A Circle of Make-Believe Learning Game for Preschool Children
NATURE ISLAND
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GOALS: What Children Will Learn
• Practicing words: island, jungle, anteater, elephant, giraffe, lion, monkey, tiger, zebra
• Practicing letters
• Practicing movements
• Practicing taking turns

Nature Island Game from Circle of Make-Believe video.
1. WHAT YOU NEED
"MATERIALS" FROM THIS WEB SITE:
• Animal Pictures
• Alphabet Letters
FROM YOUR HOME OR SCHOOL:
• Cardboard box or cushions for a pretend airplane
• Camera or pretend camera (cereal box or milk carton with a hole to look through)
2. BEFORE YOU PLAY
• Help children decorate cardboard boxes for make-believe airplanes; or use cushions, or just pretend.
• Ask children to name each Animal. Help them use the Letters to find and say the first letter of animals’ names (“Z” is for “Zebra”).TIP: Some children might not know alphabet letters yet. Use the game to help them start to recognize letters and their sounds.
3. INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING THE GAME
(Help children practice the words in red)

TELL THE STORY:
We will fly our make-believe airplanes to Nature Island. An island is land with water all around it. Nature Island has a jungle, a place with lots of plants, trees and animals. We’ll try to find all the animals and take their pictures with our camera.

PLAY THE GAME:

  1. Fly: Now, get in your airplane. Start your engines! Fly, fly, fly to Nature Island! Look for the island. There it is! Land your airplane!
  2. Animal Sounds: We land on Nature Island! Listen! We hear the animals’ sounds. (Ask children to make sounds of a lion, monkey and other animals.) But where are the animals? They are hiding.
  3. Letters: If we want to find the animals we have to say the first letter of each animal’s name.Let’s take turns using the pretend camera and pretending to be each animal hiding in the jungle. Ask child with the camera: What is the first letter of Anteater? (Show Letters.) When the child says “A is for Anteater,” the Anteater comes out of the jungle. The child takes a pretend photo and says, “Thank you.”
  4. More Animals and Letters: Children take turns pretending to be the other Animals and saying the first letter of the animals’ names: “E” for Elephant, “G” for Giraffe, “L” for Lion, “M” for Monkey, “T” for Tiger, and “Z” for Zebra. When a child says the first letter, that animal comes out of the jungle and the child takes a pretend photo.
  5. Fly Home: Tell children: “Good job! You took beautiful photos of all the animals. Let’s get in our airplanes. Start your engines! Now fly, fly, fly home!”
  6. Make up your own games to practice letters of the alphabet. Try using the names of family or friends.