Cone-to-Cone Journey
The teacher holds up a cone of one color and names an animal: everyone travels to cones of that color moving like that animal. Varied ways of moving warm up the whole body while children practice recognizing colors and finding their way around.
How to play
- Spread cones in four colors all over the playground, several of each, and everyone sits next to any cone (1 min).
- The teacher holds up a red cone and says “Walk like penguins!”: everyone waddles to touch a red cone (1 min).
- Keep changing color and animal: hopping bunnies, cats on all fours, trotting horses, sideways crabs (2 min).
- Visiting round: on the drum beat, touch one cone of each color before sitting back down (1 min).
- Finish by traveling like very slow turtles to a blue cone and lying down beside it (1 min).
Rules
- Move like the animal the teacher says the whole way there.
- Lots of friends can share a cone: touch it without pushing.
- Look ahead so you don't bump into anyone.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, use just two colors and walking or crawling animals, with the teacher leading the movement.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, use all four colors and animals that hop or run.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, give two steps at once (“green cone, then yellow cone, like frogs”) and let a child be the leader.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: a child using a wheelchair or walker picks an animal they can act out with arms and head and takes the widest route to the cone.
- Visual impairment: use large, high-contrast cones, and a hand-holding buddy names the color aloud on arrival.
- Hearing impairment: the teacher shows the cone together with a picture card of the animal.
Learning goals
- Warm up with varied ways of moving.
- Recognize and name colors around the space.
- Imitate how animals move.
Equipment for a class of 25
- Cones in four colors: 24
- Hand drum: 1
Teacher tip
Hold the cone up high and wait a beat before naming the animal so children look first instead of all racing off with no idea where to go. If one color is far away, great: it makes the trip longer.
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