The BFG by Roald Dahl Teaching Ideas

Ten-year-old Sophie spies the Big Friendly Giant (BFG) late one night. The BFG wants to keep his identity a secret, so he whisks Sophie away. Soon, Sophie realizes that the giant is quite gentle and even charming. Her friendship with him grows. Sophie’s presence in the giant’s cave attracts the not-so-friendly giants. These children eating giants must go. Sophie devises a plan, but she must go to London to convince Queen Victoria to help her with her quest. Will she be successful with this endeavor? Read The BFG to find out.

Activities for The BFG

The BFG Unit Samples

This book unit sample contains the following:

Vocabulary Practice for Chapters 1-2
Comprehension Questions for Chapters 1-2
Constructed Response Question

Teaching Idea #1 – Three Bump Games

These free games will make a great addition to your unit on The BFG. They cover the following:

literary devices
characters
symbols

Full color plus blackline versions are available as well as digital versions created through Google Slides.

Click here to download these three bump games.

Instructions for Playing

Roll a die to determine which player goes first.
On a turn, roll two dice.
Read the sentence that corresponds with the number rolled.
Place a cube over the correct answer in the bottom boxes.
If another player’s cube is on that answer, BUMP it off.
The player takes back the cube and may use it again.
If your cube is on that answer, link the cubes together and that spot is frozen. This means no other player can bump you.
If you roll an answer that is not available, this is the end of your turn.
The winner is the player who uses all his/her cubes first.

Teaching Idea #2 – Watch the Trailer.

Watch the Disney movie version of The BFG. Have students compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the book and the movie.

Teaching Idea #3 – Watch the Animated Movie.

In 1989, The BFG was made into an animated film. This film is full of songs and even won the New York Film Festival for Best Score and Songs. This makes it a great addition to your unit for teaching figurative language. The video below contains the full movie.

Teaching Idea #4 – Anchor Charts

All of the bulletin boards were found on the web. Several came from Pinterest. I have given credit following each photograph that did not lead to a dead link.

This photo comes from Sparklebox in the UK. This is a great website for free printable classroom displays.

Teaching Idea #5 – Bulletin Board Ideas

This is a quick and easy anchor chart to create. Print, cut out, and paste a picture of the BFG or take a few minutes to draw a quick sketch. Students write inner and outer traits on sticky notes and place them on the appropriate side of the BFG forming a T-chart.