While studying Early Childhood education there is one thing I learned that has always stuck with me and that is that children need “play” in their lives. There is a growing amount of research that shows that pretend play and social/cognitive development are strongly linked. With our technology-centered world, children are getting less and less of this type of imaginative play. When children do enjoy pretend play, they are building their imagination, seeing the world through new perspectives and strengthening their development! Not to mention they are having fun.

This activity allows little ones to participate in imaginative play by bringing the characters from Giraffes Can’t Dance alive! Throughout this activity, little ones will be able to color, create and PLAY! We encourage allowing them to act out the story with their homemade animals. It will seem like play to them but it will also help build their reading comprehension by making them retell the story in their own way.

STEPS:

1. Begin by printing out the animal templates (if you have card stock paper we suggest using that but regular copy paper will work just fine!)
2. Cut out (have your little one help if they are able) the different animals from the story!
3. Allow the little one(s) to color the different animals according to their imagination. 
4. Use the clothespins to clip on the bottom of each animal to make their legs, then let the play begin!