Across the country, zoos everywhere have closed to the public amid widespread efforts to stop the spread of Coronavirus.
And that means there goes another family activity you need to scrape off your list during this pandemic. We bet your kids must be missing these adorable animals just like we do.
But, hold up! Instead of going out or waiting for the pandemic to end, how about we bring in the zoo to your home to keep your kids entertained for the whole day?! Sounds like a plan!
But How Is That Possible?
First of all, we don’t even have these animals living in our homes or a decent land to keep them. Worry not, mummies, with Google 3D Animals, you and your kids get to experience watching life-sized animals roaming virtually in your home, just as if you’re at the zoo!
With this amazing feature created by Google, you can choose any animals that your kids love and see them come to life in your living room. Be creative and put a fluffy panda in your kitchen or maybe even a giant shark in your bathtub, and anywhere possible you can think of.
How Do We Do It?
Yes, we know the mummies out there must be eager to play around with this. It’s really simple, just think of an animal and search it on Google to see if the option to ‘view in 3D’ is available.
As an example, if you search for ‘tiger’, pictures of the tiger will come out with a description on Wikipedia. Below this, there’ll be a message that says, “Meet a life-sized giant tiger up close.” So, go on and click that option!
The feature has included animals like penguins, horses, cats, dogs, and so many more! To kick start your zoo adventure, try challenging your kids to see if they can think of more animals and list them out.
You’ll need a smartphone and allow Google to access your camera for both Android (Version 7.0 or later) and IOS (Version 11 or later).
Have fun with your kids and try to move your phone around so that Google can capture your surroundings before the animals can be placed accordingly.
Whether you want it tiny, normal, or large in size, you can! Just adjust their size by pinching and dragging their scale with your fingers on the screen and place them anywhere you like.
To make your zoo adventure even more interesting, all these animals can even make realistic growls and movements.
Want To Visit The Zoo In Another Way?
Create a mini zoo in the old fashion way without using your phones. This is how you can also raise your children in a digital age.
Get your kids to join you in the process of building a zoo by laying out all their toy animals and providing them with colourful craft papers and lots of drawing pencils.
This build-your-own-zoo activity and a little role-play fun would totally get them engaged for hours! Ignite the creativity in your kids by letting them use their imaginations to design their own zoos.
So, How Do We Start?
1) Lay down the materials needed, such as craft papers, blocks, drawing pencils/markers, scissors, and some tapes.
2) Begin by cutting out the large craft papers into the shapes that you want. Tape the cut out papers to the floor. Do this only on hard surfaces or else it’ll rip easily when you try to draw something on it.
3) Talk to your kids about the zoo that they want to create by getting them to name the zoo and then, try to base the layout of the zoo exactly like how your kids imagine it. This’ll boost their happiness knowing that you value their thoughts and fully participate in this ‘little zoo project’ together.
4) Next, arrange the toy animals in their respective cages drawn on the craft papers. Write down the signs with the animals’ names so that your kids can sort them out easily.
5) Start arranging the blocks and the toy animals and maybe add some extra decorative miniature plants/trees if you have just to add in the zoo vibes.
Lastly, play pretend with your kids!
Isn’t it easy to have fun with your kids and make them feel loved and entertained by just doing these activities at home?
Now that you know how to fill that void of not visiting the zoo, try these zoo projects today to spend quality time with them!
Year-end holidays are great in so many ways, especially when you have fun family activities to fill up your time. For more fun-filled holiday ideas right within your home, visit our Cuti-Cuti Family articles here!