When I was asked if I wanted to help promote the all-new movie OPEN SEASON: SCARED SILLY by creating a fun family activity to go along with it. I jumped at the chance. Because if you know me, you know that I love to attach learning to memorable special events like family movie night! So we came up with the S’mores STEM Challenge!
This post is in partnership with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
In celebration of Open Season”™s 10th Anniversary, Sony Pictures Animation presents an all-new animated movie, OPEN SEASON: SCARED SILLY, on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD. We got to screen the movie before it was released and we weren’t disappointed, in fact, my daughter has already requested to watch it for our next family movie night.
Check out the trailer
Can you see why S’mores would be the perfect snack for this movie? I like to make my kids work for their sugar. And my favorite way to make them work is to see them use their creativity to engineer things. In this case using the ingredients for S’mores.
Here is how we hosted our own S’mores STEM challenge.
Gather your materials, you will need graham crackers, marshmallows, and some plain chocolate. I also grabbed some wooden skewers.
Give each child the same amount and give them a challenge, I stressed that this wasn’t a competition, and the challenge was just against themselves, but it got competitive fast. The first challenge was to make something that would hold four pieces of chocolate off the table.
They got to it right away. While they did, I turned the oven on, because I set aside some of these materials to make real S’mores to eat while watching Open Season: Scared Silly.
I love what they created!
The next challenge was to make a tower. They had similar approaches, but each was unique. Each tower fell a few times, and there were a few tears but nothing we couldn’t take a few deep breaths through. 
Don’t shy away from activities like this S’mores STEM Challenge that might fall and create a little frustration. The movie will ensure that the night ends in laughter. Consequently, learning to deal with a falling tower, or an idea that just doesn’t work in reality is good for kids. Especially when you are there to help them navigate these emotions.
Time to make the S’mores! I had them assemble their own, I wrapped them in foil and popped them in the over at 300 for 5 minutes. They were perfect… and messy.
Movie time! We grabbed a few camping lanterns, turned off the lights and made the house feel a little spooky. We had planned to watch in a blanket fort. But the S’mores were so gooey that I suggested that the kitchen table be our viewing area, it worked perfectly!
In conclusion, they loved the movie, loved the S’mores, and started brainstorming all the other engineering challenges we could do.
Purchase OPEN SEASON: SCARED SILLY on Amazon and Walmart.com
Find coloring pages and more on the Official Site.
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Mother of 3 says
How fun! I love this idea. So much more than just a movie and a snack.
Sarah says
This looks like fun! It’s easy enough to present this activity as playing with your food, but I can see my kiddos getting carried away with this (especially with the skewer and marshmallow constructions) before they remember that there’s sugar waiting to be consumed! 😀 Thank you for the idea.