Not in the mood to play Candy Land or read the Cinderella book yet again, I asked Z to guess what animal I was thinking of based on 2 or 3 clues. We started with the obvious ones, but she loved the game so much I exhausted my memory of the zoo, aquarium and farm animals. This would also make a great car game and a nice alternative to "I spy," which is what we typically play when Z starts in with the, "It's taking a long time to get to _______."
Here are a couple of examples to try on your toddler/preschooler:
I'm thinking of an animal that lives in Australia and carries its baby in a pouch.
I'm thinking of an animal whose face looks like a mask. He lives in North America and sometimes eats garbage.
At one point Z wanted to take a turn. Her first clue was great: "I'm thinking of an animal with a hard back that lives in the water." I guessed turtle, but it was a crab. Then she said "I'm thinking of an animal that's a whale. It lives in the ocean and has a tail... Can you guess what it is, Mommy?"
"Um, a whale?"
"Yes!!!" she shouted as she jumped up and down, amazed with my brilliance.
As I was putting her to bed, Z asked if we could play "Guess the Princess." With only seven princesses in the Disney lineup, this is a much less challenging, less fun game. Which princess pricks her finger on a spinning wheel...Which one lives under the sea...Which one has a fairy godmother...Which one falls in love with a man with a magic lantern...You get the idea.
