Youth Activity Archive

Activity Description: Act out animal body language to learn how animals show their feelings without using words and how to react safely.

Items Needed:

• Animal Safety Cards
• A container or bowl to hold cards

Before the Meeting:

1. Prepare the cards. (3 min)
   • Print and cut the Animal Safety Cards.
   • Place them into a bowl or container.

Instructions (Estimated Total Time: 15 min):

1. Explain the goal of the game. (2 min)
   • Animals use their bodies to show how they feel. Happy animals move in loose, relaxed ways. Scared or upset animals make their bodies tight, stiff, or loud. Understanding these signals helps keep animals and people safe.
   • Youth will guess what an animal is feeling based on movement.
2. Act out an animal mood. (3–4 min)
   • Choose one youth to draw a card and announce which animal it is. Then act out the animal’s body language. The youth must use only movement and facial expression. No words or animal noises.
3. Guess the animal’s feeling. (3–4 min)
   • Other youth raise their hands to guess the mood shown.
   • Choose one youth to guess. If correct, they take the next turn.
     • If they have already taken a turn, the next turn goes to the youth on their right. If that youth has also taken a turn, continue moving to the right until a youth who has not taken a turn is chosen.
4. Practice safe responses. (3–4 min)
   • After each round, the leader reads the safe action a person could take when seeing that animal mood that is listed on the card.
5. Continue playing. (1–2 min)
   • Play until everyone has had a turn or time runs out.

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