[sanjajerem]

Quote eaturcheese

LouannePiccolo already posted one good idea.

I'm quite fond of Old McDonald, prepping the song by teaching the animals with picture cards and asking "A cow says?" Kids answer "MOO!" or the Chinese equivalent. I suggest teaching dog, cat, horse, cow, pig. They should recognize those animals but might not know their names or the sounds they make.

It might be a good idea to find out what the Chinese is for a few of them, and that way you know the kids understand the concept. They're not so different from the Japanese ones that I know. (wang=bark, miao=meow, si si=neigh neigh, mou mou=moo, heng heng=oink)

Once the kids know the voices, introduce the song. Make their only task saying the animal sounds and doing gestures. This can be changed to animal names. My kids only sing E-I-E-I-O and do the gestures .

I think anything more complex than this will be lost on 3 year olds.

Thank you, I was not sure what the three year olds can do.

[LouannePiccolo]

Hi again Sanja,

With three year olds, keep it really simple. It used to drive me mad that at Christmas I'd buy a great present for my sons and they'd end up playing hide and seek in the box it came in, at about that age! Games that you'd find really boring after two turns are more or less what three years olds love.

Here's another really simple animal sounds game you can play:

If your class isn't too big, have them all stand up in a circle and hold out an animal flashcard. If it's a horse, say "what does a horse do?" and begin cantering around the room, neighing like a wild woman. Kids love it. They love a clown and they love to clown around. While you're all cantering around, hold out another card. If it's a bird, say "what does a bird do?" and begin tweeting and flapping your wings.

Kids get quite excited with this game, so remember, if your class is quite big then keep it short and make sure to play a calming game afterwards. For example:
Get the kiddies to sit in a cricle and place all your animal flashcards upside down on the floor. Ask one child, "where's the monkey?". He will turn over a first card, which probably won't be the monkey. If it's an elephant, make the trumpeting sound of an elephant. If you want this to just be a listening game then let them just listen to you trumpeting away. If you want them to join in, make an "all-together" gesture with your arms and get them to join in.
Everytime, the student turns over a card that isn't the monkey, you can make the sound of the animal it is. When he finds the monkey, he can keep the flashcard. Then start all over again with the next kiddy...

Hope this helps!