Century Fox resource pack - The Scout Associations... · 2014-01-20 · Twentieth Century Fox...

Twentieth Century Fox resource packLeader’s notes

Twentieth Century Fox Leader’s notes 1

The Scout Association is thrilled to partner with film giants Twentieth Century Fox in producing this creative and exciting resource for Cubs.

The people at Twentieth Century Fox are eager to get young people enthusiastic about film. They have lent their support in sponsoring this imaginative activity resource to help you do just that.

Mr. Peabody and ShermanMr. Peabody and Sherman is an all-new comedy adventure for the whole family. Emmy Award winner Ty Burrell (Modern Family) voices Mr. Peabody, the world’s smartest person who happens to be a dog. When his “pet” boy Sherman, voiced by Max Charles (The Amazing Spider-Man), uses their time traveling WABAC machine without permission, events in history spiral out of control to disastrous and comical results. It’s up to this most unexpected of father-son teams to somehow put things back on track before the space-time continuum is irreparably destroyed.

The film stars Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Allison Janney, Stephen Colbert, Stephen TobolowskyMel Brooks, Leslie Mann, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton.

You can use this activity pack to take the Cubs through creating characters and worlds and then bring it all together to produce and perform a puppet show. Let them follow their imaginations!

Look out for the Badge Earners in this resource, which the Cubs can use towards meeting the requirements of several Cub badges.

Please note this activity pack can also be used with Beaver Scouts.


Creating characters

Activity 1 Mythical animalsIntroductionCharacters are the basis of any good film. The people at Twentieth Century Fox have always animated according to character, no matter what kind of animal they are working with. The Cubs will start with creating the physical creature then make them into characters.

A character can be made great by the challenges they face. Mr Peabody and Sherman, the two main characters must work together to repair the space-time contiuum as historical events begin to spiral out of control.

Time neededThe whole session

Equipment• torches if it’s dark• quick-drying paints• paint brushes• glue• pencil crayons• a collection of leaves, stones and other natural materials• recyclable household waste

Introducing the activity (10 minutes)Explain to the Cubs that they are going to use what they can find to make their own fantasy characters. Characters are always a product of the world that they live in. Ask them what sort of characters they think might live there. Would they be humans, gods or even mythical creatures? Now the Cubs are going to make their own characters from a variety of resources.

The activityAsk the Cubs to bring recyclable household waste from home, eg cereal boxes, crisp packets and milk bottles.

If your Cub HQ has a good outside area where it’s likely the Pack will be able to find decent leaves and twigs for this activity, spend the first 20 minutes or so of the evening session looking around for suitable materials. This would be fun with torches. If you don’t have the space, ask the Cubs to bring these materials from home, or from the local park. While you’re looking for leaves, encourage the Cubs to pick up other things that could make fur, or hair, or tusks – interesting stones, grasses and so on.

Get the Cubs into groups of at least three and sit them around the tables where they can use the craft materials, household waste and natural resources to make their own mythical characters. Stay on hand to help and give suggestions. Although the Cubs are working individually, it’s good to sit them together so they can bounce ideas off each other.

Feedback (20 minutes)Look at each animal with the Pack and get them to come up with suggestions about what the animal is, where it lives and so on. This builds up to the next two activities, when the Cubs will create other characters from scratch and build them into a story.

If you can, take photos of the creatures and give them to the Cubs to stick in their activity books.

This activity can be found on page 2 of the Cubs activity pack.

Practical set-upSet up a few tables with paints, brushes, glue and pencil crayons.


Activity 2 Animal mash-up

Badge earnerRequirement 1 of the Artist Activity Badge:

1. Draw with pencil, brush, pen or crayon a picture of any imaginary incident, character or scene.

IntroductionMovies by Twentieth Century Fox are full of creatures going back to the Ice Age, when woolly mammoths roamed the world, to the present-day tigers in the recent film Life of Pi.

Many animated films create characters by combining two different animals. This simple activity will get the Cubs to use their drawing skills to create entirely new creatures that they will eventually bring to life through art and storytelling.

Time needed30 minutes

Equipment• a few pictures of animals and dinosaurs, collected from magazines, adverts, comics, etc• a whiteboard if you have one• photocopies of page 5 of this booklet, enough for four per Cub• pencils and pens

This activity can be found on page 3 of the Cubs activity pack.

Practical set-upStick some animal pictures up around the Cubs HQ, or place them around the tables the Cubs will be sitting at. These could be photos from magazines, cartoons or drawings – anything that shows different animals and different animal parts.

It’s best to have the Cubs seated around tables so that when they have finished their part of the drawing they can slide it across without showing their neighbour what they have done. Then divide the Cubs into groups of no more than four each. Give each Cub a photocopy of page 5 of this resource and a pen or pencil.

Introduce the activity (20 minutes)Explain to the Cubs that animated films like Mr. Peabody and Sherman contain fantastical creatures. Sometimes these animals will be two creatures rolled into one. So, for example, imagine what a cross between a piranha and a parakeet would look like, or maybe a mash-up of a bat and a puppy.

The Cubs are now going to use their own imaginations to make creatures just like animators and film makers do. Say this activity will lead to them using their artistic skills and imagination to come up with an animal that’s never been created before.

Start them off by describing any animal from top-to-toe. Talk about the different kinds of heads, bodies, legs and feet that different animals might have. Ask them to shout out the different body parts. Demonstrate the activity by getting individual Cubs to come up and draw a part each on a whiteboard, if you have one.

Twentieth Century Fox Leader’s notes 4Twentieth Century Fox Leader’s notes 4

• Heads aren’t just about faces. Ask them if they can think of other things on a head that make them different – horns, ears, fangs, whiskers, tusks, etc.• Bodies could be hairy, scaly, feathered, long, short, fat, thin, etc.• Legs could have knobbly knees or no knees. They could have any number of legs, from one to a hundred. They could be strong, fast legs, or thin, feeble ones.• Feet could be webbed, or cloven; they could be huge or tiny, etc.

Advise them to keep their drawings fairly simple, as the aim of the activity is to ultimately make the creature they have drawn. They should bear this in mind when drawing.

The activity (20-30 minutes)Make sure each Cub has a copy of page 5 and is seated around a table in a group of at least four. You can make up any shortfall in the groups.

When everyone is ready with a piece of paper, tell the Cubs they are going to draw a part of the animal each, starting with the head, then body, then legs, then feet. (You don’t have to use these parts – you could add a neck, for instance.) Ask the Cubs to draw the head of an animal in the top quarter of the piece of paper.

When they have finished the first part, ask the Cubs to fold their picture over where marked, leaving the fold at the top. You could suggest they make a mark just under the fold on the remaining blank sheet of paper that corresponds to where they have drawn their head, so that the next person to draw knows roughly where to start the body.

Get them to slide the piece of paper face down to their neighbour. Their neighbour will then draw the body of the animal in the second quarter of the paper, again folding where marked away from themselves. They should slide the paper to their neighbour, having left a mark at the top where the legs should start.

Repeat the process in the third quarter of the paper for the legs, then in the fourth quarter for the feet.

Once they have finished, open out the pieces of paper to reveal new animals all drawn in parts.

The first time this activity is done is often a bit of a mess until they get the idea, so do repeat the process as many times as you like. Try it at least three times, with a different member of the group starting each time so they all get to draw a different body part. Then ask each group to choose their favourite mash-up and copy it into their activity books.

Feedback (20-30 minutes)Ask the Cubs to stop drawing and to take it in turns to stand up and show the rest of the Pack their favourite mash-up. For each one, get the whole Pack’s input as to what the animal is, what it might be called, what it might eat, where it lives, and whether it’s an animal from the distant past or even the future. This feedback will get them thinking about what the physical appearance of the animal actually means:

• For example, if an animal has horns, does it use them for attack or defence, or to knock down trees?• If it has wings, it must be able to fly – how far?• If it has a long body, where does that mean it probably lives? Does it crawl along the ground?• Can it swim? Is it amphibious?• What colour is it? Is its colour for camouflage, to scare away enemies, or to attract others?

This feedback acts as a taster for what’s to come in this resource, when the Cubs will become the animators.


Animal mash-upHead

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Activity 3 3D mash-ups

IntroductionThe next step is to make a 3D version of the new animals the Cubs have just come up with.

Here are two suggestions for making puppets – a fun, messy way, using papier-mache, or a simpler way, using felt. For the best creations, both methods can be used.


Equipment• chosen mash-ups• various craft materials, as explained below

Practical set-upSet up tables with all the equipment you need, as below, and make sure the Cubs are seated around each one.

Introducing the activity (15 minutes)Tell the Cubs they are going to bring their mash-ups to life.

If their creatures are very complicated, the Cubs should make their puppets in parts then join the different parts together.

They could make some fabulous animals by using both methods described below for the different parts so their final creature is a combination of felt hand puppet and papier-mache. For example, they could make a chicken crown with felt, then pin it to a papier-mache puppet’s head.

They will have to decide which part is going to be made out of which. Tell them you will be on hand to help with suggestions. If their mash-ups are too difficult to copy entirely, they can always amend them to suit. Filmmakers are always amending their characters along the way to get them right and make them work.

Choose one of the mash-ups and hold it up, then go through the parts and explain how each bit could be made.

Give them five minutes to decide in their groups how they are going to make their mash-up. Go around the groups to make sure they are on task and understand what they are doing.

The Cubs don’t have to make one puppet each. They can split up into pairs, or larger groups – but for the ultimate activity, when they will make a puppet show, the more puppets the better.


Option 1Felt hand puppetsEquipment• paper for sketching• pencils• safety pins and headed pins• several sheets of coloured felt• large needles and thread or glue• coloured paper• scissors• scraps of material, buttons, beads, any odds and ends that you and your Cubs can find at home

The activityFirst get the Cubs to draw the shape of their puppet on a piece of paper Remember this will be transferred onto felt, so they have to imagine that it must be big enough to fit their hands in.

Once they are happy with their sketches, ask them to choose two pieces of felt, pin them together with the sketch on top, and cut around the outline of the sketch.

Depending on time and skill, either sew the two pieces of felt together (leaving a gap for the hand to go in, of course) or glue around the edges. Sewing neatly around the edge can look nice, but for this age group it may be a little difficult.

Once both sides are sewn together, decorate with whatever you have to add such as eyes, tusks, ears and lips.


Option 2Papier-mache puppet masksEquipment• old clothes to wear or aprons• lots of newspaper• flour and water• balloons• plastic bowls for mixing glue in• something to stir the glue with

The activityGet the Cubs to tear up the newspaper into small strips and make a handy pile on the table.

Blow up different sized balloons and cover them with papier-mache to make heads.

Make the papier-mache glue with flour and water mixed up together in the plastic bowls.

Cover the balloons with newspaper strips and then smear them with the homemade glue. It’s best to leave it to dry before adding the next layer, but it will work if you do two or three layers and then leave.

FeedbackWith whatever time you have left, look at some of the puppets and start talking about the characters’ backgrounds and where they live. Explain that the next part of the activity is to create a world for the puppets to live in.

Twentieth Century Fox Leaders notes 9Twentieth Century Fox Leader’s notes 9

Setting the scene - a whole new world

Activity 4 Patchwork world

IntroductionThe people at Twentieth Century Fox have created awesome worlds for their stories to develop in. You can refer to these worlds as you help the Cubs to come up with their own.

These activities will provide the background for the stories your Cubs are about to tell, with all of them taking part until they choose the world or worlds they are going to use for their puppet show.

The sky certainly doesn’t have to be the limit and this activity will help you steer your Cubs’ imaginations towards creating entirely new worlds.

Time neededOne hour

Equipment• whiteboard, or large piece of card or paper• A4 paper• pens and pencils• glue

This activity can be found on page 4 of your Cubs activity pack.

Practical set-upDivide the Cubs into groups of a minimum of six each. Give each group 12 pieces of A4 paper, some glue, and some pens. This activity is best done on the floor or a large table.

Introducing the activity (15 minutes)Explain to the Cubs that they are going to make a new world for their characters to live in. They are going to do it together, in groups, and the world will take shape before their eyes.

Begin by asking them to call out different kinds of landscapes or geographical features that they might use.

Some ideas• mountains• lakes• old ruins• rivers• forests• jungles• deserts• volcanoes

Write the ideas down on a whiteboard if you have one.

• wishing wells• enchanted valleys• secret tunnels• invisible sky bridges• oceans• islands


The activityEach group creates a base by sticking at least six pieces of A4 paper together to form a large sheet. This can be done in portrait or landscape, or in an irregular pattern to form a different shape, as if it’s the shape of an island. This will form the base of the world.

Give each member of the group one piece of A4 paper.

Ask them to draw a landscape feature on their pieces of paper. If there aren’t enough Cubs in a group, let some of them draw more than one feature each. All that matters is that when the A4 drawings are finished, there are enough of them to cover the base.

When everyone has finished drawing, get the Cubs to decide amongst themselves where their pieces of the picture should fit on the base sheet. They will have to work together to make the best fit, and they can add to their drawings if they need linking passageways, magic steps, or tunnels to get from one part to another.

When they have decided which drawing fits where, they can glue the backs of the paper and stick them onto the base sheet, covering it entirely like a jigsaw puzzle.

FeedbackGo through each group’s world, one by one. If your Pack is small, you may have just one or two. Get them to think about the climate, the seasons, and the kinds of animals that live there with the creatures they came up with in their puppet-making.

They can add homes for the puppets they’ve made, and whatever else they want.

Get them to name their worlds and draw a replica of them in their activity packs.


Activity 5 3D box world

IntroductionTwentieth Century Fox has been at the forefront of the 3D revolution when it comes to film, and here the Cubs can use their imagination to create their own 3D worlds.

Time neededOne hour

Introducing the activity (10 minutes)Tell the Pack they are going to really have to get creative to come up with a 3D imaginary world and that they will be going outside to find things to represent real landscape features. Explain that when the creators of animation films come up with a world for their characters to live in, they need to make models and maps in order for the story to make sense.

Remind them of the previous activity, where they came up with different landscape features, and get them to see if they can find things to represent those in a 3D model.

The activity (40 minutes)Take your Cubs either outside the HQ, or elsewhere, to find whatever they can to make mountains, trees, lagoons, and so on. Pieces of foil can make excellent lakes.

When the Cubs have collected enough things, bring them all inside the HQ and give them a box each. They can work individually, in pairs or in groups.

Ask them to put their collected items in their boxes to make new worlds, forming mountains out of mud if necessary, and using leaves to represent trees or forests. Get them to imagine the kinds of creatures that will be wandering through there and that their worlds are big enough for them to get lost in.

Feedback (15 minutes)Look through as many of the boxes as you can and talk about the kind of world it represents, and the kinds of creatures that live there. Talk about the climate, the seasons, the hunters and the people that might live there. Is it a historic land, or one from the future? Is it on Earth, or is it even on another planet?

The following three activities will help your Cubs to write, script and perform a puppet show of their own, using and adapting what they’ve come up with so far to aim for a final production.

Get ready to turn on the lights, focus the camera, and let the action begin. You could record the show, or even ask parents to come and watch the final production.

Badge earnerRequirements 1, 2 and 7 of the Entertainer Activity Badge:

1. Help to make up a mime or play and perform it.2. Perform a puppet play or shadowgraph using puppets you have made.7. Tell a story to an audience.

Equipment• crates or low-side boxes – large, but not too unwieldy

• bags to collect things in• glue• kitchen foil


Activity 6 Character development

IntroductionThis activity is best done with the Pack as a whole, and there will be a lot of shouting out, so control is essential. If you have a large Pack, you may need to split them into two or even three groups, with eight per group an ideal number. Start the whole pack off with a brief scenario of how a film story begins, then get them to draw up a plan for their own.


Equipment• whiteboard• paper and pens• the puppets the Cubs have already made• the patchwork worlds the Cubs have already made


Practical set-upThe Cubs need to be within ear and eyeshot of you to start with, then sitting at tables with their patchwork worlds and puppets to hand.

Introducing the activity to your Cubs (20 minutes)Begin by finding a film that they all know quite well, for example Ice Age. It’s not essential that you also know the film, but very helpful!

Ask them to shout out the main characters’ names, and put these on the whiteboard.

Ask them about the world the creatures live in, and write down a few of those details too.

Explain that this is exactly what they are going to do with the characters they have already created, and the worlds they have already made. The characters’ stories begin here.

Tell the Cubs they are working as a film crew, and have to work together. Say that when they have got into their groups, they are going to work together, and those who are the most responsible will become the directors of the puppet show.

The activityIf you have a large Pack, split it into smaller groups and ask each group to carry out the activity.

Start by getting the puppets named and listed. Each puppet should be shown to the group by its maker or makers, who should have named it and given it some characteristics in the previous activities. You are going to develop these, and here you can encourage the Cubs to act a little with their puppets, giving them voices, mannerisms, and getting them to interact with the other puppets.

Here are suggested pointers for puppet character development:

1. Roots: Where does it come from? North/south/east/west? Earth? 2. Habitat: What kind of terrain does it live in? Desert? Tropics? 3. Pack/herd/lone animal: Does it live in packs/herds/individually? 4. Diet: What does it eat?5. Hunter/grazer/scavenger: Is it a hunter or a grazer? Or a scavenger?


6. Protection: How does it protect itself? Camouflage/weapons like horns?7. Name: What are they going to call it?8. Personality: Is it kind, ferocious, savage, weak, cute or funny?

Remember, these characters are all in the same imaginary world, so they can have links with each other, relationships and rivalries. The story is being created now, as the characters are developed.

Next, decide which world to go for. You can steer them to the one you think would work best, in terms of what features it has. Make sure the world has a name.

FeedbackIf you have more than one group, save enough time at the end for each group to present their characters and worlds to the others. If you have just one group, draw it all together at the end of the session and ask them to start thinking about storylines and where they are going to go with their characters.

Get the Cubs to fill in their characters under ‘cast’ for thePuppet Show’ in their activity packs.


Activity 7 Plot your show

IntroductionYour Cubs are now in the final stages of their project. The characters have been drawn and brought to life and the scene has been set. It’s now time for the story to begin. By the end of this activity, your Cubs will have a story outline, a cast of characters and an exciting world for the action to take place in.


Equipment• whiteboard• paper and pens• the puppets the Cubs have already made• the patchwork worlds the Cubs have already made


Practical set-upThis depends on how large your pack is. You don’t want any more than eight in a group, so you will need one whiteboard per group.

Introducing the activity (20 minutes)Start by talking to the whole Pack. Say that you are going back to the film that they all knew when writing down characters in the last activity. Now ask them how this film began. On the whiteboard, write down a few words under the heading ‘beginning’, and then ask what happens in the middle of the film. Write down just a few notes under the heading ‘middle’, and finally ask them about the ending, writing down the essential words under ‘ending’.

Once you have written down the notes, tell them this could have been how the film they all know was created – with characters, scene, and the beginning, middle and end of the story.

Ask them what they liked about the beginning, middle and end. Are they ready to come up with their own?

Now rub off all notes on the film you’ve discussed and just leave the headings on the whiteboard. Tell them they are going to come up with the beginning of a story, and to do that you are going to put them in groups of three or four. Once they have a simple beginning, they are going to take it in turns to tell the rest of the group and decide on the one they want to go with. Give them the following ideas:

Story beginning ideas:• ‘It was the longest, coldest winter that the Land of Trolls had ever had. Everyone was hungry...’• ‘The explosion blasted through the entire country, and when he woke up, Adam realised his family had disappeared...’• ‘Martha loved going to school on the cliff top. When the teacher was too boring, she half closed her eyes and looked out to the sea. Today, she couldn’t believe what she saw...’

Remind the Cubs that not all the puppets have to appear together all the time. Films work well when characters are introduced individually, or in pairs, so the audience gets to know them better. This then also gives more opportunity to flesh out dialogues between puppets.


The activity (45 minutes)Give the Cubs five minutes to come up with a story beginning. After five minutes, stop them and ask them in turn to tell the group what they have come up with. The group votes for their favourite beginning and you can write down a few words on the whiteboard under ‘beginning’ so that everyone can see.

Repeat this exercise for the middle section of the story and the end. You may need slightly longer for the middle bit. Remind the Cubs that, at the moment, you only want the bare bones of the story – about five points in each section. They will get the opportunity to flesh it all out in the next activity.

You must be strict with time, and young people often work more quickly when they are given time limits. By the end of 45 minutes, you should have notes for a beginning, middle and end on the whiteboard. Ask them to fill in their Cub activity packs so that everyone has the plan.

Feedback (20 minutes)Go through the plan and ask if there’s anything else they want to add to the story at this stage.


Activity 8 Show time!

Now you are putting all your hard work into practice.

The nature and time of the performance will all be up to you. Some Packs will want to put on an hour-long show with full costumes and stage props, others will be happy with a 10-minute skit.

If it’s possible to film the performance, or performances, the Cubs can help and this will fulfil one of the requirements of the Entertainer Activity Badge. If they have video cameras, ask them to bring them in.

To get the parents involved, why not invite them along to watch? This could be at the end of the session, or take up an entire evening.

The performance could even be used as a fundraising opportunity. You could sell tickets and soft drinks. It’s also a chance to get parents involved in Scouting and perhaps offering to help out!

Badge earnerRequirements 1, 2, 3 and 7 of the Entertainer Activity Badge:

1. Help to make up a mime or play and perform it.2. Perform a puppet play or shadowgraph using puppets you have made.3. Help to plan and make an entertainment recorded on video or audiotape.7. Tell a story to an audience.

Century Fox resource pack - The Scout Associations... · 2014-01-20 · Twentieth Century Fox...

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