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We have sooo many animal figurines. Have you checked out Safari Limited? They make awesome products called Toobs and I'm pretty much addicted to collecting them! Really, I don't think we can have enough of them. The animals can be used for preschool science investigations, sensory bin add-ins (see how we used the bird figurines here), math investigations (how many legs do 4 dogs have? 4 birds?), pretend play, and simple games like this one!
Supplies:
- Salt dough bones
- Clean yogurt container
- Yogurt container lids
- Beans
Do you remember playing "Doggy, Doggy, where's your bone?" in elementary school? If so, this activity is nothing like it. Really, I just liked the fun rhyme so I made an activity around it ;-)
I wanted the game to involve some math skills (counting, one to one correspondence). So we started just by introducing the dogs and placing them in their "homes" (clean yogurt container lids). This was fun and simple as it was. We examined each of the dog's tails and talked about their sizes and colors, hair and ear types, etc. We've played with these dogs before in pretend play, but this was the first time we really stopped and investigated them more closely. There's a lot more to look at and talk about then I had first imagined!
Next, I introduced the clean yogurt container with the beans and bones mixed inside. My boys love sensory bins, so I knew this mini-opportunity to get tactile input would be appreciated! I told Cannon that each of these doggies had a bone hiding in the "dirt" (beans). He would have to dig in and find it for each hungry animal! We chanted together:
"Doggy, Doggy, where's your bone? Someone's taken it from your home!"
He was pretty excited about every bone he dug and found!
We discussed which dogs should get which bones (would he give the smallest bone to the smallest dog? Or was that doggy the most hungry so he needed the biggest bone?) It was a great opportunity for pretend playing, counting, size comparisons, and fun!
He even decided some dogs wanted to share bones (pretend play is a great time to role play situations like sharing and using kind words. It gives kids confidence on how to act when those social situations arise in playtime with their own friends).
In the end we discovered that there were enough bones for each dog to have their own :-)
Do you want to know how to make these simple dog bones yourself? Use this Dinosaur Fossil Activity as a guide:
Want more ideas on how to turn everyday items (like yogurt containers) into toys for your kids? Click the link below to see more wonderful ideas!
