Theme Help.....Ninja Turtles

[daycare]

I am letting all of the kids pick their own themes this summer. One of my kids chose Ninja Turttles.

I don't even know what they are other than what I saw on google. But I don't know what they do or what to do with them in a theme..

What can I do to plan a Ninja Turtle Theme we will hold it for 2-3 days????

[Crystal]

hmmmm.....how old are they? I wouldn't entertain the idea of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with preschoolers.

[daycare]

Originally Posted by Crystal

hmmmm.....how old are they? I wouldn't entertain the idea of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with preschoolers.

3 kids 5
1 kid 5.5
the rest are a mix of 3-4 year olds

are they bad? again I don't know what they are

[AfterSchoolMom]

Well...you could go with actual turtles, with famous artists (their names are Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), you could do make your own pizza (their favorite food), you could have them make super hero masks (they each wear masks that tie around their heads, each one has a different color) and maybe big turtle shells that they could wear.... you could talk about heroes but spin it into "everyday" heroes (police, fire fighters, etc.).

I'd take aspects of Ninja Turtles but stay away from Ninjas, fighting, bad guys, etc.

Edited to add: The Ninja Turtles themselves are not bad. The idea behind them is that they were regular turtles that got into some kind of radioactive stuff and grew into human like turtles. They have a teacher who is a rat (Splinter) who was the pet of a martial arts master. He teaches them how to be "ninjas" and they go around fighting crime. The show (and the movies) may be a bit too mature for young kids - the bad guy (Shredder) is kind of scary. There's also a lot of fighting, but no killing.

(Can you tell that I'm a Mom of three boys? lol)

[spud912]

Originally Posted by Crystal

hmmmm.....how old are they? I wouldn't entertain the idea of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with preschoolers.

I agree, it's kind of violent. Maybe as a substitute you can have a superhero theme for the week and tweak it a bit so it's less commercial.

For example, I would start the week with the kids making up their own superhero. Ask them what special powers they have (like flying, seeing through buildings, etc.).

For arts and crafts, I would get squares of various fabrics from a fabric store or something you don't need anymore (old t-shirts, sheets, etc.). Then have the kids each decorate their square with fabric paint and/or markers. Use a clothespin to clip the square into a cape around each child so they can act out their made up superhero.

Find some books about superheros or super powers (that are not the commercial type of superheros).

Talk about real life superheros (firemen, policemen, lifeguards).

[spud912]

Originally Posted by AfterSchoolMom

Well...you could go with actual turtles, with famous artists (their names are Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), you could do make your own pizza (their favorite food), you could have them make super hero masks (they each wear masks that tie around their heads, each one has a different color) and maybe big turtle shells that they could wear.... you could talk about heroes but spin it into "everyday" heroes (police, fire fighters, etc.).

I'd take aspects of Ninja Turtles but stay away from Ninjas, fighting, bad guys, etc.

Edited to add: The Ninja Turtles themselves are not bad. The idea behind them is that they were regular turtles that got into some kind of radioactive stuff and grew into human like turtles. They have a teacher who is a rat (Splinter) who was the pet of a martial arts master. He teaches them how to be "ninjas" and they go around fighting crime. The show (and the movies) may be a bit too mature for young kids - the bad guy (Shredder) is kind of scary. There's also a lot of fighting, but no killing.

(Can you tell that I'm a Mom of three boys? lol)

Those are great ideas!

[daycare]

Originally Posted by spud912

I agree, it's kind of violent. Maybe as a substitute you can have a superhero theme for the week and tweak it a bit so it's less commercial.

For example, I would start the week with the kids making up their own superhero. Ask them what special powers they have (like flying, seeing through buildings, etc.).

For arts and crafts, I would get squares of various fabrics from a fabric store or something you don't need anymore (old t-shirts, sheets, etc.). Then have the kids each decorate their square with fabric paint and/or markers. Use a clothespin to clip the square into a cape around each child so they can act out their made up superhero.

Find some books about superheros or super powers (that are not the commercial type of superheros).

Talk about real life superheros (firemen, policemen, lifeguards).

another child has already picked super heros...

I asked the child who chose Ninja Turtles if they could come up with somethign else and they said Bey Blades....My son has a million of those, but I don't know how to bring that into a theme

[daycare]

Originally Posted by spud912

Those are great ideas!

ditto that.....that sounds like LOTS of fun.... I think that I Could something like that and we could make our own pizza....

I am going to try to see a video of it...

[daycare]

Originally Posted by AfterSchoolMom

Well...you could go with actual turtles, with famous artists (their names are Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael), you could do make your own pizza (their favorite food), you could have them make super hero masks (they each wear masks that tie around their heads, each one has a different color) and maybe big turtle shells that they could wear.... you could talk about heroes but spin it into "everyday" heroes (police, fire fighters, etc.).

I'd take aspects of Ninja Turtles but stay away from Ninjas, fighting, bad guys, etc.

Edited to add: The Ninja Turtles themselves are not bad. The idea behind them is that they were regular turtles that got into some kind of radioactive stuff and grew into human like turtles. They have a teacher who is a rat (Splinter) who was the pet of a martial arts master. He teaches them how to be "ninjas" and they go around fighting crime. The show (and the movies) may be a bit too mature for young kids - the bad guy (Shredder) is kind of scary. There's also a lot of fighting, but no killing.

(Can you tell that I'm a Mom of three boys? lol)

thank you so much for this......YOU rock...your information was very very helpful

[AfterSchoolMom]

Originally Posted by daycare

another child has already picked super heros...

I asked the child who chose Ninja Turtles if they could come up with somethign else and they said Bey Blades....My son has a million of those, but I don't know how to bring that into a theme

There's even LESS to go on with Bey Blades. That cartoon was built around the toy. There's no message there at all. Ridiculous, really.

[Crystal]

I like afterschoolmom's ideas. That would work.....and I'd just not focus on the actual show.

[daycare]

Originally Posted by Crystal

I like afterschoolmom's ideas. That would work.....and I'd just not focus on the actual show.

I am not sure why I didnt ask my 17 year old. He came up with the idea of having it cooking and science. We are going to make pizza one day, ooze another day, turtle vs rabbit race.

We will make colored headbands for the kids and play games with bean bags..

[preschoolteacher]

Why not learn about the famous painters/artists that the turtles were named after? Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello (sculptor), Raphael (painter and architect)? THAT would be so fun! You could show them pictures of the famous artists' work and have a painting day or a sculpture day with clay.

[daycare]

Originally Posted by preschoolteacher

Why not learn about the famous painters/artists that the turtles were named after? Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Donatello (sculptor), Raphael (painter and architect)? THAT would be so fun! You could show them pictures of the famous artists' work and have a painting day or a sculpture day with clay.

I love this!!! again I know nothing about these turtle guys....other than the pictures that I saw, Crystal you are right they look pretty violent. I don't do any kind of violent play of any kind. No swords, guns etc