S t u d y G u i d e B y M e s a P u b l i c S c h o o l s C r e a t i v e an d P e r f o r m i n g A r t s D e p a r tm e n t
The Big Friendly Giant
Performing Arts: Meeting Arizona Arts & Academic Standards
The learning activities in this study guide address specific standards to assist classroom teachers in integrating the performance to meet Arizona Arts and Academic Standards. The specific standards will be noted
in a text box accompanying learning activities.
About the Show
In the much beloved tradition of Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), we join two misfits on an unforgettable odyssey. For a
young orphan "human bean", the sight of a giant outside her window is terrifying, and she fears for her life when he whisks her away
to an enchanted land. This Big Friendly Giant is not like other giants,
however. The job of this larger-than-life vegetarian is to blow magical dreams into children's bedrooms, and together they embark on a
quest to save England from the "gizzard-gulping" giants who don't
have the BFG's tender heart. The cheeky B.F.G. ultimately shows that
heroes can come in all sizes.
Humongous on humor and large on laughs, the story of The BFG was
Roald Dahl's personal favorite. On stage, his whizzcracklingly wacky
tale comes to life with puppets and people creating a fantastical
world of towering giants and magical adventures.
SHOW TOPICS
Friendship
Problem solving
Creative thinking
Theatre Etiquette
YOU, the audience, are the most important part of any live theatre event. Performers depend on you to:
 Remain seated
 Listen
 Refrain from talking during the performance
 Laugh when something in the show is funny
 Clap to show appreciation
Please turn off cell phones and other devices. Cameras and other recording devices are prohibited.
Demonstrate respectful audience behavior.
Arizona Theatre Standards, Strand 3: Concept 2.
Pre-Show Activity
Objective - Use the following activity to provide students
practice in using context clues to determine the meaning of a
word.
Arizona Arts,
Academic, and Common
Core Standards
Language Arts: Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration;
Materials:
Whiteboard (If large group activity or for younger grades)
Writing paper (small groups/older grades)
List of BFG sentences (Last page of activity sheet)
Pencils
Discussion:
As he was writing The BFG in the early-1980s, author Roald
Dahl set about creating a new vocabulary for the story’s giant,
a 238-word language that he ultimately named “Gobblefunk”.
For example, Telly-belly bumkin box is a TV and Frobscottle is
the giant’s tasty fizzy drink.
Activity:
Work as a class or divide students into small groups.
Provide each group a copy of the BFG sentence sheet.
Allow them time to determine the meaning for each of the
gobblefunk words underlined on the sheet using the clues in
the surrounding sentences to help them write their definitions.
*Note: Younger students may benefit more from working on
this activity as a class. You can adjust it by
printing the sentences on the board.
*Extended activity—Create a short story using
words from the Gobblefunk list on the last
page.
Participate in collaborative conversations
K-6.SL.1
Ask and answer questions
1-3.SL.3
Language Arts : Vocabulary Acquisition
and Use
Determine or clarify the meaning of
unknown and multiple‐meaning words
and phrases Use context as a clue to
the meaning of a word or phrase.
K-6.L.4
Post-Show Activity
Objective - To be able to use descriptive language to create a
story in proper chronological order with a beginning, middle
and end.
Materials:
 8 1/2 x 11 writing or drawing paper.
 Pencils, Crayons or colored pencils
Class Discussion:
In the play, BFG’s job is to catch dreams and then ‘blow’ them
into the rooms of sleeping children. Any unused parts of the
dreams can be mixed to make new dreams. Have students
share ideas for some good dreams. Like a recipe, the dream
will need to have certain ingredients and be put together in a
certain order.
Activity: Working individually or in small groups 1.Write a recipe for a new dream
2. Using someone else’s recipe, ’prepare the recipe’ by putting
the dream into story form.
Steps:
 List the 'ingredients' needed. (Location, characters, special
abilities, colors, smells, textures, etc.)
 Describe the specific steps and order the ingredients should
be added to the dream. (“Mix in a 1 horse and 2 elves, add
1 magic castle then . . . “)
Swap recipes between students (or groups).
 Follow the recipe to write a full story about the dream. Use
as much detail and descriptive language as possible. Follow
appropriate sequence for beginning, middle and end.
Younger grades - Work in small groups or as a class. Use picture for ingredients and sequenced drawings to depict the
dream.
Arizona Arts,
Academic, and Common
Core Standards
AZ Common Core Standards; English
Language Arts; Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration;
Participate in collaborative conversations
K-6.SL.1
Ask and answer questions
1-3.SL.3
Writing
Text Types and Purposes
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single
event or several loosely linked events,
tell about the events in the order in
which they occurred, and provide a
reaction to what happened. K-2.W.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, descriptive details,
and clear event sequences. 3-5.W.3
The BFG’s Gobblefunk Quotations
1. Because you saw me. If anyone is ever seeing a giant, he or she must be taken away
hipswitch.
2. Nothing is growing except for one extremely icky-poo vegetable. It is called the
snozzcumber.
3. “No. I love the way you talk.” – Sophie. “How wondercrump. How whoopseysplunkers. Thank you, Sophie.”
4. A whizzpopper! Us giants is making whizzpoppers all the time! Whizzpopping is a sign
of happiness. It is music in our ears!
5. I, Sophie, is a dream-blowing giant. I blows dreams into the bedrooms of sleeping
chiddlers.
6. Oh my! It’s a phizzwizard! A golden phizzwizard! This will be giving some chiddler a
very happy night when I is blowing it in.
7. Your majester, I is your humbug servant.
8. Delumptious fizzy frobscottle! Everyone must be drinking it!
Gobblefunk Words
Swigpill/ Swatchscollop: Disgusting food
Filthsome: YUCK!
Frobscottle: A nice drink with soft drink bubbles
Kiddles: Children
Exundly: Exactly
Porteedo: A Torpedo
Jiggered: There is no hope
Bopmuggered: Caught
Hornswoggle: Stay away from them
Jumbly: All mixed up
Human bean: What the BFG calls human beings
Frothbuggling: Silly
Crabcruncher: A creature that lives on high cliffs, around the sea