Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Learning Experiences
I’ve been LOVING Disney+, especially during this time of Sheltering In Place. I’ve been able to take a walk down memory lane with the addition of so many old school movies that my children are seeing for the first time! It inspired me to do a summer series that pairs hands-on learning experiences with these movies. The first movie that came to my mind was the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.
Materials Needed for Activities:
Magnifying glass (if you don't have one, kids can just use close-up observation skills)
Science notebook (can also make your own book by folding pages in half and stapling)
A whiteboard, chalkboard, or paper for posting questions
A whiteboard marker, piece of chalk, or writing utensil for writing questions
Craft materials, as few or as many as you’d like. These can be things from around the house. Ideas include construction paper, cardstock, poster board, toilet paper rolls, craft sticks, blocks, legos, glue, tape, stickers, pom-poms, paper plates, aluminum, old containers—the sky is the limit!
Poster board or construction paper
“The Hook”- Activating Background Knowledge: Taking a Nature Walk
Before showing the movie to my kids, I first took them outside on a nature walk. We did it in our backyard, but for those in apartments or condominiums, walking through a park or down the street works just as well. You can take exploration materials like binoculars, magnifying glasses, and a journal. Don’t have a journal handy? Fold some lined paper in half, fold a piece of construction paper in half around it, staple it together and Voila! You have a handy-dandy science journal.
Ask your child to imagine what it would be like to be teeny-tiny, smaller than an ant. How long would it take to get from the end of the backyard to your house? (Or if on a walk, pick two different landmarks for the kids to compare, i.e. from the fire hydrant to the corner, or from the tree to that play structure). Ask them what obstacles they might face. Have them look around and play as an observing scientist, encouraging them to draw what they see. Questions you might ask are:
Where would you hide if it was raining?
What would you eat?
Who might you meet?
How long will it take you to get from _____ to ______.
Now that you’ve got your child thinking and imagining, you’re ready to watch the movie!
Watch the Movie
After watching, ask your children about their favorite parts and what surprised them. It’s always interesting to see how they react to movies we may have watched as kids. Does the test of time hold true or does it seem a little irrelevant? My daughters were really intrigued by the phone with the cord that Amy gets tangled in while talking on the phone. They had never seen one before!
Inventions: If You Could Invent a Machine, What Would It Do?
My oldest daughter (6 years old, 7 next month) does her best work in the morning. I find it handy to have an activity ready for her to do when she first gets up. She gets really excited to wake up to something new and it helps that I set it up the night before so I don’t have to worry about it in the morning. True to Reggio Emilia style (if you haven’t seen my post on Reggio Emilia you can check it out here) I posted a question for her to wonder about and materials for her to explore. I put out a bunch of items I had around the house such as paper towel and toilet paper rolls, blocks, legos, magna tiles, card stock, glue, craft sticks, aluminum foil, and coloring supplies. Other ideas include cans, paper towels—anything you have lying around. Imagination is key! I try not to provide too much guidance—I’m not looking for a certain end product. I find that, if I give children enough space, they will think up ideas that are much more creative than I ever would have. She worked on this with great focus for a while. This is what she came up with:
Writing an Advertisement For Your Invention
The next day I again set up an invitation by posing a question and having materials ready. Writing is often the most difficult subject for young children (often for students of all ages, for that matter!) so it helps to have an interesting “hook” to get them interested and willing to write. So I invited my daughter to create an advertisement poster.
I included some printed out pictures of her invention, in case she wanted to use them on her poster. I also included a couple of sample posters, just to give her some ideas. Here’s what she came up with, and without one complaint about writing. Instead, she was super excited to give it a try and worked on it for a while. Here's what she came up with:
Creating a Board Game
Who doesn’t love a good game night? (Well, not everyone- my husband is one of those who doesn’t-but most kids enjoy a good game, right?). I set out materials for both my 6 year old and 4 year old to create their own board game, inspired by Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The 4 year old was inspired by Monopoly. She used two pieces of construction paper for her board. She made what looked more like a pirate’s map (X marks the spot!) and incorporated “Jail” and “Free parking”. She informed me that Free Parking is where you wait and drink coffee. She even made dollars out of Post-It notes. She grabbed game pieces from her Frozen Monopoly game for playing, but you could use anything for a game piece- make one out of paper, use a bean, a coin, a paperclip, etc.
My older one was inspired by Candy Land. She created a board (using card stock) with different colored spaces and various obstacles that the player would meet. She included a bee, an ant, an Oreo cookie, a lego, a sprinkler, and a lawn mower—all obstacles or sights that the kids in the movie encountered. She created cards to match each of these obstacles. So if you pulled the bee card, you would go to the bee space. If you pulled the lawnmower card, you’d have to go back to the beginning where the lawnmower space was located. She even created her own directions booklet to teach people how to play.
Depending on what you want to work on, you could easily make this into a math activity. You could use dice and have spaces on your game board that say “+5” or “-3” so there is a math element involved.
Biographies on Inventors
Finally, you can also use this movie as a jumping off point to talk about inventors. The “Who Was” series is a great biography series for kids. You can read books on Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Marie Curie, and a host of other people. This is a great read-aloud series to start with your children, and it has them continuing to think about inventors long after you’ve watched Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Some writing activity ideas would be to write some facts about the person you read about. Children can write facts on note cards and glue them on a poster board, including a picture of the inventor in the middle (a printed picture or a picture drawn by your child). Or you can create a K-W-L chart where children divide a paper into 3 columns and write what they already know about the person in the first column, what they want to know before reading the book, and then finally what they learned after reading the book. Or use theater, one of the many languages of children, and the child can act like the person he or she has read about. Even better, create a video so your child can play it back and watch it later. My daughter became very interested in Thomas Edison, dressed up like him, and enjoyed playing the part, telling me when he was born, a little about Edison’s childhood, and what he invented. Now, because she has engaged in something interesting to her, she remembers the facts about Thomas Edison and wants to learn even more about other inventors. Simple activities like this instill life-long learning.
Thank you for joining me as we explored meaningful activities to do with the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! See you next time!
~Nicole