Animal Action

A game that gets the kids moving and exercising some creativity

ADDED July 22, 2008

I recently caught my lovely spouse playing this game with the kids. I immediately decided to steal the idea and put it up on this site, as this activity fits with our theme this week (simple and fun) and it's a great way of expelling some of the kids' energy out before bed.

To do this one, you chant the following words:

Animal action, animal action, animal action.

Everyone act like a __________.

And you fill in the name of the animal. The kids' job, of course, is to make their bodies into the shape of the animal you named. They then run around in that shape, making the noise of the animal.

The point of this exercise is not accuracy. In our house, elephants, octopuses and guinea pigs seem to resemble each other very closely (and they all seem to growl ferociously, too, for some reason). Instead, the goal here is to look at the different things we can do with our bodies, and to get those bodies moving!

Have fun, but be careful. You never know when you'll encounter a snarling octopus or a ferocious guinea pig.