At OMO, we believe that every stain represents an important experience - mud stains are the stamp of adventure, grass stains are the sign of exploration and fruit stains are the aftermath of discovery. Encourage your kids to get messy with our fun activities for happy, healthy, confident kids. We'll be there to sort out the dirty clothes afterwards.
Mini Safari Fun
A treasure hunt game to introduce your child to the Big Five and other South African wildlife.
What you’ll need:
What to do:
Colour your rice in advance. Use green food colouring to colour a bag of rice by mixing the colouring thoroughly into the rice and then leaving it spread out on a baking tray for a few days to dry. You can create any colour of rice you like.
When the rice is dry, put it in a tub and bury some animal toys in the tub. For this activity, we suggest South Africa’s Big Five (lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo, rhinoceros) but you can do this with any toy wild animals.
Explain to your child that you’re going ‘on safari’ and they must try to spot the hidden wild animals. Let them dig in the rice and try to find the animals you have buried. Ask them to name each animal as they find it. While they are looking for animals, talk to them about why it’s important to protect the natural world. When your child has found all the animals, ask them to count the animals and tell you how many there are. Ask them how many other wild animals they can name. If you have used the Big Five, explain why these animals are called the Big Five and show your child how these special animals appear on South African bank notes.
Alternative Materials:
Change it up:
Make it easy: Use only the Big Five or just a few animals.
Make it a challenge: Use many animal toys and tell your child the number of toys they will need to find. Try having them blindfolded so they can use only their sense of touch to find the toys.
Play with friends: Make a large tub of rice and bury several each of different kinds of toys. Each child must find their particular animal: five zebras or three lions, for example. You can make this a race by giving each child the same number of toys to find.
Indoor play: This activity can be enjoyed inside or outside. Lay down a sheet of newspaper to catch any rice that gets knocked out of the tub.
Developmental areas:
Fine motor skills
Pre-writing skills – pincer grip
Gross motor skills – should strength
Memory
Problem-solving
Values instilled
Love of nature; resilience.