Team Cambridge
It is that time of the year again! The summers have started and the sweltering heat has children holed up at home, catching up on their favourite comics and books. They captivate their imagination and equip them with action-figures that the young ones launch into their colourful world of fantasy. Which is why, this is prime season for superhero movies. Giving both the parents and kids the opportunity to step out and experience new wonders, summers are the prime season for movies emerging from the Marvel and DC Comics universe.
Picture credit – MARVEL
This year, however, is particularly special since the magnum opus is releasing on the 27th of April. Avengers: Infinity Wars has been a long time in the making, indeed, more than a decade, and all the Marvel movies have come together to create this. Iron Man, Spiderman, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor and many others who have had individual and crossover movies in the past, are all coming together to finish the story that was started in 2008.
Children are very excited to see this feat, a cinematic coup if you will, come to life on screens across the world and it is the perfect time to tap into their fertile mind running wild with superhero figures.
Here are some activities to help you bring out the best in your students-
Earth Warrior – Who will be Captain Earth?
Superheroes saving the world.
(Age: 7-9 yrs)
This is a mind exercise to help them understand that they do not need to have super powers to make a change in the world.
Give each child a piece of paper and help them come up with a superhero/alter ego name for themselves. Ask them to come up with a superpower. This could be done via role play or poster making/collage making. Once they have determined their super power and superhero name, an activity can be done to encourage the child to explain how their power can benefit the earth. How will it help save water or get everyone to be healthy, litter less, etc. A set of goals can be created ahead of time for this purpose.
After this exercise is complete, it is recommended to help the kids understand that their superpowers are only as good as their intention and they do not need superhuman strength to affect those changes, indeed they can start today.
Super Squad – Little Guardians of the Earth
Age (4-6 yrs)
A fun exercise for the younger kids, this one will help them understand organized structures and tackling projects as a group. Begin by dividing your class into 4/6 groups and get the excitement rolling by asking them to give themselves a squad name. Assign different tasks to these tiny superheroes, like identifying leaky faucets in the school, or cleaning and picking up garbage in the school yard. It can even be a prolonged activity conducted after every recess. Help them understand the larger picture by instilling a respect for executing a small task every day that leads to big results.
SuperMath! – Are you a MATHMAN?
(6-12 years)
This activity is for Mathematics teachers and gives them an opportunity to provides students an interactive activity.
The younger students can be asked to write the name of their favourite superhero in big bold letters and then will be asked to identify and count the number of vertical, horizontal and curved lies.
For students slightly older, they can be taught the basics of geometry by being asked to mark the right, acute and obtuse angles in similar text.
Example –
Super Vision- See, learn and draw
(6-7 years)
As an idea for an artistic activity, children of all ages can be asked to talk to their friends and ask them about their favourite superheroes. This is an exercise in data collection as well. Once their data is in place, the next activity is to create a pictogram using stick-ons, harnessing their creativity and helping them interact too!
It is a great time to harness all the buzz around these movies to teach the young ones something interesting via subjects of popular media that they enjoy. It will also give them an opportunity to stretch their imagination and generate some key thought processes about the wellbeing of the home/school and surroundings through the thought experiment of becoming superheroes! We trust you will have fun administering these enjoyable activities to the kids as we are sure they will.
Try these out in your classroom and share your experiences and images with us on connectedtot@cambridge.com. Your entries could win you a prize! Stay tuned for more from Cambridge and keep in touch with us to stay updated.
