Fun Activities for Kids

Family movie nights are fun and healthy, but it can be hard to find movies that everyone will enjoy.
My Neighbor Totoro is a classic animated film from legendary director Hayao Miyazaki is a great choice. Audiences of all ages and cultures can relate to the characters and it’s one of my all time favorite movies. You’ll find My Neighbor Totoro at most video stores. Netflix has it for sure and sometimes you can find it for free at your local library!

My Neighbor Totoro is the story of a Japanese family who moves to a country house and discovers that magical spirits live in the tangled woods next door. Two daughters and their easy-going father have fun exploring and getting to know their neighbors (supernatural and human) while they anticipate the return of the mother from a hospital in the city. Mei, the younger daughter, is 4, clumsy, hilarious and has a hard time dealing with her mother’s absence. Her slightly calmer 8 year old sister, Satsuki, tries to stay positive while filling their mother’s role.

It is absolutely a perfect family movie. There are several English-dubbed versions available through Disney. I also like the Japanese version if everyone in your family can read subtitles. It’s surprising how much emotion translates through the Japanese actors’ voices. The intense emotional bursts and intuitive story telling technique are easy for toddlers to understand while engaging scenery, character dynamics and imaginative creatures make it a film that anyone will love.
And for an extra memorable night of family fun, I’ll share a couple of easy projects to complement the experience of watching this special film together. I hope you enjoy them!

A Delicious Snack to Eat with My Neighbor Totoro
I tried to come up with my own Totoro snack but I’m simply an awful and uncreative cook. So I found this recipe at Tiny Urban Kitchen! It’s simple enough for anyone to do with inexpensive ingredients, but the end result is a memorable and special treat that is so delicious!

Materials

• 3 Tablespoons of Butter or Margarine
• 1 Package of regular marshmallows
• 6 cups of Kellogg’s Rice Crispies
• 1 Bag of Baking Chocolate Chips
• Canola Oil (optional for making chocolate easier to stir)
• 1 Bag of White Chocolate Chips
• A toothpick

Directions

Check out Tiny Urban Kitchen for full directions. They’re really easy. In short, you make Rice Krispie treat mix, squish it into balls and add on ears. Then melt chocolate chips in the microwave, dip the Totoros half-way and add the white chocolate chips for eyes!

Make My Neighbor Totoro Magnets Together
After watching the movie it’s comforting to talk and share an activity as a family. Making these Totoro Magnets is fun and easy. If your family crafts, you probably have everything you need already. And if you don’t craft these items are inexpensive. You’ll need this Free Totoro Template that I made especially for you to download!
Materials

• Assorted Wiggly Eyes
• Magnets
• Craft Glue (unless you have eyes and magnets with adhesive on the back)
• Colored Pencils, Crayons or Markers
• And print out the Totoro Template

Directions

1. Let each family member color in some of their favorite Totoros. Print multiple sheets if you need to. You can make them look like the ones in the movie or go crazy with color!
2. Cut them out. (Make sure that little kids get help with this step.)
3. Attach the wiggly eyes. For the two larger Totoros make sure the eyes are very far apart.
4. Stick the magnets to the back.
5. Put them on the fridge and Enjoy!

This has been a Growing Tree Toys Let’s Play post. The movie images are from Studio Ghibli Blog and BoingBoing. The trailer is from sqeakingkev on Youtube.

This year, as a reminder to be more aware of my impact on the environment, I decided to make a terrarium for Earth Day. Terrariums are containers with fascinating and beautiful plantscapes inside—they’re like little worlds.
My terrarium project was inspired by the expert tips and ideas at stormthecastle.com. Here’s what I did.
First, I did was not spend a lot of money. The most expensive item was activated charcoal and it cost 7 dollars at my neighborhood pet shop. I decided to splurge because activated charcoal will filter smells from any future decomposing plant matter. In total, all of my materials cost less than 12 dollars and I was able to walk to all of the stores!

• Small Stones or Pebbles (Not pictured. I found mine in the driveway.)

• Activated Charcoal (Most pet stores will have this.)

• Small plants or seeds (I used thyme and some type of fern from my neighborhood flower shop)

• A container (I had this green pitcher lying about. Plastic soda bottles and small jars with lids are great for making terrariums with kids. Try to recycle a container for your terrarium or find something cool at home.)

• Soil (Also from the flower shop. This little bag only cost 94 cents!)

• Spanish moss (I didn’t know where to get this and it’s optional. It would keep dirt from settling into the charcoal, while allowing air and water to cycle through.)

• Cover the bottom of the container with some stones. This will keep the soil from getting too wet.

• Add a layer of activated charcoal.

• Now cover that layer with the Spanish moss if you have it. I did not.

• Dirt!

• Arrange your plants. Doing this in a container was a little harder than I anticipated. My terrarium looks jungle-wild! Make sure that the roots are well covered and have room to expand downward. I mixed taller plants with the thyme to give the scene visual appeal.

• Water! The soil should always be damp but not soggy. Check it every few days. Enclosed terrariums need less frequent watering. They go through a water cycle, reusing their own condensation. Open terrariums, like mine, also collect condensation, but more water escapes through the top.

• After I watered my terrarium I patted down the soil. If you’re using Spanish moss, the last step is to cover any open soil with a layer of it.

I added my favorite Schleich cow figure for fun. Like the pitcher, it was also lying about uselessly. Even though it looks out of place in such a wild environment, I think the cow gives a sense of scale to my terrarium and makes it interesting.
You still have 10 days before the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. That’s plenty of time to prepare this simple craft and get really creative. We’d love to see pictures of the terrariums you make. Send them to ellen (at) growingtreetoys (dot) com and we’ll put them on the blog!
Happy planting, everyone!
This post is a part of the Growing Tree Toys Earth Day 2010 Series. Terrarium Kits will be for sale on our site within 2 months—so look out! And for anything else that you ever wanted to know about terrarium making, explore stormthecastle.com.