I can’t say it enough—our homeschool book club is one of the absolute highlights of our homeschool year! We LOVE our little book club community. If you’ve ever thought about joining a homeschool book club (or even starting one yourself), I can’t recommend it enough. It has been such a meaningful way to build friendships, encourage a love of reading, and create lasting memories together. Read on and find everything you need with my Wild Robot Book Club Ideas!
PS: If you’re interested in starting your own homeschool book club, be sure to check out this article where I share helpful tips and ideas for getting started!
Creating a Wild Robot-Themed Atmosphere
One of my favorite parts of every book club is decorating, and my kids always love helping! Before buying anything, we always “shop our house” first, looking for items we already own that fit the theme.
For The Wild Robot, our inspiration came straight from the story itself: the contrast between nature and technology.
Our color palette included soft blues and greens to represent the forest and ocean, paired with shiny metallic accents to represent Roz.
For the tables, I used all of these following items from the Dollar Tree:
- Plastic White tablecloths
- Dark Green plates
- Light blue napkins
- Metallic silver plastic silverware
- Metallic shard confetti sprinkled across the tablescape
To tie everything together, I rolled out brown butcher paper as a table runner across all the tables. My oldest daughter had the brilliant idea to sponge-paint Brightbill’s footprints winding down the center, and I think it turned out so cute! We did a similar sponge-painting for our Thunder from the Sea meetup.
Then we gathered natural elements from around our property:
- Bird nests
- Feathers
- Dried honeycomb
- Twigs and branches
We mixed those with faux moss from the Dollar Tree and tucked realistic-looking plastic eggs into the moss to resemble Brightbill’s nest and hatching.
One of our sweet friends brought us gorgeous wildflowers, which completed the tables beautifully. In the center sat our copy of The Wild Robot, surrounded by all the woodland decorations.
A Creative Afternoon Before Everyone Arrived
Before the meetup officially began, the kids spent the afternoon making cardboard cutouts of the story’s main characters. We later hid them throughout the woods for one of our activities, and they added so much excitement for the younger kids!
I also set out printable Wild Robot coloring pages from Teachers Pay Teachers for the children to watercolor while everyone arrived.
Discussion Time
I was so grateful, the weather could not have been more beautiful. We began our afternoon gathered together in our barn while one of the moms led an incredible discussion about The Wild Robot.
The conversation centered around technology, artificial intelligence, and what it means to be human—all incredibly relevant topics for the world our children are growing up in. She beautifully wove in Scripture throughout the discussion, pointing us back to God’s design, wisdom, and purpose.
It was by far one of my favorite discussions we’ve ever had in our book club, and many parents later shared that they felt the same.
Themed Snacks & Build-A-Roz!
While listening to the discussion, the kids enjoyed themed snacks and activities.
One favorite was building edible robots using marshmallows, charcuterie ingredients, pretzel sticks, fruit, vegetables, and cheese.
Our snack table also included:
- Homemade cupcakes topped with Roz and Brightbill cupcake toppers.
- “Forest Floor” chocolate-avocado dirt pudding with gummy worms—a healthier spin on a classic treat! (Find the recipe I used HERE.)
Since we have quite a few toddlers in our group, I also created a little kid table with:
- Foam robot-building pieces
- Coloring pages
- Watercolors
- Beeswax crayons
- Pipe cleaners
- An Etch A Sketch
- A toy robot arm
These simple activities gave our youngest attendees plenty to enjoy and kept them (somewhat!) quiet while the older kids participated in the discussion.
Presentation Time
Presentation time is always one of everyone’s favorite parts of book club! The children proudly shared their projects, and we were blown away by the creativity.
We saw beautiful artwork, tiny homemade robots, clay sculptures, dioramas, digital artwork, and so many unique interpretations of the story! It’s always so amazing to see how differently each child connects with a book.
A “Robot Woods Walk”
Next, another mom led the children on a nature walk where they practiced observing nature just like Roz.
I also created a Robot Woods Walk Scavenger Hunt for the kids.
Along the trail, they discovered a real muskrat, a giant frog, snakeskin, our homemade hidden cardboard cutouts of Roz, Brightbill, Fink, an otter, and even a possum hanging from a tree! A “robot crash site” completed the walk with metallic confetti, aluminum foil, and scattered robot parts! The kids had a lot of fun setting up that part especially!
Robot Flower Pot Craft
To finish our afternoon, the children painted tiny “robot” flower pots before planting wildflower seeds.
Since this was our last book club before summer break—and it was springtime—it felt like the perfect way to end the book club season by planting seeds and getting to watch something beautiful grow.
I also set out some wooden rounds, paint markers, and easy instructions on “How to Draw” the Wild Robot characters so children could create tiny little keepsakes to remember the day if they desired.
Book vs. Movie
Our family also enjoyed watching The Wild Robot movie after finishing the book. It’s always fun to compare books with their movie adaptations (when appropriate!), and my girls loved discussing all the differences. They both felt the book and movie were very different from one another, but they enjoyed each for different reasons.
One thing worth noting for parents is that both the book and the movie include some realistic moments involving predators and prey. At ages 9 and almost 12, my girls weren’t bothered by these scenes because they understood they reflected how nature works, but every family knows their own children’s sensitivities best.
Wild Robot Book Club Discussion Questions
If you’re planning your own Wild Robot book club, here are a few discussion questions to get everyone talking:
- What surprised you most about Roz?
- What makes someone—or something—a family?
- Can kindness be learned?
- How did Roz change throughout the story?
- How did the animals’ opinions of Roz change over time?
- What does the story teach us about friendship?
- How is technology helpful? When can it become harmful?
- What makes humans unique?
- How did Roz show sacrificial love?
- What role did forgiveness play in the story?
- Which character did you relate to most, and why?
- What do you think the author wanted readers to learn?
- Who is the ultimate Creator?
- Are there any Bible verses that remind you of themes from this story?
More Wild Robot Activity Ideas
If you’re planning your own Wild Robot-themed book club, here are a few more fun ideas!
We had hoped to invite someone we met at a homeschool expo who specializes in robotics to teach the children a little about real robots, but unfortunately the timing didn’t work out. That would make an amazing addition to a Wild Robot event!
Other ideas include:
- Invite a wildlife educator to bring small animals for an educational presentation.
- Have a survival expert teach basic wilderness survival skills.
- Build simple robot-themed STEM projects.
- Use this robot coding kit where children draw marker paths for a small robot to follow
- Build shelters from sticks and natural materials.
- Practice bird watching or animal tracking.
- Create nature journals inspired by Roz’s observations.
A Meetup to Remember
Every homeschool book club reminds me why I love this community so much.
Books have an incredible way of bringing families together, sparking meaningful conversations, inspiring creativity, and helping our children build friendships and memories they’ll remember for years to come. Not to mention, I also love how much it inspires my kids to become better readers. Shortly after this book club, my middle found the next book in the Wild Robot series and has been devouring it!
This Wild Robot celebration was full of beauty, imagination, timely discussion, and as usual… so much fun!
I already can’t wait for our next one.
Follow along and click HERE to see lots more of our past book clubs!
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