Tweens & Teens Movie Night Activity: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

“You guys eat pizza?” “Doesn’t everybody?”

When their city falls victim to a myriad of crimes committed by a group of ninja thieves, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come to the rescue. Things get personal when the Foot Soldiers, led by the evil Shredder, kidnap their sensei, Master Splinter. With the help of a news reporter named April O’Neil and an athletic vigilante named Casey Jones, the Ninja Turtles set out to rescue Splinter and put an end to Shredder and the Foot Soldiers. Enjoy watching when the TMNT first hit the silver screen and be sure to follow these suggestions for a Movie Night that will have you all saying “Cowabunga!” when you’re finished.

Wear While Watching:

*The Ninja Turtles all wear colored masks which help when you’re trying to tell them apart. Raphael wears Red, Blue for Leonardo, Orange for Michelangelo, and Donatello wears Purple. Get or make masks in matching colors and let everyone choose which Turtle they want to be like. If you want to go the extra mile, check out your local costume shops & Halloween stores because there are complete Ninja Turtle costumes available at this time of year.
*If you’re trying to dress up like April O’Neil then you can wear a Press badge, carry a microphone and wear a yellow jacket (which she only wears once in the movie, but she’s always wearing it in the old cartoons). To dress up like Casey Jones you’ve got to have a hockey mask on and you might even consider wearing a shoulder-length wig. Go all out by carrying around a hockey stick as well.

Home Theater Décor:

*April O’Neil works for WTRL, a TV station where she does news reports. You can decorate your movie watching area with things that help your guests think they are at the news station, including signs with station’s call letters, signs that say “Quiet, Live Broadcast in Progress” and “On Air”. You could even incorporate the news theme into your activities by having pretend microphones around and holding “Broadcast-Offs” throughout the movie: randomly pause the show and have people take turns reporting what has been happening so far in their best news anchor voice.
*As Splinter says “Our domain must be the shadows” which is why he and the Ninja Turtles live underground in the sewer. Make your movie area look like the sewer by dimming the lights, adding man-hole cover cutouts to the ceiling, pretend water or ooze drips down the walls and pretend bugs or rats around on the floor.

Movie Munchies:

*If you know anything about the Ninja Turtles, you should know that they LOVE pizza! Delivery, take-out, even frozen… they devour it all! Whether you whip up your favorite recipe at home or just order a pie or two for delivery, be sure you eat pizza while watching this movie.
*When April, Casey and the Turtles go to April’s farm, Casey chops up lots of fresh veggies for everyone to enjoy. Have your favorite fresh vegetables out for people to snack on with their pizza and you’ll be dining just like the Ninja Turtles.
*For dessert, stick to a Turtle theme by having chocolate caramel turtles candies or even Turtle Pie!

Movie Inspired Adventures:

*Casey Jones uses a hockey stick, baseball bats, and even a cricket bat to fight off the Foot Soldiers. Choose some of your favorite sports and get your movie watching group together to play together as well, or just grab some random sport supplies and set up different games for people to play for Movie Night. You could have Slap Stick Hockey practice where people use a hockey stick to shoot random objects into a pretend goal or have a tennis racket and see who can bounce a tennis ball on it the most times.
*Besides following the Casey Jones sports theme there are other games that you could play that go along with this movie like Ninja Vanish (Hide & Seek), Trivial Pursuit (like the Turtles play in the movie), or Ninja Sneak Attack where you see how many objects you can move without someone noticing.
*Not only are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the star of the movie, but they are also featured in other movies, cartoons, books and comics. Your TMNT fandom doesn’t have to end after Movie Night, you can wear the clothes, play with action figures or even eat the fruit snacks all while showing off your affection for Mutant Turtles.

*LyndiLou* - The Movie Mom Wearing the Ninja Turtle T-shirt

Rated PG; 93 mins; Directed by Steve Barron