Roald Dahl is one of the most popular children’s authors of all time. Did you know that every 13th September is the official Roald Dahl Day where there’s lots of ways to celebrate. Our friends at BrainPOP have a fantastic lesson about the author and every year they make this lesson free on their web site as well as on their BrainPOP iPhone/iPad app.

The video itself (5:23) starts with the question, “What can you tell me about the author?” which is asked by a child or a peer. It gives a great biography of Roald Dahl, about his childhood, his writing and lots of other bits of information. In includes some details about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. It seems suited to children in 3rd class upwards.

Once the video has been watched, there are three other sections: the quiz, some activities and the FYI section.

The activities are as follows:

• A worksheet with a matching quiz and a true/false quiz
• A graphic organiser of two Road Dahl Books
• A Vocabulary worksheet with words from Roald Dahl’s life and work. Examples are: “yearn” and “eccentric”

The FYI section has a fun extra information sheet about chocolate and could be used as part of a bigger theme on chocolate, which ties in with lots of different subjects in the curriculum. BrainPop are supplies some quotes and a comic strip which could be be used on a Roald Dahl display.

If you’re covering any book by Roald Dahl, this BrainPOP theme is excellent, particularly if you are reading either of the novels mentioned. However, it is suitable for anything to do with the author. To find this section on BrainPOP, you’ll need to log in and go to this section. BrainPOP also provide content on other authors including William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie and Charles Dickens. It would be great to see some other children’s authors like Eoin Colfer, JK Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson featured in the series.

BrainPop