In full disclosure, we were provided the Fun Felt Safari from Creativity for Kids in exchange for our honest review.
The Fun Felt Safari set by Creativity for Kids immediately caught my attention at Toy Fair this year. It captures my children’s fascination of animals and blends it with artistic creativity. As little hands maneuver the pieces to decorate a zebra’s stripes (or dots in my daughter’s case), they are enhancing their fine motor skills. When completed with the project not only will they have a piece of art, but they will also have a new toy to utilize for imaginary play. How industrious! The children are creating their own toy.
Creativity for Kids has amazing kits that expand a child’s imagination while simultaneously improving fine motor skills, increasing their understanding of STEAM concepts and fostering their love of imagination. The Fun Felt Safari Kit is one of their newest sets released this year and my children couldn’t wait to open and play with it. In the Fun Felt Safari Kit there are four sticker sheets, eight sets of eye stickers and sufficient parts to create six animals. The animals are: lion, giraffe, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and zebra. When I received it, I wanted to focus on the fun activities that children can use their completed projects for while enhancing their educational learning.
There are five animal templates as well as plenty of felt sticker decorations and eyes for the animals.
Mommy University Presents
5 Activities Using Creativity for Kids
Fun Felt Safari Set
Interactive Story Time
Story time is such a critically important time for young children and their parents as it is a wonderful way for families to bond as well as encourage a love of reading. Reading, however, does not have to just focus on the words on the page. In fact, for young children they can have fun mixing it up with play during story time. If you have not acquired books on animals or the zoo, I recommend acquiring a few by borrowing some from your local library. You can use the animals created with The Fun Felt Safari Kit to mimic the actions taking place in the book. By doing this you are modeling for your children a form of imaginary play. You are also helping to enhance their reading comprehension.
Fun Felt Safari Kit accompanies “Giraffes Can’t Dance” as well as many of the animals represented in the story.
Exposure to Academic Learning
As my children put together each animal, we talked about what sounds they make. If your children are older, you can discuss more advanced topics such as what do the animals eat and where do they live. Based on your child’s age and knowledge, you can research the animals with your children by watching videos on YouTube, reading some fun facts about the animals that you find online or, if they show an interest in a specific animal, take them to the library with their animal.
Enhancing a Zoo Visit
For our visit to the Philadelphia Zoo, my first thought was to enhance the visit with the Fun Felt Safari Kit. Traveling in the front seat of our car, our animals had an up close view of the drive to Philadelphia and stayed with us in the hotel. When we arrived at the zoo, we acquired a paper map and located all the animals that could match with the ones in our kit. My children had a wonderful time finding each animal and comparing them to their own artistic rendition.
My daughter was ecstatic to find a Rhinoceros to match the one she decorated.
Backyard Safari
Equipped with binoculars, I hid the felt animals from the kit in our backyard so that my children could go on a safari. This is a form of imaginary play but this activity also encourages children to pay attention to details. It also enhances problem solving skills, encourages teamwork and boosts visual skills. To get them even more involved, have the kids hide the animals for their siblings to find.
Children equipped with binoculars go seek out Lions and Giraffes in their backyard.
Create Dioramas
We have just delved into our first dioramas at home. Since my children have visited the Academy of Natural Science, they have seen life-sized dioramas in person, but what a great artistic expression for them to create their own dioramas for their animals. Dioramas enable a child to think about the environment an animal lives in and to use their imagination to create an artistic reflection of that. Fine motor skills will be developed as well as the child’s imagination.
The dioramas are a fun activity that simply require a shoe box and paper. The children used the leftover felt stickers to decorate the background.
In addition to Safari Animals, Creativity for Kids has also released Forest Animals and Dinosaurs. Similar activities can be performed for the other kits! Replace Dinosaur Field Station with the Zoo for the Dinosaurs Kit, and the Forest Animals make a great activity while camping.
Fun Felt Safari can be purchased using this affiliate link on Amazon for under $16! You can also get Fun Felt Shapes and Masks.