Zoo Planner
Build an enclosure for each animal and arrange the homes from small to large. Comparing, building, and moving in the residents creates a playful size-and-order challenge.
- 2½ years
- Quick prep
- At home
- About 15 minutes
Developmental benefits
- Cognitive：Building homes and assigning them by animal size gives your child practice observing, comparing, ordering, and matching by size.
Preparation
What You’ll Need
- 1
Building blocks
- 2
animal figures in several sizes, such as a rabbit, sheep, lion, hippo, and elephant
Step 1
Plan the Zoo
Build an arched zoo entrance to invite your child into the story. Look at all the animals waiting to move in and compare their sizes before you begin building.
What to notice
- Names each animal figure
Vocabulary - Pretends the arched blocks are a zoo entrance
Imitation and Symbolic Representation and Play
Tips
- Connect body size with space: “Will the elephant need a big home? Could Bunny’s home be smaller?”
Step 2
Build Homes That Fit
Invite your child to build an enclosure for each animal. Begin with the smallest home, then make each new one a little larger so the bigger animals have more space.
What to notice
- Uses blocks of different shapes to form an enclosure
Emergent Mathematical Thinking - Builds a smaller home for a small animal and a larger home for a big animal Emergent Mathematical Thinking
Tips
- Make one enclosure obviously too small for the elephant and see whether your child notices the playful mismatch.
- The homes do not need exact measurements. Focus on the visible progression from smaller to larger.
Step 3
Move Each Animal In
When the homes are ready, ask your child to move the animals in from smallest to largest, matching each one with a home. If two animals look similar in size or one home feels wrong, place the animals side by side or try them in the space.
What to notice
- Places two animals together and identifies which is larger Emergent Mathematical Thinking
- Judges whether a home fits by looking at how crowded the animal is Emergent Mathematical Thinking
Tips
- When every animal has a home, announce, “The zoo is open!”
- If a match is off, invite another judgment instead of giving the answer: “Does Hippo look crowded in this home?”
Better Parenting Content Team · Updated September 11, 2026