I am a minimalist. When it comes to reading aloud, we generally read the book, and then pick another one! And just repeat that cycle.
We managed to get through the whole Narnia series this past summer (thank you to good folks at Focus on the Family who put together the Radio Theatre dramatized series for audio use!) The Radio Theatre version was such a treat! I HIGHLY recommend! We have the hardcopy books too which came in handy when we forgot the name of a character or wanted to re-read certain parts.
Since this was NARNIA and not your ordinary read-aloud experience, we thought it would be nice to have a little Narnia party.
And so I started brainstorming – flexing my creative muscles if you will… We knew that Narnia cuisine was a MUST since we are a food-loving family. Decorations would be a nice touch too.
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Following is how WE executed an AMAZINGLY SIMPLE Narnia Unit Study from start to finish. Emphasis on SIMPLE!
1. Read the books.
We started reading the hardcopy versions, but after finding Focus on the Family’s Radio Theatre dramatized audio versions were available at our local library, we switched to that. This was a game-changer, and WHY we were able to get through the whole series this summer.
We spent a lot of time in the car going on camping trips, day trips, etc, and most of our “reading” of the books happened while on the road.
2. Watch the movies as you read through the books.
Every time we finished a book, we would watch the corresponding movie to go with it. We watched the newer versions, so there were only movie versions for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. A friend lent us the 1990 BBC version of The Silver Chair (kids had a fun time critiquing that one, haha!)
3. Plan your party.
For us, the party included checking out this cookbook from the library. I had the kids pick out a few recipes that were MUST-DO’s.
We also made a wardrobe. We ended up using a wardrobe box we still had from our last move. You can also buy them somewhere like Home Depot.
The wardrobe box worked GREAT and wasn’t as hard to transform into a Narnia wardrobe as I expected. Using a utility knife we cut the box to make doors and an opening in the back.
We bought brown spray paint and sprayed the front. My daughter also designed a lion’s head (Aslan!) to attach.
If the idea of cutting out a wardrobe box seems TOO difficult, you can use a tension rod in a hallway, and hang clothes to give the feeling of crawling through a wardrobe. Since we used an actual wardrobe box there was a rod for us to hang clothes from. It worked perfectly!
We also watched some youtube videos on how to make snowflakes (easy AND more complex for those who wanted a challenge) and spent a good hour making lots of snowflakes. A great way to keep normally active kids busy! 😉 We hung them in our kitchen by attaching them to two long pieces of yarn draped across the kitchen.
For activities, find anything fun you can do during your party. This can be as simple or as extravagant as you make it. We chose to keep it easy with a simple word search. If your kids are into costumes, you could do that too.
4.Party Time!
For the day of the party, we got our food ready (we had prepared some of our food the day before too… ahem Turkish Delight!).
Set your table and light a candle to make it special. Have any activities ready to go! I found these wordsearches on pinterest.
Set up your wardrobe. (This was one of the last things we did since it was hard to get in and out of the kitchen once it was set up!)
Play some music to set the mood (we played music from the soundtrack for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.)
Let the magic begin!
