Zoo Animal Tape Rescue
I've seen many variations of this activity and always love them! Since we are doing a zoo theme this week to go along with the summer reading program we're following, we used our zoo animals for rescuing. I've seen people tape puzzle pieces and have kiddos completing the puzzle, I've seen little character figurines like Paw Patrol or Daniel Tiger, hot wheels cars, letters or numbers of some sort, or any other small object.
I used blue painters tape and chose to have the animals taped to a cookie sheet. The idea for this activity is for kiddos to help "rescue" whatever it is that you have taped down to give them that feeling of purpose. ;) It immediately feels like a secret mission.
But what in the world is the point and what are they learning? By working on pulling up these little animals, peeling back the sticky tape, and then wripping the tape off them, they are using, and strengthening all the little muscles in their fingers and hands. Think about all the little"things we do every single day with our fingers and hands that little ones may not have mastered yet.
To name JUST a few:
- fastening buttons
- squeezing/using chip clips
- zipping our coats and sweaters
- putting on and tying shoes
- writing
- using scissors
- effectively brushing our teeth and hair
- putting on socks
- buckling and unbuckling a seat belt
- eating with silverware
- cutting our food
THE LIST. GOES. ON.
Fine motor skills are very important and there are SO many fun ways to start strengthening them when kids are little. Rescuing zoo animals from a cookie sheet is one of these ways! This activity is also promoting imaginative play which aids in creativity, language development, and social skills.
So you may see some tiny animals taped to a cookie sheet and think, “well, that looks pretty easy,” and you’re right! This activity is super easy to set up, very simple for kiddos to understand, but yet is also PACKED with fine motor development and social development opportunities, and has lots of PLAY potential. Both my 4 year old and 2 year old were engaged in this activity and Tatum (2) even continued playing with the animals independently afterwards, while Kade (4) enjoyed making a “tape ball.”
BEST PART, you guys, is that they truly think they are just playing here. No secret fine motor and social development agenda to these kiddos, simply just a fun, new way to play with something they enjoy.
What are your kids into that you could try this activity with?
In case you missed them in the post, here are the direct links to materials we used for this activity:
Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links which means I would earn a small commission if you were to purchase through those links. All opinions are my own, and I only link to products that I truly recommend.
Be on the look out for the rest of our ZOO WEEK activities coming later this week, as well as all of our book recommendations!
