Step-by-step tutorial
Final result!
Have your kids (and their friends--this is a great playdate activity) gather up all the animals in the house. You might want to make sure everyone knows what animals you have by introducing each one and asking the kids to describe what sounds they make. Then pop them all in the pillowcase. Pick the kid who will be the first actor (sometimes we do youngest, or oldest, or whoever's name has an H in it, etc), and have them carefully pull an animal from the pillowcase. Do it in a place (behind the sofa, in the bathroom) where the rest of the troops can't see. Then each actor pretends to be an animal so the others can guess what it is. Encourage your kids to really get into "character": make noises, get down on all fours, or even describe the animal with words--whatever is developmentally appropriate for their age. They just can't say the name of the animal out loud. We had a blast with our "indoor safari" and hope you do too!