Using film as an educational stimulus is a fantastic way of engaging children. This is particularly true when children have an area of interest; you could use How to Train Your Dragon for those children who are fascinated by dragons.
A simple activity would be to watch a film, pausing in places to discuss what is happening, how a character feels and what might happen next.
There are lots of writing opportunities related to films:
- Character description
- Diary entry
- Story writing
- Create your own character
- A wanted poster (think Tangled)
- Film review
- Write what could happen next
- Good vs. evil characters
- Project or topic books
Some films lend themselves to topics:
- Emotions – Inside Out
- The environment – Over the Hedge, Free Willy
- Theme parks – Wonder Park
- Dinosaurs – Night at the Museum, The Land Before Time, The Good Dinosaur
- Farms – Babe, Chicken Run, Fantastic Mr Fox, Farmageddon
- Pirates – Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy
- Friendship – Toy Story, Trolls
- Places/travel – Paddington Bear, Rio, Aladdin