The Giant Who Threw Tantrums

A drama about facing our fears

From within the protection of a fantasy about a make-believe village threatened by a tantrum throwing giant, this drama gives young children the chance to consider how people respond when they are afraid. In particular, it explores what happens to a group of people living in a small village called Thistle Mountain who become fearful when they discover that a very large giant is throwing tantrums up in the hills near their homes. Eventually they discover that the giant has fears of his own, and that the tantrums might be partially a result of these fears. The drama provides lots of opportunities for critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, mapping, drawing and writing. It is therefore a very useful cross-curricular unit.

This unit of work was originally created by Professor Julie Dunn (Griffith University, Australia) and Professor John O’Toole (University of Melbourne, Australia) as one of the ten drama exemplars in their e-book Pretending to Learn: Teaching Drama in the Primary and Middle Years. John and Julie have kindly modified this unit for inclusion in this resource.