Iron Giant: Movie-Themed Educational Activities and Games for 2 to 5 Year Olds

Let's face it: Kids love movies, but it's been proven that they should watch no more than two hours of television a day. So why not combine their love of a movie and activities that will help them learn and grow? Following are suggestions for the movie Iron Giant released in 1999. These activities would also work well for preschool classes and party games for this age group.

Watch the movie

Let your kids watch the show while you prepare the activities for the rest of the day or attend to other responsibilities.

Magnet Magic

In the movie, the Iron Giant eats metal for food. Tell your child that he needs to find out what things are metal so that he can help find food for the giant. Show your child a magnet and explain that a magnet is attracted to metal. Show them what happens when you put a paper clip near the magnet. Give your child the magnet and send them on a search to find metal items in your home. As a word of caution though, keep an eye on your child while they are doing this to make sure that they don't put the magnet on any electronics. Magnets are harmful to most electronic items.

Make a Robot

Gather some aluminum foil, an empty toilet paper tube, a couple of craft pipe cleaners and a couple of googly eyes. Help your child make a robot by covering the toilet paper tube in aluminum foil, adding the craft pipe cleaners as arms, and the googly eyes. Provide your child with different colored paper so that they can decorate their robot.

Snack Time

In the movie, Hogarth visits a Soda Shoppe. Make a milkshake and let your child try one of Hogarth's favorite treats. Don't forget to add the crushed up candy bar on top.

Read A Book

Children at this age are fascinated with robots. So encourage reading by getting books about robots. Following are a few suggestions, but there are many more.

• Sammy and the Robots by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds
• Robot (DK Eyewitness Books) by Roger Bridgman
• Mama Robot by Davide Cali, Anna Laura Cantone, and Marcel Danesi
• That's Not My Robot (Touchy-Feely Board Books) by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells
• My Little Blue Robot by Stephen T. Johnson
• Me and My Robot (All Aboard Reading) by Tracey West and Cindy Revell