a friend of mine is concerned that her children like to play with their toys more than they like doing their homeschool assignments, and i offered to give her some suggestions. i'm sharing here in case these ideas might prove useful to others.
my friend's children are kindergarten and younger, so these ideas will be geared for that age but i will also suggest ways they could be adapted for older children.
the specific toys these children are interested in most right now are wall-e figurines. i have not seen the whole movie and have never seen the figurines, so if i'm off base on my suggestions on how this could work, please feel free to correct me! the point is to help my friend, not to idolize my ideas. LOL
what stood out for me in the little i saw of this movie was the plant, which is why i am focusing on it for these suggestions. i think there are DOZENS of other possibilites in this movie, these are just top-of-my-head ideas.
math:
simple addition and subtraction: "wall-e has X number of plants--he finds X number more--how many plants does he have now?" OR "wall-e has X number of plants--eve takes X number of plants back to her ship--how many does wall-e have left?" this could be made into a worksheet but my experience is that the child would rather do it as an activity with the parent.
sorting and graphing: cut out pictures of plants from magazines, sort them according to type (flowers, trees, vegetables, etc), and graph them. (this overlaps slightly with science).
older children could do more complicated functions such as estimating and then figuring the volume of material that could be held in various size containers--if you have a few trash or recycling containers you can empty for this purpose, it could be much more engaging. it could be expanded by asking how many people could fit into a given space--like the number of humans on the starliners. if your bedroom or home were starliner, how many humans could fit in it?
science:
from the activity above, the wall-e figurine could choose the plant he thinks is most interesting and do a little research on it--what kind of conditions does it need to grow and thrive? what kinds of diseases or pest is it vulnerable to? maybe even get seeds or seedlings of this plant and grow one of your own!
perhaps there is a place close by where you could go see this plant--or maybe there is a botanical garden or extension office with someone who would talk to the children about this plant and others like it. field trip!
social studies:
go thru your recycling and sort according to types of materials--you could discuss where each type comes from, and investigate what happens to it when it is recyled.
when the trash or recycling collector comes by, stand outside and watch it get picked up! if you offer the trash collector a glass of lemonade or hot cocoa (whichever is right for the weather), he will usually take a few minutes to answer questions and might even give you a mini-tour of the inside of the truck cab (yes, i've done it--more than once--the cab of the brush collection truck is AWESOME).
reading and language arts:
vocabulary words--axiom, consume/consumer/consumption, directive, mutiny--the words from each of the robots' names (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator--Waste Allocation Load-Lifter Earth-class). a young child CAN grasp the meaning of these words, if they are explained in an age-appropriate manner. they won't learn to spell them correctly yet, but that is not important in kindergarten. or if the child is learning phonics, perhaps give them a chance to try spelling the words! that will give you some insight into his progress in decoding the written word.
creative writing: create alternate endings for the story, find a way to notate them (drawing pictures, dictation, etc), and then present a play of the story with the new ending, using the figurines to tell the story. could overlap as an art project if you create scenery or props.
health and fitness:
good nutrition and fitness. looking at it from the perspective of a robot, what kinds of things "deactivate" us? what kinds of things "reanimate" us? what happens when one of our parts doesn't function properly? what can we do to keep ourselves in good working condition?
moral/ethical:
this is why i chose the plant as the focus of the lesson ideas: because he has developed a conscience and a curiousity--because he has developed a humanity--wall-e has come to believe that all life has value and is worth protecting. this is an ideal opportunity for a parent to share his/her ideas about life--it's meaning, it's origin, it's purpose--from whatever perspective the family holds. the moment when eve kisses wall-e and the spark causes him to come back to life is ripe with possibilities on this.
it seems like there are so many more ideas than i have room or time to share! but i hope this helps you, dear friend, and i bet the other readers of this blog will have even better ideas to suggest.
