This game is a twist on the childhood classic – hide and seek. When I was a kid, I loved playing hide and seek with my siblings and my friends. We would play in the house, in the backyard and throughout the neighborhood. It was so much fun! Now that I have 2 Preschool aged kiddos, I thought it was the perfect time to introduce the game. However, I very quickly realized that they are not very good at hiding, haha! We need a little practice in that department. So, instead of physically hiding, I thought it could be more fun to hide an object for them to find.
What’s the one thing that my kiddos love most? Animals! So, what better way to practice hide and seek than by hiding large animals?! It’s a super simple set up and tons of fun for the kids. Even my two year old played along!
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Materials
- Large Giraffe, Large Elephant, Large Zebra, Large Lion
- Outdoor space
- Eager kiddos!
How To
This game requires no lengthy set up at all. Simply take the kiddos outside, explain the rules, and hide some animals!
I kept it fairly simple since my kiddos are still quite young.
Rules:
- Turn around and close your eyes
- Count to 10
- Open your eyes and go find your specific animals
- Once you find your animals, bring them back to me
- Repeat!
Because my littles are very close in age and still extremely possessive of their animals, I chose to keep it separate. I only used 4 animals and I told each child which 2 animals they would be looking for. That way, I could challenge one kiddo while making the hiding a bit easier for the other if needed. Also, it completely eliminated the “THAT’S MY ZEBRA!!!” drama, wink wink.
Let’s Play!
What I love about introducing hide and seek this way, is that my littles are learning the basics of the game, without getting frustrated that they can’t easily hide themselves. Each child was learning what it took to hide an animal and where the best hiding places were.
What’s more, after I hid each animal a few times, the boys actually started hiding them for each other! They would take turns closing their eyes and counting, while the other ran around the yard and hid the animals. We did find that we needed to count a bit higher (to 20 or so) when the kiddos were doing the hiding. They took just a bit longer to get the animals in the right place!
Extending the Fun
One of my favorite parts of this activity was actually what happened after. They played and hid their animals for a good 10-15 minutes. But afterwards, they took the animals in the play house, down the slide, for tractor rides and on a picnic!
Even though they play with animals daily, taking them outside and exploring them in a different way gave a whole new life to their imaginative play! This is truly one of the easiest activities you can set up this summer!
Looking for more simple fun that you can take outside? Try our super easy and engaging Flower Sensory Bin! It keeps my kiddos entertained for ages!
