Happy Feet: 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 Happy Feet 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.

Rhyme Activity

Teach your child this rhyme. They will love how silly it is.

Way up north where there's ice and snow

There lived a penguin and his name was Joe.

He got so tired of black and white,

He wore pink slacks to the dance last night!

Read a Book

There are a lot of incredible books available to go along with the movie Happy Feet. 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.

• Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater and Florence Atwater
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• Penguins 123 by Kevin Schafer
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• What Do Penguins Do? (What Do Animals Do?) by Ltd. ticktock Media
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• Tap-dance Fever by Pat Brisson and Nancy Cote

All about Feet

Take off your child's shoes and socks and talk about different parts of the foot and what we use our feet for. Encourage your child to walk on different types of surfaces and tell you what it feels like. Some surfaces your child could walk on are: tile, carpet, wood, grass, smooth pebbles, sand, and pillows. Walking on different types of surfaces helps your child develop balance and coordination. Put a circle on the floor with masking tape. Encourage your child to walk on the circle. Ask them to do different movements using their feet, like jumping, marching, running, hopping, skipping and dancing.

Make a Penguin Puppet

Use a paper sack to make a penguin puppet. Help your child glue on black construction paper for the wings, and make a face for the penguin.

Make Penguin Cookies

You will need sugar cookies, oreos, vanilla frosting and chocolate chips. Have your child frost the sugar cookie. Twist the oreo in half then break one side in half. Put these two half circles on the sugar cookie to look like penguin wings. Use the chocolate chips to add eyes.