Mulan 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 Mulan released in 1998. 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.

Snack Time

Get a couple of fortune cookies and some chopsticks. Show your child how to open the fortune cookie and how to eat with the chopsticks. Provide them with finger foods to practice on such as marshmallows, cereal and pretzels. If you have time and the resources you might want to plan a dinner with Chinese food. Serve egg rolls, rice, stir fry or any other Chinese food you would like to encourage your child to try.

Read a Book

In the movie, Mulan is given a cricket for luck. Talk to your child about what a cricket is then read one of these books:

• The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
• Old Cricket by Lisa Wheeler and Ponder Goembel
• Little Cricket's Song by Reader's Digest
• Hoppy the Cricket...Jumps High and Low (Baby Bug Books) by Jonathan Lambert

Talk with your child about the pictures. Ask them to point out certain things in the pictures. Ask them questions about the story or have them act out certain parts.

Craft Time

Make a Chinese takeout box. A printable template can be found here: http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/takeout.htm. Let your child decorate the box by coloring it and adding stickers.

Make a streamer by attaching one end of a piece of crepe paper to a chopstick. Let your child dance with the streamer. Practice making specific shapes, or if your child is a little older ask them to make letters in the air.

Show your child how to make a fan out of paper, then help them color a piece of paper then fold it to make their own fan.

Tell A Story

In China a families ancestors and elders are very important tell your child a story about when you were younger or a story about a grandparent. Show them pictures. They'll enjoy seeing and learning more about their family.