Below are some suggested ideas and activities that you can share with your class. There is no limit to what can be done, as there are so many great ideas captured right in the pages of the book; so feel free to be as creative as possible.
Suggested ideas and activities for incorporating
The Dangerous Book for Boys into the School Curriculum
Parent/Son Activity Day
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Show and Tell. Encourage parents to spend time with their child over the weekend creating some of the projects highlighted in the book. Some suggested projects can include building a go-cart, work bench, or pocket light. Parents and children can also be encouraged to spend time teaching their family pet new tricks or playing table football. The following week, host a parent/child show and tell where both the parent and student bring in pictures of their projects or write-up a short paragraph of what they did for parent/son weekend.
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Go-Cart Race. Host a parent/son activity day at school. Set aside time in the afternoon or perhaps on a Saturday, to have students come in with their parents to work on a special go-cart project. Provide materials such as paints, markers, glitter, leaves, etc. to assist the parents/students with their projects. Encourage the pairs to be as creative as possible. Once the carts are assembled, set up a relay race for all of the teams. As an added bonus, establish criteria on which parents/students will be judged, for example, creativity, enthusiasm, team work etc. and award a small prize to the winners.
"Dangerous" Recess Ideas
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Juggling and Knot tying activity. Gather students together in a group for a demonstration.
Click here and
here to download the activity sheets and make a copy for each of your students. Demonstrate the techniques for juggling and knot tying and encourage them to participate. Then have a contest to see which student can tie the fastest knot or juggle the longest without letting the balls fall.
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Marble Crazy. Introduce students to the techniques of marble "shooting" as described in the book. Then allow them to break into groups and have fun playing classic games such as Ring Taw, Bounce About and Hundreds.
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Ay, Ay Captain! Click here to download the activity sheet explaining how to create your very own paper boat, hat and water bomb; make a copy for each of your students. Encourage students to be creative and design their own paper boats and/or hats.
Dangerous Knowledge Bowl
Use the information provided in
The Dangerous Book for Boys as a primary source for developing questions. Have students create a list of trivia questions/answers on index cards and then break into teams. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Below are a few sample questions to help them get started.
- The word "insect" comes from which classic language and means to "cut into" or "segmented"? Answer: Latin
- What is stenography? Answer: The practice of sending secret messages.
- Name 3 of baseball's most valuable players.
Answer: See pgs. 50-51 in the book for a complete list of names.
Remember the ideas for activities in this book are limitless. Have fun and let your students dig in and use their imaginations!
