Making Choices
Animal Charades
Month 12 · Activity 24 · Lifeskills
Instructions
- Place a box of animal crackers in front of a child (animals are often lion, tiger, bear, elephant, etc.)
- Let child select two crackers without letting anyone else see the crackers
- Child secretly selects one of the animals to act out and places under a napkin while putting the other cracker back into the box
- Child will act out the animal (charades) and other participants will try to guess the animal
- After the animal has been correctly identified, remove cracker from under napkin to verify identity
- Continue with other players or let child play 4 or 5 times
- After playing, enjoy an animal cracker snack together
Simplify
Instead of using animal crackers, whisper the names of two animals in a child's ear. Let him choose one animal to act out for charades.
Extend
Making wise choices is a life long piece of being happy and succesful. Remember, to give a child choices in small ways to build up to making hard choices later on....Playing games can be an easy way to begin by just giving child two choices of games - Would you like to play Charades or play a game of Candyland? Would you like to play a game before dinner or after dinner? You may choose two people to play the game with you, etc.
Materials
- bowl of animal crackers
- napkin
Language Skills
Social Skills
Problem Solving Skills