The Texture Zoo

The teacher pulls a texture card from a bag; children touch it and turn into the matching animal: cotton for the bunny, sandpaper for the crocodile, a brush for the hedgehog, a feather for the bird. It builds linking touch sensations to movement qualities and body expression.

How to play

1. In a circle, introduce each card and its animal: touch the cotton and hop softly like bunnies (3 min).
2. Touch the sandpaper and crawl like crocodiles; touch the brush and curl into a ball like hedgehogs (2 min).
3. The teacher pulls out a card without showing it and lets a few children touch it; they name the animal and everyone moves like it (4 min).
4. Mix it up: with two cards at once, half the group is one animal and half is another (3 min).
5. All the animals go to sleep in their den and breathe slowly (2 min).

Rules

• Wait to touch the card with an open hand.
• Animals move without touching others.
• When the teacher says “Back to the den!”, everyone returns to the circle.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: act out the animal with arms, head or sounds.
• Visual impairment: very accessible; the teacher describes how each animal moves and stays close at first.
• Autism: post a chart on the wall with each texture and its animal for reference.

Learning goals

• Recognize soft, rough, prickly and light textures.
• Link each feeling to a way of moving.
• Express themselves with the body by imitating animals.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Texture cards: 6
• Cloth bag: 1

Teacher tip

Use letter-size cards so everyone can touch them quickly. If anyone is allergic to feathers, swap the bird for a tissue-paper butterfly.

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