The Dragon Egg

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Children love any kind of egg - only recently a pupil brought a mixture of shells to 'show and tell'. However, a LARGE egg will send them crazy. The possibilities are endless; their imaginations are limitless.









Dragon eggs are fairly easy to make (if papier mache or polystyrene take your fancy) and the results are most definitely worth it. 

(Some instructions can be found here: http://www.themarysue.com/how-to-make-game-of-thrones-dragon-eggs-for-easter/ and here: http://www.conqueringcrafts.com/2013/02/dragon-eggs-are-kind-of-palish.html )

Teaching ideas:
  • If your dragon egg is robust, you could use it for sensory exploration, with children describing it.
  • You could create a 'dragon's lair', complete with eggs and a nest. Children could write a newspaper report about their discovery, or a description of the nest.
  • This could lead to any genre of writing - for example, creating an encyclopaedia entry about dragons; dragon poetry; an adventure/mystery story about finding an egg; a diary entry (or sequence of entries) about finding the egg, taking care of it, and what happened when it hatched!
  • I would highly recommend 'The Egg' by M. P. Robertson for Lower Key Stage 2 (the picture book also includes the audio book on CD - a great resource). The egg as a prop would tie in perfectly. You can find some resources for this text here: http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-Egg-by-M-P-Robertson-text-and-ideas-6335413/
  • I have also used a couple of Youtube clips ('More Dragons Sighted in Skies Over Louisville' - that will lead you to a selection), created a pack of dragon 'evidence', and held a debate regarding the future of the dragons (i.e. should they be allowed to stay? What impact does this have on policing? Are our children safe? What about the dragons' rights?) You can find these resources here: http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Dragon-sightings-Lesson-plan-and-amp-printable-resources-6335417/
  • NB Pineapple skin painted green makes super dragon scales; green food colouring, glitter and PVA make excellent dragon skin when dried; and you can't go wrong with some green slime!

The Cardboard Box

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This is probably the prop I got most excited about, because of the gazillion possibilities. I’m sure you can relate to the familiar situation of a child receiving a well-considered/difficult-to-source/expensive/personalised gift, only for them to enjoy the packaging more than the actual gift! I think it’s only fair that we draw upon this natural creativity in our lessons.

The setup:

  •  A large cardboard box, with some small air holes poked into it, perhaps a few slashes, and a couple of warning signs slapped onto it.
  • Depending on how big you want to take this: police tape (or black and yellow warning tape), some protective gloves, goggles and earmuffs, further warning signs for your classroom…

A couple of ideas you could run with:

  • The children could have to work out what is inside – maybe there is a note or letter attached to the box, describing the creature’s care needs, or a warning about handling it, or a delivery note… They could draw and describe the creature they imagine to be inside, or create a fact page/explanation about their creature. They could write a story about how this parcel ended up in their classroom, or a persuasive letter to the head teacher, arguing that they should be allowed to keep the creature as a class pet!
  • The box could be slightly open, with some straw/shredded paper/cotton wool/slime inside. There could be a trail of destruction coming from the box and going around the classroom. The children, again, could try to work out what caused this, developing a description of the creature, and then write some instructions about how to catch it, or a warning letter to children and parents about the escapee.

I could write all day about this one – please let me know if you try this so I can link to further ideas.

 The Ice Hand

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This gem has been around for a while, and any form of ice is fun to play with. The Ice Hand can be made using a rubber glove, water and a freezer (with food colouring for a different effect). I used green food colouring for a lesson based in an Alien Research Centre, and I think black could be interesting. You could even add glitter! I’m also curious to see what happens if you freeze other substances – jelly, shaving foam, playdough?

Teaching ideas:

  • The idea lends itself to classic tales such as Jack Frost and The Snow Queen, or could be used to generate a character or story.
  •  A session shaped by questions: Who is this? Where did it come from? How did it get here? Where is the rest of the body? Can we save this person? Was it a real person, turned into ice? If so, what events made the person become ice? 
  • It could lead to a science investigation – Can we stop the hand from melting until we find its owner?

The Ruby Slippers

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A fantastic prop that is easy to make, but will truly hook children to learning linked to The Wizard of Oz.

To make:
  •  Find any old pair of heels, visit a charity shop, or target a female friend with a larger-than-average shoe collection;
  • Cover the shoes in glue;
  • Sprinkle with red glitter (find me a primary school that doesn’t contain this and I will eat my hat);
  • Spray with a sealant to help it to ‘stay put’. Covering with PVA could work too, although I haven’t tried this.

Teaching ideas:
  • Use to begin a Wizard of Oz unit – you could just have the shoes in the middle of the carpet, or you could craft some witch legs using stripy tights and a pool noodle, making it look like the witch has been squished by a desk or filing cabinet;
  • Discuss where the shoes came from, what magical powers they could have (if before reading), what kind of person would wear these…
  • Write the story from the shoes’ perspective, or give the story a different ending – what would happen if someone else had found the shoes? 
  • Children could write ‘If I had ruby slippers…’ or a ‘Ruby Slippers Manual’ explanation text.
  • As a literacy unit, it would link to a weather/disasters/tornadoes topic nicely.