Here at Altru we love Roald Dahl – the characters, the events and the mischief he created in his books. We love the heroic children and villainous adults in his stories and, of course, we love the language he used to describe everyday things, making them seem more magical with a new turn of phrase.
Each year, we celebrate Roald Dahl Day on the 13th September and many schools join in, running workshops, Play in a Days, quizzes, assemblies and more – all with a Roald Dahl theme.
To help you plan your Roald Dahl day (which is just 2 weeks into the new term!) we’ve compiled a list of some great resources, all available online and mostly free.
The Roald Dahl Day website is a great place to start, here you’ll find information about the author and his stories, as well as games, lesson plans and even recipes, plus a fantastic party pack that you can sign up for. It’s a wonderful resource and totally dedicated to ensuring children are inspired by stories and language: https://www.roalddahl.com/home
Check out this lovely buzz-feed article, about all the things we can learn from Roald Dahl’s books. https://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/ways-roald-dahl-made-reading-magical?sub=2377042_1316021&utm_term=.dyJL61dr5p#.ofvP5ezXy4
Take a look at Activity Village. Amongst other great resources is a big collection of free printables for use in class, after school club or even at home. They’re all easily downloadable as PDFs and totally free. https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/roald-dahl-colouring-pages
Find an inspiring list of things to watch, make, eat and do to celebrate Roald Dahl day on this great blog. We particularly like the idea of Crispy Wasp Stings on a Buttered Piece of Toast – yum! https://www.diaryofafirstchild.com/2013/09/11/foods-activities-and-crafts-to-celebrate-roald-dahl-day/
Pop over to the Altru Pinterest where you’ll find a board called ‘Roald Dahl Gobblefunk’ full of exciting and wonderful quotes, ideas, games and facts for you and your class/family to try. https://uk.pinterest.com/altrucreativeed/roald-dahl-gobblefunk/
Watch an hour long documentary about Dahl’s life and how it inspired his work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LGjapijS08 (be careful letting children have access to unregulated YouTube comments, of course)
Book a workshop or a Play in a Day by us, to bring the stories to life through games, songs and performance in your school hall: /portfolio/roald-dahl-play-in-day/
Go retro with some lovely 1980s animated shorts of The Revolting Rhymes. They’re not exactly Frozen, but they’ve definitely retained a certain charm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3uVQIhSYfY
We hope we’ve inspired you to get creating, making and – most importantly – reading, on and before Roald Dahl Day 2016. Have an earbashing, fizzwhizzing, scrumdiddlyumptious Dahl 100 day!
