Fantasia Movie: 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 Fantasia released in 1940. 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.

Rhyme Activity

Teach your child this rhyme. The will love doing the actions.

The Big Bass Drum

Oh! We can play on the big bass drum

And this is the way we do it: (pretend to play a drum)

Rub-a-dub, boom, goes the big bass drum,

And this is the way we do it.

Oh! We can play on the violin

And this is the way we do it: (pretend to play a violin)

Zum, zum, zin, says the violin,

Rub-a-dub, boom, goes the big bass drum, (pretend to play a drum)

And this is the way we do it.

Oh! We can play on the little flute

And this is the way we do it: (pretend to play a flute)

Tootle, toot, toot, says the little flute

Zum, zum, zin, says the violin, (pretend to play a violin)

Rub-a-dub, boom, goes the big bass drum, (pretend to play a drum)

And this is the way we do it.

Read a Book

There are a lot of incredible books available to go along with the movie Fantasia. Pick one you think your child would enjoy and involve them while you are reading. Ask them questions about the pictures and story. Following are a few suggestions of books to read.

• Baby Einstein: Baby Mozart (Baby Einstein) by Julie Aigner-Clark and Nadeem Zaidi
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• Animal Orchestra by Scott Gustafson
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• The Story of the Incredible Orchestra: An Introduction to Musical Instruments and the Symphony Orchestra by Bruce Koscielniak

Make and Play Along with Music

Make instruments out of household items. A pot and a wooden spoon can be a drum, a box with a hole cut in it and rubber bands stretched across the front can be a guitar, a plastic container with beans in it can be a maraca. Play music and have your child play their instrument along with the music. It will help them learn how to find the beat and introduce them to different types of music.