At-Home Movie Camp + Studio Ghibli-Inspired Fun

some pretend play ideas + free printables to announce a movie camp

Apparently we’re a bit late for “one last hurrah before school” because some of you have started already! Either way, if your family needs something laidback to help you get through a season of transition—or if you just want to enjoy good things together—you might benefit from announcing to your kids that you will be having Movie Camp. For an alternative (but also related) activity idea, we’ll share some imaginative games to play inspired by the G-rated Studio Ghibli films.

Here’s a PDF of the signs we made (and a blank marquee) but you can invite your kids to make their own!

Fs Movie Camp

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Movie Camp

Simply pick a movie series you want to binge, and watch one per night (or afternoon) for a few days in a row. Choose something that’s artful and that you’re pretty sure you’ll enjoy; you might not love three days of Minions movies 😵‍💫

We chose Studio Ghibli movies; you can watch them on HBO Max (and use a free trial 😉) and many of them are rated G or PG. Since the viewers in our Movie Camp were ages 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 30, we watched My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo, and The Secret World of Arietty.

Common Sense Media and Plugged In can help you get an idea of the family-friendliness of a movie or show that you’re considering. Keep in mind that if you are watching a movie or show with your kids, you can explain concepts that might be confusing and mute/skip parts that might be dark/questionable, so your kids might be able to watch something that’s really good but that might not feel 100% appropriate if they were by themselves.

Movies—like all good stories—are a wonderful way to feel truth, grow in empathy, create inside jokes, and have rich conversations with your kids.

You can also provide coloring sheets—or handicrafts, for older kids—while they watch if they like to keep their hands busy.

Snacks

If the kids can eat snacks in a room they’re normally not allowed to, this will feel like such a treat! You might want to lay out a “popcorn blanket” that can withstand greasy fingers and spilled kernels. Consider getting a silicone microwave popper (and adding plenty of salt and butter!)

You can also try to make your own flavors of popcorn—cheddar, lemon-rosemary, or churro!—inspired by Crafting My Home’s 14 Days of Popcorn, but that’s a lot of work. 😅

Since we were watching Japanese movies, we went to the Asian food store and grabbed some pocky and Ramune soda…it’s the most satisfying bottle to open and drink! See if you can find some snacks that would pair well with whatever you’re watching.

Studio Ghibli-Inspired Fun (even if you haven’t seen the movies)

While you’re watching, you might also want to nudge creative ideas from the movies to inspire your kids’ play, art, etc. While watching, you can subtly take notes here or there on things to talk about later or fun ideas that your kids could imitate while playing pretend. See below for some of the pretend play we came up with after watching the Ghibli movies.

The G-rated movies mentioned above are a wealth of creativity and fun. They stand out from most other children’s flicks because they have original stories, rich character development, a slow pace that lingers in mundane moments, they often portray as loving people who care about their kids…and the artful composition is just really good. Also, check out the IMDB cast credits! You’ll probably recognize most of the English-dub voice actors.

If you haven’t seen these movies, you can still do these activities! P.S. These are great for inviting friends over.

Building a Home for Tiny People - from The Secret World of Arietty

This film is based on The Borrowers, which is about a family of people who are about 4 or 5 inches tall.

When something in your house goes missing, you can say, “Hmm…do you think it the Borrowers needed it?” We don’t advocate lying to your kids, but playing make-believe when everybody’s in on it is so much fun 😊

Your kids can leave notes and tiny treats for the Borrowers, make little homes or gardens for them, etc. and learn to be mindful of the vulnerable. We simply used Lil Woodzeez items in a shoebox. My daughter noticed that her Belle doll looks a lot like Arrietty’s mom, and she was the perfect size!

Magical Neighbors - from My Neighbor Totoro

Tell your kids to imagine that there are magical creatures in your yard and house that only children can see. They can pretend to catch a Soot Sprite in their hands, chase a running white Totoro, jump on a big Totoro and try to wake him up, etc. Of course they can also make up imaginary creatures such as Flibbityboppits or Skwees…invite them to be creative and come up with descriptions for these invisible-to-you neighbors 😛

You can dramatically say “What are you guys chasing?” and act really confused. Even better, if another adult sees them, they will be confused 😅

Delivery Service - from Kiki’s Delivery Service

If you don’t want your kids to pretend to be witches, you can change this to whatever you want. But I love how Kiki realizes that the whole point of her special power (flying) is that she can be a help to others. Kiki flies around on broomsticks (with her cat companion Jiji) so you can invite your kids to fly around on mops or anything you have, with their stuffed animals attached, too.

You can say things like “Could you deliver this note to Daddy?” or “Can you drop off this package to the basement?” and pay them a nickel or something. You might even be able to get some chores done this way 😉

My daughter created a really cute flying-mop apparatus using a hanger on the end of the mop to attach her delivery bag! It’s always fun to see what kids come up with.

From Fish to Human - from Ponyo

Ponyo is a story of a fish who becomes a girl…it’s a weird but funny scene when she forces arms and legs to poke because of sheer will (and some magic), then she swims out of the ocean and hops on the waves—with full legs!—until she reaches her friend Sosuke.

You can invite your kids to choose an animal and pretend to go back and forth between being the animal and being a human. Besides being silly, active fun, it might help them appreciate the bodies they have and all that they’re capable of doing!

A Few More Ideas

• Pretend to ride the Catbus

• Clean for Soot Sprites

• Pretend to be Borrowers and imagine everything is really big

• Practice drawing; the little white Totoro rabbit things are really simple!

Hopefully you found some good ideas from this post! If you know anyone who loves Studio Ghibli, would you mind sharing this with them? 😊 Thanks so much!

I hope you have lots of fun and sweet memories together this week!

Warmly,

Hope from Family Scripts