Hobbies And Interests
Animal Guesses
Pair up the children. Write the name of a different animal on several sticky mailing labels. Put one of the labels on one of the children in each pair. Since the child with the sticker will be trying to guess what the animal is, put the sticker where he cannot see it. Let the other child see the sticker, and instruct the child with the sticker to ask the other child in his group questions about the animal to try and guess what it is. Give a prize for whoever guesses his animal first.
Animal Charades
Write out the names of different animals on several slips of paper. Put the slips in a paper bag and let one child come up at a time and choose one. The child has to act out the animal's behavior so the other children can try and guess what the animal is. For younger children, you'll want to use simple animals like cats, dogs and fish, but you can be a little more creative with older ages (see reference 1).
Online Games
Several websites, such as kaboose.com, myanimalgames.com and the website for "National Geographic," offer kids games all about animals. Titles range from role-playing games, in which children actually become the animals, to educational games, in which children learn the colors and other characteristics of certain animals. Matching games and other memory games are found on these websites as well. Play these games at home as an educational way for your children to have fun.
Software
Electronics stores sell animal game software for children. The Animal Tycoon series offers a wide variety of animal games, from marine-based life to African wildlife. These games usually require a specific home computer operating system and a certain amount of available space on the hard drive for both saved games and playing space. Software animal games focus on managing large groups of animals, as in Zoo Tycoon, or a single type of animal, as in Fish Tycoon.