The Giant’s Garden

The Young Actors

W.A.L.T

• To explore the themes of selfishness and redemption at the heart of the story ‘The Selfish Giant’.

• Listening and asking relevant questions, following instructions, responding to presentations.

Pretext

• Draw the outline of a large garden and ask the group to sit around the edge of the paper.

• What games do you like to play? (pair share)• Where do you go to play?• What would they like to have in this lovely

garden for it to be perfect for them to play in. Write in their suggestions. Then tell them that the garden belongs to a giant who has been away for a long time

Mime Starter

• Ask the children to choose their favourite activities without telling anyone what it is. At your word they go into the space and mime playing in the centre of the carpet.

• When everyone has had a go explain to the children that we are all in the Giant’s garden and we will walk around and talk to one another.

• (The action can be stopped and small sections of the drama can be bought to life)

Establishing the Problem• Gather the children together in front of the garden design and invite

them to talk about the games they have been playing and the things they have enjoyed doing in the garden. Then narrate how one day the giant returned and put up a sign. Uncover the sign prepared in advance ‘Children Keep Out! Trespassers will be Prosecuted’. Ask the children if anyone can read it and explain what it means. Then ask why they think why the giant has put it up. You may wish to empathise that they have been very careful with his garden, so his fears are not fair. Further questions to ask are;

• Why do you think he has made the sign so big and written the letters in bright red?

• Could we say anything to the giant to persuade him to change his mind and let us play?

• Could we bring him anything to show him that we are friendly?• Let the children discuss and share their ideas about what these

tokens of good will could be.

Dramatic play in pairs

• Tell the children in pairs to make/buy/gather/ write whatever small token they wish to present to the giant. Have them sit in a circle and ask a child to fetch a (n imaginary) sack from the corner of the garden. Briskly take it around each of the pairs and have them say what it is they are putting into it as they do so. Then ask for two volunteers to show you with their faces how pleased they think the giant will be when he sees the presents. Then ask them to watch quietly to see what happens when he answers the door.

Teacher in Role as the giant

• Narrate how the giant came to the door and saw the sack but no sign of the children who were obviously hiding. Then, as the giant, talk in a grumpy voice and take out some of the actual presents the children put into it in the previous exercise. Be very ungrateful, throwing them back into the sack and then calling out to the children, wherever they are, that you are not interested in their presents. It is your garden, not theirs, and they are not welcome in it. And And with that he slammed the door!with that he slammed the door!

Hot-Seating the giant

• Tell the children that they are going to have a chance to interview the giant to find out what sort of character he really is. Prepare some questions then take on his role as they hot-seat you. Be grumpy, not frightening, true to the details of the book but prepared to embellish them according to what the children ask you.

Sculpting the giant

• The students are now given the task of creating the giant from materials and masks. They need to think about the movement of the giant and how they will present this to the rest of the group

Reflection

• Ask the children to go to the place they most enjoyed today?

The end of the session