Lion King: 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 Lion King released by Disney 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.

Monkey Around

• Look at pictures of monkeys and talk about where they live and how they like to climb trees. Pretend to be a monkey climbing in the trees.
• Say this poem and do the actions:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. (jump up and down)One fell down and hurt his head. (fall onto the floor and touch your head)Mama called the doctor and the doctor said, (pretend to talk on the phone)No more monkeys jumping on the bed. (shake your head no)

• Eat a banana as a snack.

Pretend to be a Lion

Read a book about lions and talk about how lions live, what they eat, where they live etc. Then have your child pretend they are a lion.

Music Time

• In Lion King, African music is featured and a lot of this music features drums. If your child has a drum, get it out and turn on some music and help them find the beat. If you don't have a drum, a pan or a round oats container and a wooden spoon work just as well.
• Make a shaker out of a small plastic container and some dried beans. You may want to tape the lid on with packing tape to keep your child from spilling beans everywhere. Show your child how to shake the container. Let him experiment and find out that he can make different sounds with the shaker.

Learn About Bugs

In the Lion King Pumba and Timon eat bugs as a part of their diet. Take your child outside and help them find a few harmless bugs, like grasshoppers, caterpillars and ladybugs. Encourage your child to pretend to be a few of the bugs he sees. Have him jump around like a grasshopper, wiggle like a caterpillar and pretend to fly like a ladybug. Read a book about bugs so your child can learn why they are important.