All about Animals. Play and Learn at Home

Here are some ideas for you to to talk about and things for you to do, all about Animals! You need to read through this and gather together the bit you need.

Talk about your favourite animals, use any large picture books you may have. What is your soft toy animal, talk a little bit about the toy.

Make a pet shop, using soft toy animals, baskets, bowls and cages made from cardboard boxes. Imagine each soft toy is real – suggest things you need to do to keep the animals happy and healthy.

Have a teddy bears’ picnic at tea time, make some sandwiches together and sit on the rug for your picnic tea

Read A Dog for Ben by Jean Richardson and Joanna Carey, talk about the different feelings Ben had. This gently introduces the concept of acceptance

Sorting, sort a box of small toy animals, perhaps by colour or by number of legs, the size and shape

Ask questions Which is the biggest animal? Look, his paws are tiny.

Matching 1 to 1, Set out 3 toy dogs, with 3 bowls and 3 bones nearby. Ask your child to give each dog 1 bowl and 1 bone.

Pets talk about pets. A pet you have or would like. Where does/would your pet sleep? What does it eat and drink? Who takes it for a walk?

Investigate pets

Using books, look at pictures of pets. Focus on the popular animals to start with, such as dog, cat, goldfish, rabbit and hamster, and see if you can name them.

Animal homes make a home for a toy animal, maybe with Duplo or cardboard boxes, you need a door and 4 walls. Decorate your homes

Animal movements find a space. Play animal movement games: Can you jump like a kangaroo? Can you run like a dog? Can you hop like a frog?

Sing How Much is that Doggy in the Window?