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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book and a movie night
I remember reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 4th grade. There are a plethora of amazing books for the 3-5 grade range to incorporate into my homeschool reading, so I have a feeling we’re going to be reading Roald Dahl books for quite a while (not to mention there are so many movies made of his books, perfect for our book and a movie series).
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory overview
Charlie Bucket lives in a small house with his parents and all of his grandparents. One day reclusive candy maker Willie Wonka says he will give a tour of his factory to 6 people who find a golden ticket in one of his candy bars. Charlie finds the last golden ticket and is taken on an amazing tour of the Chocolate Factory.
That doesn’t really do justice to the book, but it’s hard to truly convey the story without reading it, Roald Dahl has a wonderful imagination that inspires kids of all ages.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Snacks
Our library had a wonderful book of snacks inspired by Roald Dahl, but they all required a candy thermometer to make. My personal rule for cooking nixes any recipe requiring a candy thermometer because every time I’ve tried a recipe using one it has ended horribly. HORRIBLY (see our Rock Cycle unit for a reference). So, I’ll recommend it to you if you’re good at baking and with a candy thermometer, it has great ideas and they were truly whimsical. But, way above my skill level.
Instead I asked the kids what they suggested. Their big memory was of the chocolate river, we had to use our chocolate fountain just like the chocolate river. First snack covered, check.
Then we went to our local candy shop. They have bin after bin of unusual bulk candies. Admittedly most of them were variations on gummy candies in different shapes, but my kids eyes were appropriately wide as they wandered through the store. I let each of the kids choose two different types of candy.
I added in a few random other snacks, we included fruit by the foot for lickable wallpaper, random small boxes of Nerds made by Willie Wonka…… It was a sugar smorgasbord. Guaranteed to give you a sugar high.
We settled in and watched the original Gene Wilder movie. The next day we settled in to start watching the Johnnie Depp movie, but the kids all agreed it was rather creepy, and our library copy had enough scratches to make it unwatchable.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory assignment
This time I gave them a simple assignment, pick a candy or invent one from the book. Then create an ad to convince everyone to buy your candy. The kids quite enjoyed the project, and had a lot of fun creating their visuals and their script.
More Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ideas
Because my snacks aren’t super exciting looking, and there’s tons more you can do with this book, I asked the bloggers from Kid Blogger Network to give me some more suggestions, and they came through in spades.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory play ideas
Comments
7 responses to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book and a movie night”
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory definitely lends itself to a fun literature study! Kids and candy go hand in hand! LOL How fun!
That they do.
We all enjoyed the book, and my husband and I watched both movies. I think that they took way too many liberties with the book in the second one!
Not too surprising, I don’t think modern film-makers have tremendous respect for the books they adapt, only the money they can potentially bring in.
Always a hit this book isn’t it! And those chocolate fountains, so fun but oh what a mess they make. We had ours out for a birthday party and there was chocolate flying everywhere!
I know, and so tough to clean afterwards.
Charlie was a favorite of mine! You have some incredible extension ideas for your book & a movie list! Thanks for always sharing brilliance. 🙂
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