Forest Animals Movement Book | Brain Break Gross Motor | OT SLP SPED APE PreK

This Forest Animals Movement Book and Movement Cards get your students moving, regulating, and learning through gross motor activities themed around forest animals — hopping like a rabbit, scurrying like a squirrel, crawling like a bear, and trotting like a deer. Builds gross motor skills, motor planning, following directions, imitation, and attention in a multi-sensory, engaging format. Use during circle time, as a brain break, transition activity, or any time you need to get the "wiggles" out.

🌲 Perfect for:

• Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) targeting following directions, imitation, and movement-based language goals
• Occupational Therapists (OTs) working on gross motor, motor planning, sensory regulation, and imitation
• Adapted Physical Education (APE) teachers integrating movement with language and following directions
• Special Education teachers building brain break and movement routines
• Autism classrooms working on imitation, motor planning, and sensory regulation
• ABA therapists running discrete trial imitation and following directions programs
• Early Childhood, Pre-K, and Kindergarten teachers
• Music Therapists building movement-based language sessions
• Science teachers covering forest habitats and animal movements (K-2 NGSS)
• Homeschool families with active learners

🐰 What's Included:

• 1 Forest Animals Movement Book (rhyming text with movement prompts)
• A set of standalone Movement Cards for flexible use
• Multiple forest animal movements (hop, scurry, crawl, trot, and more)

🎯 Skills Targeted:

Gross motor skills (hopping, scurrying, crawling, trotting, and more animal-inspired movements), motor planning, imitation skills, following directions, sensory regulation and self-regulation, attention and focus, listening comprehension, body awareness, forest animal vocabulary, animal movement science, and sequencing.

Sample Text:

"I can hop like a rabbit. I can hop really fast!

I can move like a squirrel.

I can scurry through the grass. I

can crawl like a bear.

I can crawl really slow. I

can trot like a deer,

to get to where I need to go…"

How to Use:

The teacher or therapist reads through the book aloud while modeling each animal movement, and students imitate the actions. Use the standalone movement cards to let students choose their own movement, take turns leading the group, or build a movement sequence (do 3 cards in a row). Perfect for circle time, brain breaks, transitions, before/after a focused activity, or any time the group needs to move.

🐻 Ways to Use:

• Brain breaks and movement breaks
• Circle time and morning meeting
• Transition activities (between centers or subjects)
• OT gross motor and motor planning sessions
• Adapted Physical Education (APE) lessons
• Speech therapy following-directions warm-ups
• ABA discrete trial imitation training
• Sensory regulation and self-regulation routines
• Forest, woodland, and camping thematic units
• Habitat science units (NGSS K-LS1-1, 2-LS4-1)
• Indoor recess activities
• Tele-therapy movement breaks

This movement book is also bundled with an Adapted Song Book so that you can have both music and movement. You can find that here:

Animals Live In The Forest Adapted Song Book

If your students enjoy this activity, they may enjoy other adapted song books in my store. See the complete collection here:

Complete Adapted Song Book Collection

For more hands-on camping themed, activities, please follow the link here:

Hands-On Camping Activities