Beauty and the Beast: 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 Beauty and the Beast released in 1991. 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.

Read a Book

Belle loves books and her favorites were fairy tales. Following are some suggestions of fairy tale books perfect for this age group.

• A First Book of Fairy Tales by Mary Hoffman and Julie Downing
• An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler and Whitney Martin
• Cat's Fairy Tale: A Cat and Dog Story (Learn to Write Readers) by Rozanne Lanczak Williams
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
• Little Red Riding Hood (Easy-to-Read, Puffin) by Harriet Ziefert and Emily Bolam

Make a Book

Fold three to four pieces of 8 ½ x 11 paper in half and staple along the fold. Now you've got a little book that is six to eight pages long. Help your child come up with an idea for a story. Let her draw pictures on the pages and then have you write down the story underneath the pictures.

Take a Trip

Ask a neighbor who has roses if it is all right if you come and look at them. Or if there is a botanical or community garden in your area that has roses, make plans to visit. Show your child roses in different stages; one that has not yet bloomed, one that is just blooming, and one that is starting to wilt. Explain that this was what was happening to the Beast's rose in the movie.

Make a Castle or Monster Mask

Make a castle out of empty food containers. Cups make great towers. Cut a door in one of the boxes and windows in the cups. Let your child decorate the castle by coloring it or adding flags and other decorations. Get out some of your child's toys and have him pretend with the castle. You can also make a monster mask out of a plate and some string. Cut the eye holes out for your child and then let them color, and create a monster mask.