For Grown-Ups

Family Movie Night Activity Pack

A ready-to-go plan for a home movie night with pre-show trivia, a sound-effects warm-up, an intermission flip book, and a story chat after the credits. Everything uses paper, crayons, and stuff you already have.

Learning goal: Families will use a movie night to practice the light, animation, sound, and storytelling ideas from Flick's Movie Club.
Ages: 6-11 (younger siblings can join with help)
Time: About 30-40 minutes of activities, plus the movie
Group: One household, or family plus a few friends

Print this guide (PDF)

Materials

A movie your family already owns, rents, or streams for home viewing
Printables: Event Handout (trivia side), Coloring Pack, Flip Book Worksheet, Storyboard Blank, Movie Explorer Certificate
Crayons, pencils, and a sticky-note pad
Paper and scissors for homemade tickets
Snacks
Blankets or pillows for seating

Before you start

Pick the movie together. A grown-up checks the rating and content ahead of time.
Print the handout and activity sheets.
Tape down or cover any power cords where people will walk.
Plan where the room lights, lamps, or blinds are so you can make the room dark fast.

Step by step

Ticket booth: kids make and hand out paper tickets and assign seats.
Lights check: turn the room lights on, then off, and ask kids why the screen looks better in the dark. Extra light on a screen washes out the picture.
Pre-show trivia: play Round 1 from the Event Handout. Keep score if your family likes a little competition.
Sound check: each kid picks one homemade sound effect (gloves for wings, cups for hooves) and performs it before the movie starts.
Start the movie.
Intermission (optional): pause halfway and have each kid draw a 6-page flip book of something that just happened.
After the credits, talk it through: What happened at the beginning? What was the big problem in the middle? How did it end?
Draw your favorite scene in one Storyboard Blank box, or color a page from the Coloring Pack.
Hand out Movie Explorer Certificates.

Safety

Tape down cords and keep walkways clear before the lights go off.
Keep popcorn, hard candy, and nuts away from toddlers.
Never shine a flashlight into anyone's eyes.
Outside, check the forecast. If you hear thunder, move the show indoors.
Watching at home with family and friends is private viewing. Moving the show to a public place or opening it to the public is different. That's general info, not legal advice.

Talk about it

What was the problem in the middle of the movie, and who fixed it?
Which sound in the movie do you think a Foley artist could have made by hand?
Did any scene use a close-up? Why do you think the filmmakers chose it?
If you could change the ending, what would you do?
Why do we turn the lights off for a movie?

Make it easier

Keep it to tickets, one trivia round, and the beginning-middle-end chat after the movie.

Take it further

Take it to the backyard for family and friends on a clear night, and start after sunset once the sky gets dark. If you're thinking about a bigger show that's open to the public, like a neighborhood, school, or community event, public screenings generally need public performance rights. For reference, every Pro Stylez Cinema booking includes the screen, projector, sound, and a crew for setup, operation, and teardown. Concessions, lighting, licensing, and travel are quoted separately.

No screen? No problem

Screen-free movie night: turn the lights down and tell a story with flashlight shadow puppets on a wall (grown-up runs the flashlight), then do the trivia, sound effects, and story chat the same way.

Printables

Event Handout Example (two-sided) (PDF, 190 KB)
All 14 Coloring Pages (PDF, 2 MB)
Make a Flipbook (PDF, 20 KB)
Blank Storyboard (PDF, 20 KB)
Movie Explorer Certificate (PDF, 115 KB)

Sources

Public Performance Rights, Georgetown University Library (library.georgetown.edu)
Services, Pro Stylez Cinema (prostylezcinema.com)
Contrast ratio, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Understanding Lightning: Thunder, National Weather Service (NOAA) (www.weather.gov)

Source web addresses are listed as text on purpose, so the club doesn’t link children to outside sites.

These activities aren’t tied to any curriculum standard. Adapt them to your group.