Teach children about animals with fun games
Games for children don't have to strain the family budget or involve technology. Children can learn about the world around them and enjoy interaction with parents or teachers through simple games. Since young children love animals, capture their interest in games that capitalize on that fascination.
Animal Cards
Go through some old magazines to locate pictures of animals. Cut out the pictures and paste them to sturdy cardboard. Use your homemade animal cards as the basis for a wide range of games for children at different developmental stages. Younger children can name the animal or imitate the sound it makes. You can ask older children to gain "points" toward a prize in the game by telling you facts about the animal: where it lives, what it eats, etc.
Storytelling
Many classic children stories revolve around the adventures of animal characters. Let your child's imagination develop through a storytelling game. Let each child name a favorite animal. Depending on the ages of the children, the storytelling can be done entirely by the adult, weaving together the different animals into an enthralling story. Or, older children can write and illustrate their own animal stories and share them with the group.
Movement
Teach children some yoga which imitate animals, such as downward facing dog, cobra pose or crow pose. Talk about how the pose reflects the animal's movement-in downward dog, they can stretch their backs the way dogs do; in cobra, their bellies are on the floor, their head and shoulders lifted; in crow, they briefly "fly" by lifting their feet off the floor. You can also include tai chi movements such as crane. Let children improvise their own movements for different animals. Weave the yoga, tai chi, and children's ideas together into a creative "dance" of different animals.
Animal Geography
With materials you already have, plus a little preparation time, you can create a more educational version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." Use an old map or globe from the attic or basement-for the purposes of this game, it doesn't matter if the boundaries and names of countries are outdated. Online or from magazines, find pictures of animals from different parts of the world. Attach your pictures to cardboard, and attach a piece of two-sided tape to the back of the cardboard. Put your animal pieces face-down on a table, and let children pick one animal picture at a time. Each child attaches the animal to the part of the world it inhabits.
Tags: different animals, cardboard your, older children, pictures animals, Teach children