Capitalizing On Wall-E

Whether it’s the adorable trash-compacting Wall-E or the subtle messages, everyone is wild over Pixar’s brand new animation offering Wall-E. So you take the kids to the movies and they’re going “Wall-E” every waking second. How do you capitalize on it?

Here’s a list of issues at the heart of the movie:no Environmentalismno Consumerism. no The dangers of ceding control over our lives to wishful thinking.

Leverage on these issues and get the kids to explore them. Here’s how.

For younger children, explain how Wall-E had to clean up tones of garbage and how humans had to leave the planet because they were buried in garbage. Show them how they can make a difference by reusing readily available materials to create a picture book on the movie instead of buying a brand new one from the store. Apart from driving the environmental message across, literacy should be an aim too.

Here’s a suggestion. Make a simple 10 page scarp-book by clipping together pieces of scrap paper. Hunt dow
Wall-E advertisements or write-ups. Get the kids to cut out the pictures with a safety scissors and paste the pictures into the scarp-book. Get the kids to talk to you about the pictures, always linking it back to the story line and using words featured in the movie.

Progress to making and writing short sentences for the pictures, eg: “This is Wall-E”, “This is Eve”, “This is the Spaceship”, “I like Wall-E, he is cute”. Anything goes.

If you caught your kids’ eyes sparkle when the bots floated in outer space, take a cue and start introducing books on space, concepts of gravity, etc.

Older and more literate kids may benefit from acquainting themselves with recycling symbols. Invite some of your kids’ friends over and Start a “Recycling Symbols Search Party”. Get some scrap paper and draw a table with 2 columns. Get the kids to draw as many symbols they discover on the different items and products around the house as possible on the left hand column of the paper.

Together, surf the web or print out in advance meanings of the symbols, record it on the paper. A wealth of resources is available, try
http://www.recycle-more.co.uk or http://www.greeningschools.org

If they liked the songs “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes A Moment” Wall-E kept playing in the movie, get them to surf the net for more info on the musical Hello Dolly! The songs and lyrics are all over the web. Just download it and start singing together! Sites of interest: http://www.allmusicals.com/h/hellodolly.htm http://www.stlyrics.com/h/hellodolly.htm

Tweens and teens will benefit from Wall-E book spin-offs such as WALL-E: The Intergalactic Guide (Wall-E) (Hardcover), The Art of WALL.E by Tim Hauser.

For more ideas, log on to:
www.geniuschilddevelopment.com

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