Damned

An over-ambitious beaver goes too far when he gets the chance to realise his ultimate dream. Some dreams are just too big.

Watch this video with your children, and then try some of our teaching and activity ideas below.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Pause the video at different points and imagine what the beaver (and other animals) might be thinking.
• Retell the story from the beaver’s point of view.
• What might be written on the back of the beaver’s postcard?
• How do the animals feel after they have built their dam? Why? Can you carry out some role-play activities to find out their thoughts?

Science

• Write a report about beavers. Where do they live? What do they eat? How are they adapted to living in their environment?
• Find out how beavers construct dams.
• At one point in the video, the beaver blows across the top of a bottle and makes a sound. Why is this?

Computing

• Can you create an animation that shows a beaver building a dam?

Design Technology

• Can you build a model of a dam?
• How are dams constructed? What materials are used? Look at photos of different dams for some ideas (see Resources below).

Art

• Look at photos of beavers and use them as the starting point for your own drawings and paintings(see Resources below).
• Pause the video at different points and look at the facial expressions of the animals. What does this tell us about how they are feeling?
• Can you create your own cartoon faces with different facial expressions?

Music

• Look at photos of beavers and use them as the starting point for your own drawings and paintings(see Resources below).
• Pause the video at different points and look at the facial expressions of the animals. What does this tell us about how they are feeling?
• Can you create your own cartoon faces with different facial expressions?

Geography

• Can you explain why people build dams? What is their effect on the local environment?
• Can you research the location of different dams around the world? Why were they built there?
• The beaver has a postcard from the Hoover Dam. Can you find this on a map?
• If possible, go to a local river / stream and use rocks / sticks to build a small dam.

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