You can go all out setting up an amazing small world play scene, or you can keep it simple and whip up an easy imaginative play activity in a few minutes.
For this big cat invitation to play, we went with simple.
Imaginative play can be a great sanity saver. You can set up a little small world play scene in just a few minutes and if you stick with a theme your child is interested in, it might just keep them happily playing for a nice big chunk of time.
A House for a Tiger
Adding some kind of house to an imaginative play setting is always a hit with kids. Having a little spot to tuck away a character or animal seems to have universal appeal, but it doesn’t have to be something elaborate or special.
We made a house for our tiger and her cub out of a good old cardboard box.
Here’s what we used to make this easy small world play scene:
- A piece of green material
- A piece of blue paper
- A small cardboard box
- Scissors
- Rocks
- Sticks and branches from the garden.
- Sprigs of grass from the garden
- Animals – our tiger cub is similar to this one (affiliate link)
We used a green rug to cover the table, and collected some small branches, sticks and sprigs of grass from our back garden. I cut a ‘pond’ out of some blue paper and put some rocks around the edge of it. And I turned the box over and cut an opening on one side. Then all we needed was some animals.
We chose some wild cats for our small world set up, and the owner of the ‘house’ was a tiger and her cub.
Another thing kids love to have as part of small world play like this, is something to feed their characters. So we added a small bowl and add chopped up grass and leaves as food for the wild cats.
If you kids enjoyed this little ‘house for a tiger/ imaginative play, they might like some more tiger activities or books.
Books about Tigers
There are lots of lovely stories about tigers, as well as some great non-fiction books.
The links below are Amazon affiliate links – if you buy a book I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you are in Australia I recommend Booktopia
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown
The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
Tiger in My Soup by Kashmira Sheth and Jeffrey Ebbeler
There’s a Tiger in the Garden by Lizzy Stewart
That’s Not My Tiger… by Fiona Watt
Don’t Wake Up the Tiger by Britta Teckentrup
National Geographic Readers: Tigers by Laura Marsh
A Tiger Cub Grows Up by Joan Hewett and Richard Hewett
Amazing Animals: Tigers by Valerie Bodden
More Tiger Activities and Crafts.
If your kids are totally tiger crazy they might like one of these activities…
Set up some Tiger Who Came to Tea sensory play.
Marble paint the strips onto a tiger.
Sing the Great Big Tiger Song (track 1)
Make a tiger mask.
Check out this fun animation all about tigers…
I love this idea Kate !
What a great idea Kate, will have to remember to pick up some things from nature on my next walk and give it a go with my two littlies! They’re feeling a touch lost without their big brother around.
I want to come and play too :)
Great idea.
awesome!! i’m so stealing this idea.