Animal Races

All animals win, really, just for trying!

ADDED January 18, 2010

kids activity

Sometimes when the weather outside is frightful, you’ve got to entertain the kids inside for days on end. That’s well and good — and we do have a number of activities here that should help. But after a while, kids being kids, you’ll realize that your children absolutely need to do something similar to exercise, in order to get their excess energy out.

Well, today’s activity should help you do just that. Today the kids will be racing around as the animals of their choosing.

Figure out an open space in your house for the kids to use — it doesn’t have to be too big. Choose a starting line and a finish line. Have the kids go to the starting line and tell them to think up an animal. Let them know that they’ll be running a race while acting like whatever animal they choose.

Count the kids down — “On your mark, get set, go!” — and they’re off to the races.

The point here is not to win or lose -- in fact, there really should be no winners or losers. Instead, the point is merely for the kids to demonstrate how each animal would run a race -- and to have fun doing it. Will the “animals” gallop? Will they slither? Will there be a scurry involved?

The point is also to expel some kid energy, of course!

Below is a video of “Animal Races” in action. No actual animals were injured during the creation of this film.

We hope that this activity is a success in your house. We hope that the wild beasts living there enjoy themselves, and that all creatures great and small will obey their moms and dads.

(Thank you kindly to JoshDubya for the exciting racing animals photo!)