Learning to enjoy time at home and with family members is I think one of the best budget saving lessons I can give my children. So many of us have so much at our disposal right in our own homes. We will often read a book or watch a movie and then have a whole day of fun things we do that go along with them. Other than locating the movie or book and maybe doing a quick search online this is not something I do beforehand and my rule is that we only use things we already have. We don’t go out and buy stuff to do these themed days, the boys help me put together the activities and that is part of the fun!
Alice In Wonderland is admittedly a book I didn’t fully grasp until college…I’m sure my kiddos don’t either, but we have been enjoying reading it. To celebrate completing it we had An Alice in Wonderland day.
Here are a few ideas I came up with along with some links I used to find items:
The animated movie Alice in Wonderland released in 1951 is a Disney classic that everyone loves. These activities would also work well for preschool or elementary school classes and many of the ideas can be used for party games, activities or goodie bags.
Free Printable Coloring Pages
This link offers nineteen pages to print out and color. Most of the pages are scenes from the movie.
Online Games
Alice in Wonderland Concentration game.
Here you can play Chess with the Red Queen. You can also play real Chess or if your kiddos are younger Checkers.
This game is called the Queen of Hearts Rose Race. You hide roses in squares on a board. Then you also get to hide spades. You take turns with the Queen trying to find her roses, while she tries to find yours. You get extra turns when you find a rose, you lose your turns if you click on a spade.
Activities
Have an Unbirthday Party or a Tea Party
Make a small cake, wrap up a toy your child already has. Enjoy the cake and let your child open the present.
I have a two year old, so I am always trying to find simple and quick activities for him that help him learn. However I also have a seven year old so in order to keep his attention the activities also usually need to relate to our theme (having them be quick also helps) He is usually willing to go along with an activity that will benefit Kian if he knows it will be fast. Here are a few we did:
Big and Small In the movie Alice changes sizes several times. Talk to your child about big and small. Teach them the following rhymes: I can make myself real big. (Stand up and reach your arms into the air) By standing up straight and tall. But when I’m tired of being big. I can make my self get small. (crouch down on the ground) Once There Was a Snowman Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman Once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall (make yourself as tall as you can) In the sun he melted, melted, melted In the sun he melted small, small, small (make yourself as small as possible) Teach your child this rhyme to help them learn how caterpillars turn into butterflies: A caterpillar crawled (have your fingers crawl up your arm) To the top of the tree, “I think I’ll take a nap,” says he. (pretend to take a nap) Under a leaf he began to creep To spin his cocoon, And he fell asleep. All winter long he slept in his bed, ‘Til spring came along one day and said, “Wake up, wake up little sleepyhead (pretend to be waking someone up) Wake up, it’s time to get out of bed. So he opened his eyes that sunshiny day (make a butterfly by hooking your thumbs together and having your fingers be the wings) Look! He was a butterfly and flew away (make the butterfly fly away)This site features numerous activities. You can make Alice grow and shrink, play a guessing game, do a word search, attend a mad tea party, help Alice through a maze, learn how to make Queen of Heart Tarts, do a crossword, take part in Tweedledum and Tweedledee’s battle and much more.
This is a link to the book Alice in Wonderland being read aloud with fun pictures.
Ideas for having a mad tea party or unbirthday party celebration.
Play Croquet
Get out a croquet set or borrow one and play the game (without little hedge hogs) that the Queen of Hearts enjoys so much. Don’t have a set or someone to borrow it from? This link has directions on how to make your own homemade croquet set where you use a bouncy ball and kick it through hoops or foam noodles. This is perfect if you have younger kids that might get frustrated trying to play regular croquet.
Make Fun Foods
Some of the foods featured on this pinterest board by Anastasia Huckvale-Dowling are super fancy, but they are a great way to get ideas even if you aren’t going all out.
These apple and marshmallow mushrooms are super easy and cute. Click image to be taken to the pinterest board.
