Tuurngait

An Inuit child wanders away from his village, fascinated by a wild bird. His father follows his trail, determined to find him before he gets lost on the ice floe…

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

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Comparing the two settings in the film. Out on the ice, it is cold, stark and beautiful, while in dad’s workshop, it is warm and cosy. How are the different effects achieved? What words would you use to describe them?
• Make a word cloud / wordle of adjectives to describe the settings.
• Compare the dream sequence to other books and films. Good examples include Where the Wild Things Are, Coraline, Alice in Wonderland and The Snowman. Can you think of any more?
• Write the dialogue between the boy and his dad (5:15 – 5:48).
• Stop the film and discuss how the characters are feeling (for example, at 1:17, 2:54, 3:45).
• Write character descriptions for the main characters.
• Discuss why Dad is making the polar bear figure.
• Write an email or a Facebook post describing the events from Dad’s point of view.
• Write a narration for the film.
• Compare the owl in the film to other owls in books and films. What are the similarities and differences? Have a look at Harry Potter or Owl babies.
• Discuss the role of the polar bear and the owl in the story.

Science

• Experiment with water and ice. Try making your own icebergs in the freezer and floating them on water. What happens if they are different shapes or thicknesses?
• Try freezing homemade seawater and see what happens.
• How are animals in cold parts of the world adapted to live there?
• Experiment with different materials to see which would be the best insulator by wrapping them around an ice cube and recording how quickly they melt.
• Investigate how mirrors reflect light. Use our ideas and resources here.
• Research facts about owls / arctic birds and make a fact file.

Computing

• Watch The Making of Tuurngait video and discuss how the film was built up from the sketches. Choose a scene from the film and make a sketch showing the component parts of it.
• Design a game jumping from iceberg to iceberg using Scratch.
• Look at the website and design your own site for the film.

Design Technology

• Research transport in snowy areas – why are things like snowshoes and skidoos used? What might be the problems with transport, such as trains or cars, in that environment?
• Design your own vehicle for use in snowy areas.

Art

• Watch the sequence from 3:23 – 3:28 and draw some shattered ice/mirror pictures.
• Paint your own pictures of scenes from the film.
• Stop the film at 2:37 and draw your own view through a window.

Music

• Listen carefully to the music. How is it used to tell the story? What kinds of instruments can you hear?
• Listen to the music from 3:49 – 4:06. How does it build up the tension? Compose your own pieces of music for this section.

Geography

• How is an iceberg formed? Watch this video from Frozen Planet:

• Research the areas of the world where Inuit people live and write a report about their lifestyle.

Religious education

• A tuurngait is a bad spirit/demon in the Inuit religion. Do you think that things like demons really exist?

PSHE

• The film focuses on the father/son relationship. How do your parents/carers, family and friends look after you?
• How does it feel to get lost? What can you do to keep yourself safe?
• Why did the boy throw snowballs at the bird? What do you think about that kind of behaviour?