Useful & Multipurpose Templates

These templates are worth printing & laminating for a variety of uses! You can adapt them into a variety of games & learning tools; especially if you laminate the pieces & get a Vis-a-vis marker (See Tips Section). 

They are especially useful for tasks that require a child to visually discern one thing or word or letter on certain "food" pieces that from others.

Use in Language Arts

Here are some possible suggestions for use in LANGUAGE ARTS & READING:

•Letter recognition: Write different letters on the bananas. Have the child use visual discernment to find the letter "Mm" on certain bananas to feed only those bananas to the monkey, Each animal could be fed different letters.

•Word Families & Rhyme: Use several dog heads and write different words on the bones. One dog can be fed words from the /-at/ family while another dog can be fed words from the /-am/ family, etc.

•Parts of Speech: Write different words on the mice. Then have the child feed only nouns to one cat & adhectives to another cat

Use in Math

These templates can also be used as MATH tools:

•Counting: Give a direction such as "Feed the rabbit 4 carrots" & check for accuracy. 

•Story Problem Solving: "Mom fed the rabbit 2 carrots & Dad fed the rabbit 4 carrots. Gow many carrots did the rabbit eat in all?"

•Equivalencies: Write a number on the Panda Bear. Then have the child choose bamboo pieces with equivalencies on it to the panda bear. For example, write 30 on the panda bear. Bamboo pieces with "thirty", "XXX", "10 x 3", "25 + 5" could be fed to the panda bear 

•Comparisons: Write different numbers on the food poeces, then have the child identify certain values. For example, feed the elephant only peanuts that are "greater than or equal to 50"

•Shape recognition: Draw different shapes on the bananas & have your child feed only bananas with a certain shape to the monkey. At first a literal triangle could be drawn but later, you could change to slice of pizza, teepee, cheese wedge

There are other, endless possibilities! If they are laminated correctly, you can simply wipe the Expo marker off with a dab of water & they are ready to go again!

Use as Score Keeping Tool 

These can also be used as fun ways to keep track of points when playing a group or team game! For example, five minutes of on-task work earns a carrot for the rabbit or correctly answering a question gets bamboo for a panda bear, etc.

Tips for Prep & Set-up

Tip #1: Print the heads & food pieces on cardstock, then laminate them You can then use a vis-a-vis marker to write on them to adapt to different goals Vis-a-vis markers won't smidge when touched & can be wiped off with a dab of water & a tissue for a new use! 

Tip #2: Instead of gluing the animal to a box, use cardstock to make the animal into a standable tent.The various animals can then be flattened fot easy storage in a centers box or envelope.  

Tip #3: Cut out the mouths. Then attach a plastic bag that can easily taped to the backside so that the “food” pieces can literally be “fed” into the animal. These contents of the bag can then be "checked" for accuracy if the child is working independently. 

Tip #4: Make the animal head bigger & make the food pieces bigger. Printing the animal head on one full sheet of paper & the food pieces on a separe paper so that they are bigger & easier to "feed" & write on respectively!