The Wizard of Oz 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 The Wizard of Oz released in 1939. 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.

Craft Time

Use an empty, clean and dried milk carton to make a house. Help your child glue paper onto the sides and then let them draw on windows, a door and any other decorations they want to add.

Print out nine to ten outlines of a horse. They can be smaller and you should easily be able to print them all out on one page. Cut them apart and then have your child color each one a different color. When your child is done coloring them, lay them out on the floor and have your child jump to the color horse that you call out.

Read a Book

There are lots of fun books you can read with your child that go along with The Wizard of Oz. Be sure to involve your child, make reading a fun experience. Ask them questions about the pictures; have them point out certain items in the pictures. At the end of the story, ask them questions about what happened or have them act out certain parts. Following are a few suggestions for books to read.

• The Magic School Bus Makes A Rainbow: A Book About Color (Magic School Bus) (TV Tie-In) by Joanna Cole, Bruce Degan, and Carolyn Braken
• A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
• Rainbow Rob (Touch and Feel Picture Books) by Roger Priddy
• I'm a Dingle Dangle Scarecrow (Board Books for Babies) by Annie Kubler

Let's Pretend

Get out a pair of "special" shoes. If you have a red pair get those out. Have your child put them on and explain that you are going to pretend that they are the ruby slippers. Show them how to click their heels and tell the slippers where they want to go. Then pretend to be wherever your child has asked to go.