My Stuffed Animal Saves My Spot

Each child sits their stuffed animal inside a hoop and goes a little farther away each round for a mission, always coming back to say hi. Children learn to separate bit by bit from something familiar, knowing it's still there.

How to play

1. Each child picks a hoop, sits their stuffed animal inside and tells it: "Save my spot, I'll be right back" (1 min).
2. First mission: walk once around your hoop and come back to give your stuffed animal a kiss (2 min).
3. Second mission: go to the nearest wall, touch it and come back to your stuffed animal when the drum sounds (2 min).
4. Third mission: go to the other side of the room, do three jumps and come back to the hoop (3 min).
5. Long mission: play freely around the room for a little while without the stuffed animal, and when the drum sounds, run back to it (3 min).
6. Hug your stuffed animal and tell it everything you did (1 min).

Rules

• The stuffed animal stays sitting still in the hoop.
• We don't take a friend's stuffed animal.
• When the drum sounds, we go back to our hoop.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: set mission distances the child can manage and place the hoop at hand height.
• Autism: preview each mission with a gesture and a picture; if the child won't leave the toy, they can carry it during the first week.
• Hearing impairment: along with the drum, the teacher raises a colored scarf to signal coming back.

Learning goals

• Separate gradually from a comfort object.
• Return to a personal reference point.
• Respond to a come-back signal.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Stuffed animals from home: 25
• Hoops: 25
• Hand drum: 1

Teacher tip

Don't stretch the separation beyond what the group can handle: three successful missions beat five with tears. If a child comes back crying early, welcome them and repeat a shorter mission.

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