The Best Ever Wild Robot Movie Night

The first time my kids made me watch The Wild Robot I did not expect to like it even a little bit. I have never been more wrong. I LOVED it! This movie has something for everyone. It is so cute for the kids and funny and emotional all at the same time and it is visually stunning! I also learned that, as parents, we too must sometimes learn to ignore our programming.

The kids did not necessarily need to be persuaded to watch this movie again because they already knew they loved it. But this theme night was so fun and easy to put together. These ideas turn movie night into an event that they will never forget and I know your kids will love it too. There are a lot of ideas below. Feel free to pick and choose which ideas work best for you.

When Roz lands on the beach in the storm have snacks prepared in individual size bags. Then start dropping them around the kids saying, “oh no, what a terrible storm. There are robot parts everywhere!”

Here are some snack ideas that can be labeled as various robot parts:

• Chex Mix labeled “Nuts and Bolts”

• Potato chips (or banana or dried apple chips) labeled “Memory Chips”

• Licorice labeled “Loose Wires”

• Kool-Aid bottles labeled “Hydraulic Fluid”

• Boxes of raisins labeled as battery packs. Wrap these in tinfoil first and add battery symbols with clipart or sharpie. Try the yogurt covered raisins. If your kids have never had them before they might think it is candy.

Make a Snack to Feed Brightbill

Task Acquired: Eat, Swim, Fly by Fall or eeer. Because Brightbill eats worms of course we will make the time-tested favorite classic dirt cup. This is one the kids can make themselves. It’s not just a snack it’s an activity.

• Prepare a pack of instant Chocolate Jello according to package directions or buy ready to eat chocolate snack packs.

• Put some Oreos or chocolate cookies in a sandwich bag and pound them with a meat tenderizer, a rolling pin, or just crush them in your hands.

• Have the kids fill their cups with pudding and top with crushed cookies and gummy worms.

The next task is to build a shelter and fire to keep warm.

• My kids used some brown construction paper and tore it into logs to place around our round glass top coffee table

• You can easily stick with a classic pillow and blanket fort. Just grab some extra pillows and blankets and let your imagination run wild.

• Or, if you have room you can set up a small sized camping tent right in front of the T.V. just make sure to point the door in the right direction and be prepared to spend the rest of the movie in the tent because the kids will not want to leave. If your tent has been used before you may want to lay a clean tarp underneath to be sure to protect your flooring. And remember this is an activity for the kids so give them the idea and help them execute it, but don’t stress if it’s not perfect.

• To build the fire we tore up pieces of tissue paper and used a glue stick to glue them around a clear plastic cup. Then flip the cup over and place it over a battery-operated LED tea light or puck light.

Escape from the robot factory

When Brightbill is trapped in the robot factory hand the kids a maze and tell them they must help Brightbill escape the factory.

Winter Storm Rescue

While they are completing the maze, gather up as many of their stuffed animals as you can and start hiding them around the house. Then when Roz goes out to rescue the animals from the snowstorm, tell the kids the house is the forest, go rescue the animals. They will run around the house to find the animals and bring them back to the shelter you have built. My daughter loved this one so much that after they had found them all she asked if they could play again. She even offered to help hide the animals so I could play with them. They will still play this game every once in a while. Taking turns hiding and rescuing the animals.

Bonus Tip:

Kids generally don’t like to clean but they love to play and pretend. Ask them to pretend they are a ROZ available for task assignment. They will love to pretend they are robots as they dust or vacuum. Every once in a while, they may pretend to power down and wait for you to charge their batteries. Feed them one skittle or cheese cube or your snack of choice to reboot their energy stores. The kids will literally ask to play this game, and they actually do get a little bit of cleaning done along the way.

Here are some additional activity ideas if you would like to sprinkle in a few more:

• Gather items from the recycling and craft supplies and let the kids design their own robot.

• Build terrariums with nature elements and a few robot parts like nuts, bolts or gears.

• Put on some techno music and have a robot dance party.