Here’s a fun child-led play activity that you can do at home to inspire creative expression and movement! We call it “Strike A Pose!”

Aim: An activity that brings movement to children allowing an expression with their body. There is no “right” pose; each child expresses differently, recognizing the individuality and encouraging self expression.

TIP: Have a look around, and notice how we’re all doing the same pose, but we do it differently.

Variations depending on the age(s) of the child(ren):

Use music like in musical chairs, and when the music is paused, the children “strike a pose”.
If the child is older, you can cycle through the alphabet, and they help figure out an animal that begins with that letter. You can choose any subject –animal is a fun one for poses.
If they are knowledgeable about birds, bird sounds may be fun to mimic. Parents can decide whether just getting them making different sounds is the intention of this activity, OR it can lead to further learning about the different sounds birds make.

Here are some ideas for the names of animals:

You don’t need to go through the whole alphabet, children may be able to name an animal with a random letter of the alphabet. They can think of the animal’s attribute and show it.

A = antelope (antlers), anaconda (slitter); B = bear (hold ankles with hands and lumber around); C = cat (meowing sound); D = donkey (sound / kick); E = elephant (elephant trunk), eagle; F = fox (stealth, pointy ears); G = giraffe (long neck); H = horse (horsey lip sound); I = iguana (slow slitter, low to the ground); J = jaguar; K = kangaroo (jump around with joey in the pouch); L = lion, leopard (roar / slink); M = monkey (monkey sounds, hands in arm pits); N = narwhal (move arm like a tusk); O = octopus (waving arms and legs while sitting on the ground, other 4 limbs are still growing); P = pig (snort, nose to ground), penguin (penguin feet and waddle); Q = ? R = rhinoceros (tusk, awkward movement of legs and arms); S = shark (arms like jaws); T = tit mouse (quiet, low and quick movements, scurrying); U = unicorn (yeah!); V = ? W = whale (make water spout sound; bridge pose with one leg up representing water); X = ? Y = yak (big head, slurpy tongue); Z = zebra

Written by Lotus Why, WILD CHILD Program Facilitator