Which Pet Am I?
Tape a picture of a pet on a boy’s back. Have him walk around the room so the other boys can see the picture. Then the boy asks questions, such as “Where does my pet live?” and “How does my pet move around?,” and tries to guess the identity of the pet. If the boy has difficulty guessing, the other boys may give him clues.
Obedience School
Based on Simon Says, preface the commands with “the trainer says”. Use appropriate dog tricks or behaviors such as lie down, beg for a treat, roll over, speak (woof), scratch your ear, wag your tail, show your tongue and pant.
Animal Charades
Charades is a great game -- indoors or out -- for toddlers or mixed age groups. Everyone sits in a semi-circle and, one at a time; each child is given the name of an animal to act out (without sound). You can simplify the game by saying -- this is a barnyard animal, an animal from Australia, or the zoo.
Animal Walk
Divide participants into teams. Assign an animal to each team. On signal, they move toward a goal line and back to their team acting and sounding like the animal assigned to them. Continue this in relay fashion. Some possible assignments: chicken squawk, crab walk, bunny hopping, duck waddling, elephant walk, monkey moves, kangaroo jumping, etc.
Dog and Bone
One player (the Dog) sits in a chair with his back to all the other players. A pretend bone (cardboard tube or similar object) is placed under his chair. The leader points to one of the players behind the chair to try to sneak up and take the Dog's bone. If the Dog hears this player, he may bark and the player must freeze for two minutes. When the bone is safely stolen, the Dog is told to turn around. He then gets three guesses to identify who has the bone. If he guesses correctly, the one who took the bone becomes the Dog. If he doesn't guess correctly, he remains the Dog.
Dog and Possum
The players sit in circle. The leader takes one beanbag, the opossum, which he starts on its way around the circle. A moment later, he starts a second beanbag, the dog, around the circle. The boys must try to get the "dog" to catch the "possum" before it gets back to the starting player.
Doghouse
Din
Hide small objects, cutouts, or wrapped pieces of candy around the room. For the hunt, form two teams, the cats and the dogs, each with a leader. When the signal is given to start, individual players begin hunting for the hidden objects but only the leader may do the retrieving.
When a cat discovers an object, he meows loudly to attract the attention of the leader of his team. If the group is large, form additional teams. The team recovering the most objects in five minutes wins.
Catch Your Tail
Divide the players into two equal teams. Members of each team grasp each other around the waist. The last player of each team has a handkerchief, his tail, tied onto his belt at the back, the head player, the captain of each team, leads his team in a chase trying to capture the tail of the opponent. Each player must hold onto the boy in front of him. Any number of teams adds to the fun of this game.
Dogsled Derby
Equipment: 2 skate boards, 2 parkas, and 1 dog tail, per boy and 2 pieces of rope.
Divide the boys into two teams. Each team assigns a driver who maneuvers the dogsled (skateboard). He also wears the parka. On ‘GO’, the first boy dons a dog tail, and takes hold of one end of the rope; the driver holds the other end, while kneeling or sitting on the dogsled.
The ‘dog’ pulls the sled down to the far end of the playing area and back again, barking all the while. When he gets back to the start, the second boy puts on his tail and joins the first ‘dog’ to pull the sled down and back again.
On each successive trip,
another dog is added to the pack.
When the driver yells ‘Mush’,
the dogs must howl. One variation
of this game is to use only one team and try to beat a set time limit for the
‘world record’.
Sleeping Dog
Equipment: Beanbag; blindfold
Players sit in a circle with a boy as Sleeping Dog
in the center, blindfolded and cross-legged. The bean bag or “bone” is on the floor behind him. The leader signals one of the players to creep up behind Sleeping Dog and attempt to take his bone away. All other players remain as quiet as possible while the “steal” is being attempted. Sleeping Dog may growl if he hears a sound. If he thinks the bone stealer is close behind him, he may swing his arms around, attempting to touch the thief. If he does not touch the stealer, all becomes quiet again and the thief may creep closer. If he touches the beanbag without being detected, the rest of the players begin barking. The thief hurries back to his place in the circle. When he is seated again, the barking stops, signaling Sleeping Dog to remove his blindfold and try to guess which player stole the bone. If Dog guesses correctly, the bone stealer becomes Dog. Otherwise the same player continues as Dog until he catches a bone-stealer to take his place.
Poor Puppy
Players sit in a circle. One boy is “Puppy.” The “Puppy” goes to a player and kneels. Looking soulfully into the player’s eyes, “Puppy” says, “Arf Arf” as piteously as possible. The player thus addressed must pat “Puppy” on the head and solemnly say “Poor Puppy” three times. If the player does not smile, “Puppy” tries another player. The player who laughs becomes “Puppy”.
