that teach others how to make the perfect snowman.
Choose a series of images and write captions to accompany each one. Use time words (e.g. first, next, then, after, later, finally) to show the sequence of events.
Think of speech / thought bubbles and captions to accompany some of the images.
Retell the story from the boy’s point of view (or from the point of view of the Snowman).
Think of some questions that you would like to ask the boy. How might he respond?
Write a newspaper article about strange sightings of a flying snowman.
Could you write a play script that retells this story (or a part of it)?
Write an alternative ending for the story and imagine a new adventure that the boy and snowman could have together.

Why can’t the snowman go near the fireplace? Use this as the starting point for discussions about temperature, freezing and melting.

Create a game in which a snowman has to fly through the air to reach a particular point.
Design an app to accompany this story. What activities could it have?
Use publishing software to create your own comic strip.
A trailer for ‘The Snowman and the Snowdog’ is shown below. Could you make a trailer for ‘The Snowman’?

This video shows an ‘animatic’ (which is an animated storyboard). Could you make an animatic based on your own story?

Could you make your own comic strip that retells a story without words?
Imagine that you were flying in the air with the snowman and draw a picture of the view below you.

This book was first published in 1978. How has life changed since then? How is the boy’s childhood in 1978 likely to be similar / different to your childhood today?

Think of different kinds of emotions and choose images from the book that show them (e.g. excitement, wonder, despair, fear).