Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: Jillian’s Movie Review

Although I did get in a good laugh when watching the movie, it’s not the humor that makes this Mom happy. It’s the message. Flint Lockwood, the main character, doesn’t find living his dream to be an easy task. Nothing seems to go right for him, but he sticks with it. Trying again and again.

When he gets distracted by fame and his dream explodes into a nightmare, he finds it in himself to try one more time. It’s a great message, one I’m hoping that I am passing on to my kids. Movies that line up with those ideals make it onto the must buy list.

As if Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs didn’t already have our attention… it’s also such an easy movie to expand on. (Adding playful learning to everything is pretty big around here!)

Check out 5 ways we play with food:

1.       Play dough is fun on it’s own, but when we add a few key tools it becomes awesome! My little one loves using an ice cream scoop, sequins as sprinkles and a red pom-pom as a cherry. Play dough sundae anyone?

2.       A while back I made fried eggs and pancakes using felt and a hot glue gun. EASY! The eggs are cut from white felt with a small yellow circle glued in the middle to mimic the yolk. For the pancakes I used two pieces of felt cut into circles. I stuffed them with rice and glued them together. The kids use them for pretend cooking and once in a while we have a pancake food fight. 😉

3.       Themed lunches are an easy way we add a little fun to meal time. A couple drops of blue food coloring in cottage cheese makes a great ocean. Sliced bananas work as the sand, add a couple fish crackers, an Octopus Hot Dog and tada… It’s a beach plate.

4.       JELLO! When we are ready for a mess, Jello is a great sensory play activity. Yep, just like in the movie (it is Sam Spark’s favorite food after all). Fill a large container with 2 packages of Jello following the package directions. While it’s setting, place treasures inside. It takes about 24 hours for that much Jello to set. My little mess makers love digging through the goo looking for what’s hidden inside.

5.       Puzzle apples are a huge hit with my son. He begs for them. I take a whole apple and cut slits, circles and triangles all the way around it. Then I lay the apple pieces and the apple on the plate. Before he can eat it, he must put the puzzle apple back together. SO FUN!

*I was thrilled to work on this post for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was sponsored by Sony. All opinions and ideas are my own.