PLAY IDEAS

Read each word aloud to the child while pointing to the block or flashcard. If the child is playing, holding or looking at one of the blocks, read the word aloud to them. The goal is for the child to SEE the word, HEAR the word and UNDERSTAND the word at the same time. Repeated exposure is important. Avoid spelling the word letter by letter or saying the letter names. Simply read the full word. If you must use the letters, please use the letter sounds, not their names. Use the word in a sentence or question. What does the “cow” say? Moo!

Toss all the animals into a bin/bucket/basket and ask the child to sort the animals based into their respective Vocabulary boxes. Farm animals go into the farm box, sea animals go into the sea box, and so on.

On a flat surface, ask the chid to stack as many blocks on top of each other and as high as possible before everything falls down. They can have any many tries as they want. It doesn’t have to be one block stack, there can be many blocks on the base and go smaller the higher the stack goes (sort of like a pyramid or triangle).

Animals can be classified in many different ways. There are predators and prey. There are carnivores, herbivores, omnivores. There are mammals, reptiles, birds, etc. 

Animals can be categorized in many different ways. Which animals have four legs, two legs, no legs? Which animals have fur, feathers, fins? 

Make a train! Line the blocks up, one behind the other and ask the child to continue the train line. Play pretend, as if the animals are lining up to go somewhere, like the zoo!

All you need is a piece of paper and a pencil. Place the block flat on the paper and ask the child to trace the shape of the block. Another fun way to trace them is to use either a flashlight or lamp (or even the sunlight) to trace the shadow of the block.

On a large piece of paper, either draw or print a map of the world showing the continents and the oceans, then ask the child to place the animals around the world. For example, place the giraffe in Africa or the whale in the ocean.

Refer to the Matching Game for the complete instructions. Other ways to match them is by printing the sounds an animal makes and asking the child to place the animal that corresponds to that sound. You can do the same with habitats (land, sea, air or forest, desert, savanna, marsh), foods (grass, fish, mice), etc.

You can set up a sensory bin, fill a plastic bin with sand or rice and ask the child to rescue the animals. Place the mini flashcards on a table to show which animals need finding. As the child finds each animal, they bring it back to the table, place the animal on its matching card and continue until they find them all.

Place the animals around the room and ask the child to go search for them. Place the mini flashcards on a table to show which animals need finding. As the child finds each animal, they bring it back to the table, place the animal on its matching card and continue until they find them all. You can also reverse the game and ask the child to go hide the blocks and you have to go find them.

Who doesn’t like a good treasure hunt? This requires a little of prep work ahead of time. Hide each animal on different locations around the house or classroom or park. On blank flashcards, write the clues to guide the child and have them figure out where you hid them!

If you have individual letters available (puzzle pieces or print your own), you can ask the child to pick an animal, look at what letters make up the name of the animal and spell the name using those letters.

On a big piece of paper, ask the child to grab an animal block, look at the word on the back and using either a crayon, pencil, pen or marker, write the word one letter at a time. Tip: Avoid asking the child to trace the letters or making sure they write it on the line. The idea is to practice writing the letters, not perfection.

Use an old typewriter if you have one, or a even a computer or simply a disconnected keyboard (screen-free) and ask the child to type the word from one of the blocks.

Each box comes with 10 blocks which helps to teach the numbers from 1 to 10. You can count them one by one as you either take them out of the box or as you put them back in the box. This exercise helps to visualize quantity and makes math tangible. Ask math questions, such as How many farm animals are in the box? Let’s count them!

Similar to counting, using one of the boxes, you can show the child how the different ways to make 10. For example,1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5, 6+4, 7+3, 8+2, 9+1.

After practicing the number 1-10, and adding them, you can introduce removing a number of blocks and asking the child how many blocks remain or how many blocks are missing to make 10.

After the child is comfortable with the concept of counting and adding, you can introduce the concept of multiplying. For example, each box contains 10 blocks, so if we have 2 boxes, we will have 20 blocks (10×2=20). If we have 3 boxes of 10 each, that equals 30 (10×3=30), and so on.

Set up a few plates or containers, place a number of blocks on the table and ask the child to divide them equally into the available containers. For example, let’s say we have 9 blocks and 3 small containers, ask the child to place 1 block at a time into each container until all containers contain the exact same number of blocks. In this example, each container would need 3 blocks, because 9 blocks divided by 3 containers is 3 blocks in each (9÷3=3). Another example is 20 blocks with 4 containers, you should end up with 5 blocks in each (20÷4=5). Let’s say, we have 5 blocks but only 2 containers, then you can only fit 2 blocks in each container, and 1 is left remaining (5÷2=2R1).

On a piece of paper, you can write or print a list of animals in a pattern format (cow, pig, cow, pig, ?) and ask the child what goes next? The more animals, the more complicated the pattern becomes (cow, pig, duck, horse, cow, pig, duck, ?). 

Help the child understand the preposition of place (behind, on top, in front, under, etc) by showing or asking the child to place a block in front of another, or on top of another. You can use the same blocks or any other objects you have available. For example, use a cup and insert one of the blocks inside and explain when the block is inside the cup or outside, or flip the cup upside down and place the block on top or under the cup.

Put all the blocks in a row, flat side to flat side, and ask the child to push the first block over and watch the blocks fall one by one!

This might be similar to lining them up. The only difference is that we can look for characteristics shared by the blocks or animals. For example, we can sequence animals by their real life “size” from smallest to biggest.

For the littlest ones, they might find joy and can learn from the simplest of tasks, such as attempting to insert different blocks into different size containers, boxes, tubes. It is fun to see blocks go into one side of the tube and come out the other end. You can also count the blocks as they insert them one by one!

Make clean-up time fun, by asking the child to put their toys in their respective boxes and making sure all the blocks are accounted for. Once the box is fully stock, ask them to place the box on the bookshelf or wherever you keep them to be use later.

On a black piece of paper, ask the child to attempt to draw one of the animals by looking at the block or ask them to draw their own version of the animals.

Build a mini zoo with an entrance, paths and enclosures with fences, and ask the child to place each animal inside its respective enclosure. They can play pretend being zookeepers. They have to figure out what each animal eats, where the animals come from, what their habitat looks like, etc.

Make up a story about the animals or ask the child to make one or tell you a story using the animal blocks. For children who are writing, ask them to write up a story using the animals as the main characters. Allow them to reference the words written on the back of the block for spelling.

Use non-clear plastic cups to hide the blocks under each cup. Start with 3 blocks at a time, then increase the number of blocks for increased difficulty. Before hiding the blocks, place them in a line, ask the child to remember the animals and their place in the line. Then, cover the  blocks with the upside down cups and ask the child to tell you what animal is hiding under each cup. Lift the cup to check if they got it right!

Grab a book from the bookshelf or go to the library to find a book where the child can research more information about each animal. Ask the librarian to find specific books about the animal(s). If using a computer, with adult supervision, use Wikipedia or Google to find more information about each of the animals.

Have you played Jeopardy? You can play it by either providing the description of an animal and asking the child to guess or answer which animal best describes that definition. Alternatively, you can grab one of the animal blocks and ask the child to define or describe the animal in their own words.

Have any more ideas?