Charlotte's Web: 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 2 hours of TV 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 Charlotte's Web. Kids love both the older animated version and the real life version released in 2006. 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.

Talk about Animal Sounds

Many children at this age love to learn about animals. Use this poem to teach and talk about the different sounds farm animals make. "Gobble, gobble, gobble Quack, quack, quack Turkeys go gobble and ducks quack, quack."

Continue the poem by using two other animals like a cow and a cat, or a pig and a horse, and so on.

Song Time

There are a lot of children's songs that have to do with animals. Teach your child "Itsy Bitsy Spider, Five Little Ducks, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, All the Fish, Shoo Fly, Bing-o" and any other song or rhyme you can think of. If you don't know the words or the tune for any of these songs, cheap Children's CD's with these songs are readily available.

Take a Trip

Visit a local petting zoo, or a nearby farm that allows visitors. If this is not possible, take a walk with your child and try and find a spider's web. Be careful not to disturb the web or get to close if the spider is there, but let your child look at the web and see how it is made. If it is the time of year when most counties have their fairs (late August or early September) you can go to the fair. This is a perfect outing for Charlotte's Web since very few children completely understand what goes on at a fair and they will love being able to see the animals and ride the Ferris wheel.

Play "I'm a Farmer"

Gather stuffed animals that would be found on a farm. Talk about what the animals do and how farmers take care of them. Have your child pretend to be the farmer and take care of his animals. Your child might also enjoy pretending he is one of the animals and you are the farmer.