With a Disney princess fan in your house more than likely you have been roped into reading one of the many books available. While I love the movies and think they have great messages the book versions of the stories, I’m sure you can agree, aren’t literary masterpieces.
So how can you make reading these types of books a little more educational and a little more interesting?
Use them as a retelling opportunity.
If your little one is familiar with the Movie version of a story they can use the pictures to aid them in retelling the story. This not only helps build memory, sequencing and ordering as well as developing an understanding of the narrative structure of introduction, complication, resolution, and an ending.
An opportunity to discuss personality traits.
Disney has moved away from the damsel in distress needing to be saved by a prince narrative, thank goodness for that. While the princesses are still stunningly beautiful, it really is the least impressive apart of them. Draw your child’s attention to the connection to family Mirabel shows, the strength of Moana, Elsa’s Loyalty and Merida’s determination.
Ask your child how they can show these attributes in their lives? Develop some affirmation sayings based on these attributes.
Draw attention to the details.
The images fly past so fast in movies, use the opportunity to view the still images to look for the little details you may miss in the movie version. What is in the background of the characters? Look at the expression of the character, how might they be feeling and how do you know? Disney is known for its amazing details in their costumes, what images can you find on Mirabel’s skirt?
Come and share any other ideas you may have on our Instagram post.
