Giant Animal Moves Dice

One child rolls a giant die with an animal picture on each side, and the whole group moves like that animal until the tambourine sounds. It builds imitation, varied locomotion and turn-taking in a very visual game.

How to play

1. Beforehand, tape an animal card on each side of the die: frog, duck, snake, bear, crab and bird. The group sits in a circle with the die in the middle.
2. Show all six sides and model each move: frog jumps, duck waddles low, snake slithers, bear crawls on all fours, crab walks sideways, bird flaps its wings.
3. One child rolls the die along the floor. Everyone calls out the animal that came up.
4. Everyone stands and moves like that animal around the gym for 30 to 40 seconds. On a tambourine hit, they come back to the circle.
5. Another child rolls and you repeat. In about 6 minutes you get 8 or 9 rolls.
6. On the last roll, say: "That animal, but teeny-tiny!" and kids move very slowly back to the circle.

Rules

• Roll the die along the floor, never throw it.
• When you hear the tambourine, come back to the circle.
• Each animal moves in open space without bumping.
• Wait your turn to roll.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the child does the animal's arm and head moves and sounds.
• Autism: keep the animal cards visible ahead of time and give a heads-up before the tambourine.
• More skilled kids move the animal backward; less skilled kids copy the teacher doing it beside them.

Learning goals

• Imitate how different animals move.
• Recognize pictures and link them to a movement.
• Respect turns and the signal to come back.

Equipment for a class of 25

• giant die: 1
• picture cards: 6

Teacher tip

Big, colorful cards help everyone see the animal from the circle. Pick rollers in circle order so nobody misses a turn over the week.

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