Classroom Transformation Series: Create a Wild Animal Safari Classroom Transformation in 6 Easy Steps

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It’s time for our final post of our 4 part Classroom Transformation Series! We want to give you the steps to do an easy safari classroom transformation! Our goal during this series is to show busy teachers that room transformations don’t have to be time consuming or difficult. And your students will absolutely LOVE the experiences you create for them! Find out more below, as we talk about bringing the animal safari theme to your classroom!

If you missed week 1, we shared how to transform your classroom into a campground. Check it out here!

For week 2, we talked all about creating a Hollywood movie theater theme. Find out all of the fun details here!

Week 3 was all about creating a Boot Camp theme. See the details here!

Why Do Classroom Transformations?

  • Students learn more when they are engaged.
  • It’s fun to transform the look of your learning environment.
  • Bring excitement into otherwise un-engaging topics.
  • Create memorable classroom experiences for students.
  • Transformations can be recreated year after year.

Students love wild animals and we do too! It’s such an easy theme to bring to life in your classroom and a bonus is that kids are naturally drawn to learning about wild animals. Read on to find out 6 ways to create a wild animal safari classroom transformation experience for your students.

Transform Your Classroom Into a Wild Animal Safari in 6 Easy Steps

Create a Wild Animal Safari Atmosphere

This theme is one that creates a HUGE impact with very little cost to you. Your students will be transported to the Serengeti of Africa as soon as they step foot into the classroom. Desks or tables will be the highlight of this room transformation when you turn them into Jeeps using only butcher paper and paper plates.

To create these Safari Jeeps, all you need to do is measure the length and height of the desk or table you would like to use. Cut a piece of white butcher paper the same length and height of the desk or table. Use black butcher paper cut into long rectangles and glue them to the white paper. Finally, cut a black circle a little larger than the size of a paper plate and glue it behind the plate.

It’s also very simple to crumple long strips of green paper and drape them from the ceiling to resemble jungle vines. Simple green plastic tablecloths draped from the ceiling or hanging down the walls also creates a jungle feel. Add a plastic safari hat for each student and you’re ready to go!

Take Your Students on a Virtual Safari

What if you and your students could experience a safari from the comfort of your own classroom? Thanks to YouTube, that’s possible! Your kids will love seeing all the wild animals in their natural habitat and will learn some cool facts along the way!

Use Wild Animal Resources

There are so many great resources that fit this theme and cover necessary standards at the same time. If you teach standards about animal life cycles and adaptations, check out this Animal Safari Exploration Unit. Your students will complete 5 tasks in order to become a safari guide while reviewing what they learned about life cycles, adaptations, survival and more! 

Are you tired of boring animal research projects? Your students will be begging to work on their research reports when they use these wild animal articles! We’ve made it simple for students to find the facts they need for 10 engaging and interesting animals.

Play Safari Games

These game ideas are perfect for brain breaks or an extra recess reward.

Catch a Tiger by its Tail: Students must chase the tiger and, you guessed it, try to catch her by the tail. When she is caught she throws out candy and escapes again while all the children are collecting and scooping it up. Then the chase is on again! This game continues until all the candy is gone. To make a tail you can use something as simple as a scrap of cloth or rope tied around your waist with a long piece hanging down the back.

Animal Charades: Just like the classic version of charades, students will act out a wild safari animal using only hand motions. Their classmates will try to guess what animal they are acting out.

Safari Animal Hunt: For this safari game you’ll need to print out pictures of many different animals and their animal babies and glue them on index cards. Divide the baby animals among all the players and hide the mommy animals throughout the playing area. The children must help find the mommy animal for every baby animal card they have.

Enjoy a Wild Safari Snack

There are lots of different animal themed snacks you could pick up at the grocery store like zebra cakes or animal crackers. We love this simple snack idea from Better Homes and Gardens. All you need is a small piece of celery, an animal cracker or two, small pieces of fruit and peanut butter or cream cheese for the filling.

Wild Animal Read Aloud Books

Happy Brown House has put together a great list of books that teach not only about the wild safari animals, but also about the country and people that live nearby. Check out her website for even more great book recommendations.

Thank you for joining us this summer for our classroom transformation series. We hope we have encouraged you to try a room transformation this year.


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