Welcome back to our year-long series of Disney Family Movie Nights. I’m thrilled that it was recently announced that Disneyland is reopening at the end of this month with limited capacity.
For April, I chose Up, as I love it’s positive message about facing hardship and holding onto family in such a lovely light.
If there’s a favorite Disney of your family’s you’d like us to include in this year’s series, please drop us a comment or DM on Instagram! We’d love to see how your family brings these activities to life—tag us on Instagram with your feedback and thoughts!
XO,
Ashley
April Movie: Up!
April Craft: Thumbprint Balloons
Our April craft was inspired by my daughter’s new addiction to painting. We had just got some new fingerpaint paper tried it out with our Up theme. I poured every color finger paint on a paper plate and let my kids go to town dipping their fingers in it, and then pushing it down on the paper. When they were satisfied with the amount of fingerprints, I let the paper dry and then added this printed up house and drew on the strings. My daughter was so excited to see all her little fingerprints turn into the house balloons just like from the movie, she wanted to do it again!
April Sensory Fun: Cloud Sensory Bin
I had to add something semi-educational into our day, so I decided to use our “up in the clouds” sensory time to talk about weather. I originally got the idea from Mrs. Plemon’s blog where she has lots of fun pre-k and kinder weather activities listed.
We used the same blue water beads from our January bin, and made sensory clouds using the instructions from Mrs. Plemon’s blog. Put Ivory soap in a very large microwave safe dish and microwave it for about 2 (ish) minutes. It turns the soap into fluffy and fun clouds.
That was it! We added the clouds to our water beads and my kids had so much fun for an entire hour! My original plan was to also use these bath toys, but I totally forgot because the clouds and beads were enough fun on their own.
April Activity: Keepy Upy
I’m sure you played this as a kid, but I added a few twists. You’ll start by blowing up a balloon. The goal is to not let it touch the ground, but added the twist of using paddles and fun elements like fans, and open doors to make it harder!
To make the paddles, my kids painted paper plates (they are currently obsessed with painting which is what inspired this twist). I took a few popsicle sticks from our craft mountain and made paddles out of paper plates and popsicle sticks. The kids then had to keep the balloon in the air using only the paddles. Honestly, we had a blast.
If you are a Bluey fan like I am, (yeah that’s right me, not my kids) then you’ll know I stole the name of this activity from the show. If you haven’t seen the episode of Bluey I’m referencing– here is a link!
April Snack/Treat: Up House Snack Plate
I had some left over graham crackers from last month so I decided to start there by breaking them to look like a house on our plate. Next I used sliced and string cheese to make a window, doors, and balloon strings. I ended the snack with sliced fruit and veggies as balloons. It was simple, but a huge hit. My kids even ate the carrots and tomatoes for once!
Feel free to switch out any element! Can’t wait to see yours.
