Storytelling
Storytelling
St Robert’s Catholic First School, Northumberland, ages 5–6
Tigers in our town
We pretended that we were watching a tiger in our playground, using cardboard rolls for binoculars! We then made pictures of ourselves on the lookout for tigers, thinking about how we might feel if we saw one.
‘Where are those binoculars? I need to look for a tiger outside.’
Mab’s Cross Community Primary School, Wigan, ages 5–6
A surprising spider
Our class imagined that the tiger might have been surprised by a giant spider hiding in the leaves. After researching animal camouflage and the anatomy of spiders, the class worked together to make a large-scale papier mâché model.
‘We gave the spider different shades of green to help it blend in with the jungle leaves.’
Mab’s Cross Community Primary School, Wigan, ages 7–8
The tiger who didn't like the rain
Discussing the painting as a class, we thought that Rousseau’s scene was part of a bigger story, but wondered what that story could be. Using our ideas and research about tigers, we collaboratively created a book about a tiger who didn’t like the rain.
‘My favourite page is the marbling ink tiger stripes. I love how bright the colours are.’
Pimlico Primary, London, ages 9–10
Surprise matchboxes
One student suggested that we make matchboxes themed on the painting, each containing their own surprise. The different surprises include thunder and lightning, trees being chopped down and, of course, tigers!
‘I tried to make a tiger with an open mouth, which was the surprise.’
Preston Park Primary School, London, ages 8–9
Henri Rousseau’s dream
We all agreed that Rousseau had a wonderful imagination and wanted to reflect this. We decided to create a video of him waking up in the jungle and being inspired to paint Surprised! We made a set and even created a live score for the film.
‘It was fun coming up with the script for the film and creating the set. I wanted it to last forever.’
Grimes Dyke Primary School, Leeds, ages 9–10
‘What will my children see?’
Thinking about the tiger, our class wanted to research endangered animals. This inspired us to write a class poem about the future of wild animals, which we turned into a video. We painted pictures to use in the video too.
‘We wanted to show people how animals are nearly extinct and how our school wants to help them to live longer for our young ones to see.’
Dame Bradbury’s School, Stephen Perse Foundation, Essex, ages 10–11
Stop-motion animation
Year 6 wondered what happened before and after the scene in the painting and turned their ideas into stop-motion animations. The pupils created storyboards and made sets from lots of different materials.
‘The tiger leapt into my mind... I thought for a moment, then started snip-snip-snipping at the paper, foil and ribbon.’