Toy Story Learning Experiences

It’s officially summertime! I can’t believe it’s almost July! As we head further into summer vacation you may be looking for some things to keep your kiddos busy this summer. This time we turn to the modern Disney classic Toy Story. With the new Buzz Lightyear movie hitting theaters, I thought it would be nice to revisit the original Toy Story. I remember the first time I saw Toy Story in the theaters in 1995. I was blown away by the Pixar animation. It was like nothing I had ever seen! Now this type of animation is the standard! Want to watch the other Toy Story movies? No problem! Most, if not all, of these activities would pair well with any of the Toy Story movies.

The Hook

This movie operates on the premise that toys are alive and move around as soon as their owner is gone. This can be frightening for young children. So first off, assure your child that toys are not real, living things. However ask them to use their imaginations. If they were a toy, what kind of things would they do when their owner was not around? What would they do if they were a toy living in your child’s bedroom? What adventures might they have?

Special Note and Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen this movie before, you will want to know that there is a scary part for young kids. The neighbor kid, Sid, ends up with two of the main characters toys in his house. We see that he is very mean to his toys and “operates” on them by taking them apart and putting them back together using parts from different toys. Especially scary is a baby head with only one good eye that is attached to an Erector set of multiple legs. She is a good character and kind- but very scary looking. You may want to fast forward through this part if you think it will scare your littles.

-Right about minute 40 Sid takes his sister’s doll to perform an “operation”.

-At minute 41:30 Woody meets the creepy looking baby doll.

Now you’re ready to start watching Toy Story!

Materials

-pencils, crayons, markers

-paper, poster board, card stock (just paper works fine, too!)

-some sort of circle to trace ( a plate, a large bowl, etc.)

-clay, Play-Doh, or Model Magic

-scissors

-tape

Be a Toymaker- Create Your Own Toy

Have your child imagine he or she works for a toy company. What is the hottest toy of the year? What is the new Buzz Lightyear? Draw, paint, or use clay to create a new toy that every child would want!

My six year old created a “stuffy” out of green clay. She named him Elliot the Alien Stuffy. After taking pictures of Elliot, I asked her to put the Play-Doh away and she cried! She insisted on keeping him because she loved him. So now he is air drying in her room.

Lights, Camera, Action! Create Your Own Toy Commercial

What is so special about your toy? Why should anyone buy it? Write a commercial script telling why someone should buy your toy, where they can buy it, and how much it costs. Younger children can create a poster. Older children can practice their script and make a video! My youngest made a poster.

In case you were wondering, the word “yoosd” in the poster is “used”. When your kids are writing, do not worry about spelling! Just get them writing. The conventions (spelling, punctuation) can always come later. Right now encourage them to have fun getting their ideas down on paper, or in this case- poster!

Yee-Haw! Facts About Cowboys

Students can learn about cowboys using this website for kids. Or you can watch this Kid Explains History video to learn more about cowboys.

Want to know more about the history of the cowboy hat? Check this video out here! As always, remember to watch Youtube with your kids. You never know what ads may play before, during, or after your videos. You can encourage your children to play "Cowboy” (or Cowgirl) and round up their stuffed animals!

Pizza Planet- Fun With Fractions

I love the part in the movie with Pizza Planet! I think my favorite part of the whole movie may be when Buzz and Woody end up in the alien claw machine (hence my daughter’s green alien stuffy). I had my daughters trace a plate on a piece of construction paper (card stock works even better, if you have it!). They then do the same exact thing with a second piece of construction paper. So they have one circle paper as the plate and a second circle as the pizza! Divide the pizza into equal parts. One daughter did 8 pieces, the other did 6.

Now for the fun part- create a pizza! Let them be creative! One daughter went with the classic pepperoni and cheese. The other made peppermint pizza!

After making the pizza you can have fun with fractions. Pretend to eat or serve parts of the pizza. Then ask how much of the pizza is eaten and how much is left.

For this pizza there is a total of 8 pieces. 2 of the pieces were served, making 2/8 of the pizza served. 6 pieces are left on the plate, so 6/8 of the pizza is left.

For older kids you can talk about reducing fractions. You can divide 2/8 down further to 1/4 and 6/8 can be reduced to 3/4. If you make different pizzas with various different numbers of slices you can practice a lot of fractions! And the kids love it!

Pizza Planet- Make a Menu

After making the pizzas, encourage your children to make menus for their pizzas. They can use the name Pizza Planet or come up with their very own restaurant name! Have them come up with various names of pizzas, describe what is on each pizza, and include a price. They can also add drinks and desserts! The sky’s the limit! After creating their menus, my daughters quickly turned this into play. They were playing restaurant, writing down people’s orders (another great way to encourage writing), and playing with their new pizzas. If you have one child you can encourage him or her to play restaurant with dolls or toys. If you have play money (bust out the Monopoly game money), have them practice making change.

I think my favorite item on the menu is “Knock-Your-Socks-Off Cheesy Bread”. I was also taken aback when my daughter had beer on her menu, but in my defense, pizza places often have beer and she’s one observant kid!

The Great Toy Escape- Mapping

Help the toys get away from Sid! Have your children pick a room in the house and draw a map of it. A bedroom works great! They need to use their observation skills to see the items in their room, understand where items are in relation to each other, and decided what symbols they want to use. Invite your child to make a map key. Explain to your children that a key helps the reader of the map know what the symbols mean. My eight year old mapped her bedroom and included a key, plus an escape route for getting out.

Another option—make a maze! Give it to someone else to solve. Tell your child there should only be one correct route; the rest need to have dead ends.

To Infinity…and Beyond! Learn All About Space

Check out this great National Geographic website on space! The Planetary Society is another great website. And of course there is always NASA!

Create Your Own Planet

For this activity children can either create a replica of a favorite planet or make their very own planet! On the left you can see Mars and Mercury. On the right you can see my daughter’s made up planet “Rosieanna”.

Intergalactic Travel- Make a Travel Brochure

Now that they’ve created a model of their own planet, students can create a travel brochure encouraging people to come and check out their planet! Take a plain piece of paper and fold it into thirds. Voila! You have a brochure. Have them put the name of a fun travel agency on the front, along with the name of the planet they want tourists to check out. Inside the brochure kids can write the facts about their planet. They can use the facts they learned from the above websites or they can make up facts about their own planet that they have created!

3-2-1, Blast-off! Create a Spaceship for Buzz

Create your very own spaceship! Where is the cockpit? Where does he keep his spacesuit? Where does he sleep? Where does he eat? Make sure to draw and label all of the areas.

Although I asked my daughter to label her rocket ship, she refused because she said it would ruin the prettiness of her picture.

A Space Story

If your child was an astronaut what would it be like? What would your child do? Pose this question to your children and see what they come up with. You could even make it like a diary—kind of like a Star Trek thing (Captain’s Log- star date 06/30/22).

Sneaky Statues

I was recently introduced to Sneaky Statues when my children were at a Birthday party. This game reminds me a lot of how the toys behave in Toy Story! One child is “It”. That child goes to one side of the room (or yard). The other people line up on the other side of the room (or yard). The person who is “It” faces away from the other players. The other players then sneak quietly towards the person who is “It”. When that person turns around, all the players have to freeze, just like the toys in Toy Story! If the person who is “It” sees anyone move, those players have to go back to the beginning. Then the person turns around again and the other players continue to sneak forward until the person turns around to look at them again! The first person to sneakily reach the person who is “It” without being caught moving gets to be the next “It” person and the play starts all over again! This is a fun game to play with siblings, cousins, or neighborhood friends.

Music and Movement- Randy Newman

You’ve Got a Friend in Me is a great song! Randy Newman has now become synonymous with the the Toy Story movies! He also did some music for Monsters Inc. and A Bug’s Life, as well! Turn on the Toy Story soundtrack and let your children move and dance. Note: If you listen to the soundtrack on Youtube make sure to be there with your kids as they listen. You never know what ads may play before, during, or after the video you want to play.

That’s it for this movie! I hope you’ve enjoyed these Toy Story Learning Experiences. Leave me a comment and let me know which one is your favorite.

Until next time! To Infinity…and Beyond!

~Nicole