Pig Box

Ages: 5-11

A story about a shivering blue bird who wants to get some heat from a sleepy porcupine.

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

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

Retell the story in the form of a narrative or a diary entry.
Why is the porcupine in a box? Why did the lady carry him across the street and leave him there? Make a list of ideas.
Plan and write a conversation between the bird and the porcupine.
What happens next in the story? What happens to each of the characters? You could use some of the images in the credits sequence as the starting point for your own writing.
Think of words to describe how each of the characters is feeling at different points.
Make a list of synonyms for the words ‘cold’, ‘warm’ and ‘hot’.
Use this story as the starting point for your own story about two animals who you wouldn’t normally think of as being friends.

Investigate temperature. What temperatures would you describe as being cold or hot?

Investigate materials that help to conduct heat. Which materials would be best for helping the little bird to keep itself warm?

Could you make your own animation to retell this or a similar story?
Pause the video at various points and use comic strip software (e.g. Comic Life) to add captions, speech bubbles and thought bubbles to the characters.

Design a new box with plenty of room for the porcupine and the bird to stay warm together.

Look at the colours and style of the characters and the backgrounds. Could you try to recreate some of them?

Listen to the music without watching the video. Can you imagine what might be happening in the story as the style of the soundtrack changes?

Think about the weather and how the temperature changes at different times of the year.

The animals get along by the end of the story. Why it is good to share with others and be friendly?