When children are playing in or exploring an area, it is useful to have a few games to call them back to you. These quick activities get children pretending to be wild animals. Some of the activities gather a group to you. Other games encourage the children to walk in a straight line without pushing one another.
Introduce one activity and repeat it to encourage the desired behavior. When the children start to bore of imagining to be one animal, introduce another critter. As you develop a repertoire of actions, you can call the children to you in different ways.
Duckling Game
Tell the children that you are Mother (or Father or Teacher) Duck. They are your ducklings. When ducklings follow a parent, they travel in a line behind her. Explain that if Mother Duck quacks three times, any ducklings who are not near Mother Duck must gather in line within a count of five (or ten). Once the ducklings gather, begin walking.
On the Move Animal Games
Entertain and focus young children as you move from one place to the next by encouraging the children to walk like specific animals.
- Fox – Red fox “perfect step,” which means that all four feet move in a single line and that the back feet step in the prints left behind by the front feet. Have the children walk placing one foot in front of another in a straight line.
- Rabbit – Hop with feet together.
- Hawk – Hold arms out to the side and pretend to soar.
- Otter – Slide belly first down a snowy hillside.
- Ant – Crawl along the ground in a straight line.
Deer and Fawn Game
White-tailed deer will spread out in a field to eat grasses and flowers. Because they are most active at dawn and dusk, the lighting is poor and makes it difficult to see predators. One deer may see the movement of a coyote or person, but it cannot make a noise loud enough to warn the other deer in the field. What they will do is raise their tail, revealing the white underside that stands out clearly in the gloom. When the other deer notice this flash of white, they run in the same direction as the deer that first noticed the danger.
Tuck a white cloth out of sight in your pocket. Explain to the children that if they see you flash your white tail, as fawns, they should all run in your direction and follow you.
Wolf Pack Game
To hide their numbers, gray wolves will travel in a straight line, the animals stepping in the footprints of those ahead of them. If you go outside in the snow, try to get the children to walk from one point to another in a straight line, creating only one set of footprints.
To engage children in these animal behaviors, don’t create a delay between calling the children over to you and walking. Ask another teacher or an assistant to watch for stragglers. Children who were distracted will watch their classmates act like animals as they move toward you and will follow along.
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