Have plans to see Cars 2 anytime this summer? Want to know how you can throw in a little bit of learning–and I mean a little bit–before you hit the theater to watch a bunch of crazy cars onscreen?
We’ve been chompin at the bit since January to see Cars 2, and today was our big day. Woo-hoo! (I mean. . . Ka-chow!)
Here’s the skinny on how I turned this totally fun, long-anticipated trip to the movies into a more meaningful event (shhhhhh!), Smart Summer Challenge-style:
- Cars 2– What You Should Do Before You See The Movie: I knew from watching the trailers for the movie that this time Lightening and his pals moved out of the comfort of Radiator Springs and into the international racing world.
Knowing that this week’s Smart Summer Challenge focus was Me on the Map, I decided to do a little schema-activating to help Maddy, Owen, and Cora to prepare for the movie.
We learned a bit about a few countries before we visited them on the big screen, thanks to Cars 2.
What we did were 3 simple things: we looked at some online maps of locations I knew would be in the movie–Japan, Italy, France, and England; we looked at some movie trailers; and we did some Cars 2-related fun sheets. That’s it.
- Online Maps: We used National Geographic Kids map of Japan, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. The kids knew for a few days that we were going to the movies this afternoon, so after breakfast, I asked them to meet me at the laptop for some Cars 2 news, and they were there in a heartbeat.
I told them that this new Cars movie wouldn’t take place in Radiator Springs and instead it would take place in different countries around the world–places like Japan, Italy, France, and England and that we were going to take a few minutes to find those countries on a map.
What I love about the National Geographic Kids site is that the People and Places, under ‘Countries’ is really kid-friendly and engaging. With photos, videos, and fast facts about each country, I knew it would be just enough for the kids without overwhelming them.
candy anyone? oh, and cool Cars printables
- Movie Trailers: We watched a few trailers to get them excited for the movie and so that they had a basic idea about what they’d see. To me, movie trailers are the equivalent of a pre-reading book walk. We watched:
- Cars 2, Lewis Hamilton and Jeff Gorvette Cameos (so we’d meet the new guys)
- Cars 2, Japan race (so we’d see Japan that we just learned a bit about)
- Cars 2, Tokyo party
- Cars 2, Legos (this is so cool–we found this as we were watching the other trailers online)
- Cars 2, Behind the scenes Lego trailer (
- Cars 2 Printables: I kept this really simple. Though we printed out the Mel Dorado interviews, we didn’t read them until after the movie which was better because Maddy and Owen knew who I was reading about and could understand better.
- I did, however, find that Cora especially loved the connect-the-dots and Owen liked the matching pages. Simple counting and examining with a critical eye, and these sheers gave us a closer look Lightning’s Biggest Fan’ and ‘Italy’s Superstar’ while giving the kids a chance to play with numbers and do some counting. They can be found on the Disney / Random House site.
We didn’t spend hours on this–just the 20 minutes or so between breakfast and swim team–but it was just enough to get them thinking and us talking about what they believed Lightning and his buddies would run into on the world racing scene.
Needless to say, we loved the movie, and when Maddy, Owen, and Cora ran to the huge poster in the theater screaming that they had found France and Japan, it confirmed that our teeny bit of map time was worth it.
And Owen said as he went to bed that he was a little sad that he had grown too big for Cars 1 but that he really, really loved Cars 2. And that he really, really wanted to be a spy when he grew up.
Ka-chow!
Please join Candace of Naturally Educational, MaryLea of Pink and Green Mama, and me for the Smart Summer Challenge, a six-week campaign where we all pledging to sneak in some sort of fun learning into our children’s summer days.
You can follow our calendar if you’d like, but you don’t have to. You can get really crazy, but you don’t have to do that either.
It can be simple learning–even 5 or 10 minutes a day. Anything and everything counts, and all we ask is that you link up here on Fridays and share what you’ve done (meaning: share one way you participated). Each Friday for the next six weeks, we’ll choose one participant to receive an awesome (and I mean totally worth your time awesome) prize.
Our goal is to show all parents that if we can do it, anyone can do it. And if we want our kids meet with success in school and to enjoy learning about the world around them, it’s our job to create a lifestyle of learning for our families. Join us!
lisa
I love this post! My daughter just saw Cars 1 for the first time a few weeks ago, she loved it. My daughter is 2.5 and I am wanting to teach her some basic things of geography because we travel so much. We live in Illinois and fly frequently to Ohio, Tennessee, California, for family and daddy’s work. She love planes and pulling her case around the airport. What age are they ready to grasp the idea of geography (I think she’s too young to ‘get it’)? If she is of the right age now, how do you present it to a 2 year old? It just seems like such a complex thing to explain right now. Maybe you already wrote a post on something like this? 🙂
amy
Hi, Lisa! Thanks so much–You know what? I’m going to throw this ? out to the Smart Summer Challenge Facebook page–is that okay? I’m reaching out to the village for this one: https://www.facebook.com/smartsummerchallenge
amy
Hey Lisa! Have you taken a look at the Smart Summer Challenge FB page? There are TONS of super ideas over there: https://www.facebook.com/smartsummerchallenge
And I’ll add that our having a huge map of the US hanging in the playroom was hugely beneficial for showing my kids where we lived compared to their Nanny and Pap, their great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc.
Rachele @Messy Kids
Thanks Amy! What a great idea!
amy
you got it, Rachele! You’re welcome!
Creative and Curious Kids!
What a great idea! Always time for learning-:).
amy
Amen!
Keri
Awesome! Thanks for the great tip! (And doing all the work LOL) My son is going to see the movie on Friday with his grandpa. He is 6.5 and loved the first one, but now that he’s older he’s not as pumped to see the movie. But this will definitely get him in the spirit!
amy
Ha! You’re welcome, Keri–hope he enjoys it! And if you run across any other resources that we can add to this list, please let me know!
Lauralee
Hi, Curious to see what you thought of the movie. Way different from the first one.
Were you disappointed? How about the kids? I was.
amy
Hi, Lauralee–I actually did enjoy it, though at an hour and 45 minutes, it was a bit long for Cora (4 yo) to sit through. And even with most of the plot being a bit over Maddy and Owen’s heads, they all loved that their car buddies were in other countries, loved the racing, and loved the new characters. They laughed a lot. I am not a fan of guns and shooting, even in a Disney/Pixar film, so as much as I enjoyed it, I have to say that I enjoyed the first Cars movie better.
Jen Lilienstein
We’re trying to help parents sneak in learning this summer, too! If you like any of the daily activity suggestions on our blog and would like to reuse them, please feel free. 🙂
All the best,
Jen
Moriyah Shalom
I SOOO love this idea!! I told my husband about it and we are going to start today. We decided to take the boys (7,5,3) to a movie today and it is between Cars 2 (I hope) and Kung Fu Panda. When they wake up (it’s 5am), we will decide together and either way, I will break out the big map, the atlas- why not learn a little how to find a page, etc… and then do the coloring pages, etc… for which ever movie. When we saw K.F. Panda 1, we cooked noodles together also. Learning about food from another country is also fun to do and I always try to get them to help with the cooking as it encourages them to actually try what they cooked.. Thank you so much.
amy
Moriyah–THANK YOU!! HOW fun–LOVE that you cooked noodles before KF panda. You are so creative–I, too, love any sort of learning that involves food and think most kids do, too. Can’t wait to see what you decide to watch!! Your kids will be so excited!
Moriyah Shalom
Well, my husband has never seen a 3D movie and neither have our kids so we opted for KF Panda 3D in the theater, though we did all the activities for Cars @. Ha! But then my husband cheated and they also watched Cars 2 on the computer through one of those websites. We loved the messages that are in KF Panda. My husband says he totally can identify with Po. Actually, we all can. Po’s “challenge” is his weight but each one of us has something that can hold us back from what we want or need to do but we can overcome just as Po did.
amy
Moriyah–
I totally love KF Panda–and it sounds like a really worthwhile message. We’ll have to catch it before the end of the summer! We didn’t see Cars 2 in 3D–luckily our theater had both options. I have read that 3D isn’t great for kids under 8–but I could be wrong. . .
Moriyah Shalom
Oh! I never heard that. Our 3 yr old didn’t want to put his glasses on but the other two were fine with it. I think the next time we will wait until they are older. There are several great messages in KF Panda. My husband is amazing with pulling them out and opening great conversations with the kids. In this one Po finds out who he is and where he came from. Twice it is said that it doesn’t’ matter who you were. What matters is who you decide to be today. I have a son who struggles with low self esteem (he is the stereo-typical sandwich child). We are always trying to help him see himself differently and this message was especially great for him.
Moriyah Shalom
By the way, here is a Disney link for crafts and recipes:
http://family.go.com/disney/disney-cars-crafts-recipes-photo-gallery-pg/
I just found it while preparing for the movie