Grade: 1-3
Facility: Gymnasium, Multipurpose, Outdoors
Materials:
- Audio equipment and music
- Alphabet cards
- A list or pictures of animals. (Determine actions for each animals beforehand.)
Activity Description:
A fun and energizing activity suitable for younger children. Forest Friends is a creative way to get young children moving while teaching about different animals. Use your imagination to make up some of your own movements.
Overview:
Generate a list (or collect pictures) of forest animals and demonstrate the corresponding actions for the students before hand (see below for examples). Ask students to march around the activity area (knees high, arms swinging with elbows bent) to the music. Stop the music and call out an animal for the students to act out.
Some examples are:
Skunk: Hold your nose and hop on one foot.
Racoon: Make a circle with each hand by joining your fingers and thumbs, then join both hands together to form 'goggles'. Hold up the 'goggles' to your eyes and moving around while staying low to the ground.
Rabbit: 'Bunny hop' by bending your knees slightly and hop around with your arms and hands bent in front of you, fingers curled.
Squirrel: Run around on the spot quickly.
Wild Turkey: Hold you arms out to the side and flap them up and down while walking with high knees.
Bear: Take giant steps while walking on the tips of your toes with shoulders hunched and arms and hands held up like claws in front of you.
Snake: Lie with your stomach on the ground and slither around, or you can slither standing in an upright position.
Source: DPA Activity Card 2007/2008, October, PrimarySource:
