Superheros

In my family, we are massive superhero fans. We love all the movies, tv-series etc. Robbie started becoming really interested in them too (age appropriately of course) just after his 2nd birthday so we decided to make superheroes one of our themes. This was one of my favourite themes and has produced games and activities we play regularly. I have added the mind map I used to plan this theme below and have detailed the activities we did.

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Cut and Stick Captain America Shield – resources: red/blue coloured paper (I painted plain white paper blue and red) cut into squares, paper plate, glue, star sticker.

One of Robbie’s favourite superheroes is Captain America. First, we painted two pieces of paper, one red, one blue, and let them dry. Then I cut them into square pieces. Robbie used a glue stick to stick the pieces of paper onto a plain paper plate and stuck a star sticker in the middle to finish it off.

You could use some paper or string stuck onto the back of the paper plate to make a handle to hold the shield with too.

Handprint Superheros – resources: plain paper, paint, googley eyes, pens, glue.

This was another fun and straight forward activity. We painted Robbie’s hands in the colours of the superheroes and stamped them onto pieces of plain paper. Then once they were dry we drew on the details, such as Spiderman’s web and Hulks face, and stuck some googly eyes on with glue.

We used these superhero handprints to make different pictures and crafts. The first was:

Superhero Skyline Picture

We painted a city silhouette, different heights of buildings with windows, onto a plain piece of paper and let it dry while we cut out some of the handprint superheroes. Then Robbie stuck the superheroes onto the background using Pritt-stick.

Superhero Fact Books

For these little books, we made double handprints of each superhero and stuck them together using Sellotape. We then talked about what these superheroes do/say/like/dislike etc. Robbie decided on a piece of information to write in our books.

I miscalculated the direction the hands needed to be to make little books and we ended up with the two sides of the books going the opposite way. If we had used both of Robbie’s hands to stamp the superheroes then this wouldn’t have happened.

This activity was made very basic as Robbie is only 2, but it is something that could be expanded for older children as they could write a little fact file about each superhero inside each book and research facts they didn’t know.

Hulk Cakes – Recipe here

I like to find any excuse to fit some baking into our week. These are an adaptation of a traditional marble cake recipe where we added mint extract and green food colouring into the vanilla sponge to get the Hulk effect. We also added a little bit of leftover white chocolate in the middle of the cakes for a surprise.

The green colouring wasn’t as strong as I hoped it would have turned out. I think gel food colouring would have been more effective. Also, the white chocolate pieces disappeared rather than going gooey but still left a nice white chocolate taste. Generally, they were really fun and tasty.

Playdough Superhero Modelling and Imaginative Play – resources: playdough, toy cars, blocks etc., toy superhero’s.

This activity was mainly set out as free play for Robbie, but he decided that we needed to make a Hulk model from playdough to fit in with his game so we did. We had great fun creating lots of different scenes and scenarios for the superhero using the playdough and toys.

My Superhero Letter Friend – resources: Plain paper, pens, coloured paper/paper painted different colours and dried, glue, googly eyes, cotton wool.

We painted half pieces of A4 paper different colours, left them to dry, then cut them into square shapes. We chose to create a “Super letter R” for Robbie so I drew the outline of an R on a piece of plain paper. Robbie stuck different coloured squares onto the R shape, added a cape and mask drawn on plain paper, some googly eyes and cotton wool for clouds.

Design Your Own Superhero Mask – resources: Plain paper, pens, coloured paper/paper painted different colours and dried, glue, googly eyes.

There were lots of coloured squares leftover from the previous activity, so used these again for this activity. I drew the outline of the mask onto a plain piece of paper, then Robbie used glue to stick on different coloured pieces of paper to design his mask. We also added his superhero name which he decided on himself.

Paper Plate Superhero Masks – resources: paper plate, paint, pens, scissors.

This activity came about as Robbie wanted to dress up as a superhero, but we didn’t have any costumes to hand and couldn’t get to a shop (lockdown 2020). We drew the outline of our Spiderman and Captain America masks onto paper plates with a pen, then painted them and left them to dry. Once they were dry we drew/ stuck on the details, then cut out the eye spaces.

You could add string/elastic on the back of the masks which would let them be worn as a mask or stick them onto a lolly stick.

Match the Picture Game – resources: cardboard (an old amazon box is ideal), glue, printed pictures of superheroes.

This was a great activity and one that Robbie loves to still play with. We printed some pictures of superheroes and stuck them onto pieces of cardboard with glue. I made the superheroes the size of half an A4 piece of paper. I then cut each superhero into 3 giving us a head, body and legs for each hero.

We found lots of different ways to play with these.
1. I put all the heroes out with their body parts mixed up and Robbie had to swap bits around to make a complete superhero.
2. I put all the superhero heads out in a line, then laid all the bodies and leg out mixed up and Robbie had to find the matching body/legs for the head.
3. I laid all the pieced out on the floor mixed up and Robbie’s job was to end up with complete superheroes by matching all three pieces together.

Shape Matching Cape Design / Design Your Own Cape – resources: plain paper, pens, glue, shapes to draw round.

I drew a cape outline on a piece of plain paper, then drew round different shapes within the outline. I then drew around the same shapes on a separate piece of paper, we coloured them in and I cut them out. Robbie matched these with the shapes on the cape and stuck them on with glue.

During this activity, Robbie was really enthusiastic about colouring-in and drawing on the cape, so I drew a second outline on another piece of paper and let him have free rein of how he decorated and designed it, which he really enjoyed.

Egg Box Superhero Mask – resources: empty egg box, paint, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, glue.

We cut an empty egg box into 3 and painted the sections in nice bright colours. Once they were dry we stuck googly eyes on to them with glue and attached pipe cleaners to them through small holes in the side of the masks to create a headband.

Toilet Roll Tube Superhero Cuffs – resources: toilet roll tubes, paint, stickers, pompoms, sequins, scissors.

For this activity, we painted two toilet roll tubes and stuck stickers, sequins, pompoms and shapes on once it was dry. I had thought to cut a section out down one side so they could slip onto Robbie’s arm and sit like a cuff, but he wasn’t keen on this idea so we left them whole.

Superhero Secret Message – resources: plain paper, white crayon/white candle, paint (watercolour or watered down children’s paint).

This was a great activity and Robbie found it fascinating. While he was napping I used an old birthday cake candle to write a secret message on half an A4 piece of paper. We then watered down some blue paint and Robbie painted over the whole piece of paper which revealed the hidden message.

I made a simple message for Robbie as he is only 2, but for older children, you could tie this activity in with some of the others here and make the message clues for finding superheroes that have been kidnapped or how to save them. This activity could also be used to practice letters/sounds/number/common words etc. in a more general learning scenario.

Saving Frozen Superheroes – resources: toy superheroes/human figures, ice cube tray, warm water, paintbrushes and assorted utensils.

This is an activity I did a lot with Robbie throughout our themed weeks as it was easy, fun and a good sensory experience for him. I put his Duplo superheroes into an ice cube tray filled with water and put them into the freezer for a few hours. When we were ready to do the activity I pressed them out onto a baking tray and gave Robbie warm water, paintbrushes, Calpol syringes, spoons and other utensils to use to melt the ice.

We talked about how the ice felt in his hands and what was best for making the ice melt.

Superhero Messy Play – resources: superhero/human figure toys, bowl with water, shaving foam on a tray, homemade moon sand (8 cups of flour + 1 cup baby/vegetable oil) and fake snow (4oz cornflour + 1/4 cup body lotion) in trays.

This is another activity I like to do a lot with Robbie. It’s great to explore all the different textures and materials. I filled bowls and trays with water, shaving foam, moon sand and fake snow and brought out Robbie’s Duplo superheroes and some cars. He had great fun making up different scenarios for his characters using different messy play materials.

I like to strip Robbie to his pants for activities like this as they are messy. That way I don’t have to worry about his clothes getting messy and he is free to explore the messy play materials any way he wants.