The Troll

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Julia Donaldson’s hilarious story about the Troll is a great inspiration for teaching and learning. Explore our long list of classroom activities and try some yourself!

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Write a story that explains where the troll came from.
• Write about an adventure that the pirates might have had before or after the events of this story.
• Can you find any synonyms for ‘walking’ in the story (e.g. trip-trapping, scuttling).
• Can you act out the events of the story, using the speech to help you?
• Create a recipe to go in the troll’s cookery book.
• Find as many different types of punctuation as you can in the story. Can you explain why the author has chosen to use them in those places?
• Can you find any examples of connectives in the story?
• Write a recount of the story from the point of view of the troll.
• Make a list of persuasive arguments to discourage the pirates from making the troll walk the plank.

Maths

• Estimate the weight of the treasure chest when the troll was inside it.

Science

• Plan a healthy meal for the troll to give him a ‘nice change from fish’.
• The troll finds some hoof prints in the sand. Can you find out the different types of footprints created by different animals? (see Resources below)

Computing

• Use art software to create an illustration of a troll.
• Listen to the audiobook version of the story. Could you record your own, with music, songs and sound effects?

Design Technology

• Look at the different types of bridges shown in the illustrations. Can you design and build a bridge that will hold a certain weight without collapsing?
• Design and make a treasure chest to store some valuable items (or for a troll to sleep in!).

Art

• Draw your own pictures to show what a troll might look like.
• Design a new flag for the pirate ship.
• Create a new pirate character who might live on the ship with Hank Chief and Percy Patch.

Music

• Can you think of a sea shanty that the pirates might sing?

Geography

• Create a plan view of each deck of the pirate ship.
• Draw your own treasure map to help the pirates find some gold! (see Resources below)
• Could you create your own set of clues to help some friends find some treasure hidden around your classroom / school?
• Look on a map to find the location of different bridges near to where you live.

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