We can’t give you a golden ticket but we can give you golden stickers and some great ideas to celebrate the birthday of one of the most popular children’s authors of all time. 
Roald Dahls’ books are full of fun and imagination. Everyone knows the story of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, most people have watched James and The Giant Peach and the one that scares me still to this day- The Witches.
Its Roald Dahl’s birthday on September 13th and people all over the world will be celebrating by raising money for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity. The charity helps to make life better for very ill children in the UK by providing toys, financial help for families and expert support and care. Think about what you can do in your school. Do you run cake sales or fancy dress days?
Last year Charlie and The Chocolate Factory turned 50 years old and in 2012 it was the anniversary of the BFG. This year the celebrations surround the new app: Roald Dahl’s Twit or Miss.
The app is based on one of the most dysfunctional couples in the history of children’s fiction, The Twits. If you haven’t read it I highly suggest giving it a read, its only short and I loved it as a kid! The app aims to bring Roald Dahl to the digital space which creates another platform of access to the world of Roald Dahl for today’s children.
The wonderful education team at the Roald Dahl Museum have created a wealth of teaching resources for you to use on the day. Some of our favourites are as follows:
- Using James’s awful aunts to have fun with metaphors and similes
- The Twits- The Wormy Spaghetti
- The Witches- How to recognise a witch
- The Enormous Crocodile- Alternative Endings
- Fantastic Mr Fox Character Traits
There are SO many other ways to incorporate Roald Dahl into your classroom and teaching day.
How about a quiz?
The internet is full of quizzes about every subject imaginable and Roald Dahl is no exception. This one is perfect for wonka fans, great for Roald Dahl buffs, fantastic for younger children & you can even find out which Dahl character you are thanks to BuzzFeed.
Fancy a quote?
Roald Dahl is a king of children’s book quotes and they apply to adult life too! There are so many positive messages to be found in some of his most famous quotes so we’ve just listed a few to get the inspiration started.
“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray. Go throw your TV set away
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall…”
“Having power is not nearly as important as what you choose to do with it.”
“I’m afraid men are not always quite as clever as they think they are. You will learn that when you get a bit older, my girl.”
“Mice, I felt pretty certain, all like each other. People don’t.”
Create your countdown
Did you know Roald Dahl has published 28 books aimed at children which doesn’t include his screen plays, children’s poems and television scripts. That means there are a lot of pages loved worldwide and if your class has been focusing on the authour at all I’m sure there are some favourite class stories.
Why not create a top 5 and make them into a display board in you classroom? Pupils can write a short piece about why they love the book so much. Another idea is to create a class assembly revealing your classes favourites with children acting out their favourite characters- it sounds like a lot of fun, we’d love to see what you come up with on the day!
Let us know what you get up to on the 13th by joining us on Facebook and Twitter @SchoolStickers and sharing your pictures! Our reward point scheme means you’ll earn points when you come over and follow us on Twitter and give us a like on Facebook.