Sleepy Animals Wake Up

A pretend-sleep game where the child must lie perfectly still until the song ends, then wake up as the animal you name — and only that animal.

  1. The child lies down on the floor and pretends to be asleep.
  2. Sing or chant slowly: “Sleeping, sleeping, all the children are sleeping…” Stretch it out so the child has to hold still for 5–15 seconds.
  3. Finish with: "…and when they woke up, they were… frogs!"
  4. The child jumps up and moves like that animal until you say “Sleeping!” — then they drop back down and freeze.
  5. Repeat with 5–6 different animals, varying how long the “sleep” lasts.
  6. Later, add a trick: hold up a picture (or toy) of one animal while saying another. The rule is “be the animal you see, not the one you hear” (or the reverse).

Variation: the child wakes up as the named animal but must move in slow motion, or wakes up only if the animal “has four legs” — otherwise they keep sleeping.

Requirements

  • Space: A clear patch of floor about 2 × 2 meters
  • Surface: Carpet, rug, or mat — comfortable to lie on
  • Materials: None; a few animal pictures or soft toys for the trick round
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 or more children
  • Supervision: Full — the adult sings and names the animals

Rationale & Objective

This is one of the circle-time games used in the “Red Light, Purple Light” self-regulation intervention, which improved behavioural self-regulation in preschoolers who started with low scores (Tominey & McClelland, 2011) and in Head Start children (Schmitt et al., 2015). The game packs three inhibitory demands into one minute: holding the body still while excited, waiting for the cue instead of jumping up early, and stopping a fun movement on the word “Sleeping.” The trick round adds a conflict between what the child sees and hears, so they must suppress the stronger pull — the kind of interference control Diamond (2013) describes. Vygotskian approaches such as Tools of the Mind use pretend roles in the same way: it is easier for a young child to stay still “as a sleeping cat” than simply because they were told to.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: peeks, giggles, or pops up before the song ends; keeps moving for several seconds after “Sleeping!”
  • Developing: lies still for a short song (about 5 seconds); drops back down within a second or two of the cue; forgets the rule in the trick round
  • Proficient: stays still for 10–15 seconds even when you stretch the pause; stops and drops at once; follows the see-not-hear rule most of the time
  • Advanced: handles long, teasing pauses and false starts (“they were… they were…”); follows changing trick rules; leads the game for you or a sibling

Safety Notes

  • Clear toys and furniture corners from the area — children drop to the floor and leap up quickly
  • Choose animals that suit the space; skip “galloping horse” or “kangaroo” in a small room
  • With several children, spread them out so nobody lands on a neighbour when dropping down
  • Some children dislike closing their eyes or lying down on cue — let them “sleep” sitting up with eyes open

Hints

  • Playfulness: sing in a whispery lullaby voice and then announce the animal with a big dramatic reveal. Add snoring sounds — holding in the giggles is extra inhibition practice
  • Sustain interest: let the child pick the animals, or move beyond animals — robots, popcorn, melting ice cream, astronauts in zero gravity
  • Common mistake: always pausing the same length, so the child learns the timing instead of listening. Vary the wait and occasionally fake the ending
  • Limited space: play it on a bed or sofa with “small” animals — a curled-up hedgehog, a wiggling worm, a blinking owl
  • Cross-domain: name less familiar animals and talk about how they move (vocabulary, science); ask “what sound does it start with?” before waking up (phonological awareness)
  • Progression: short sleep, familiar animals → longer and unpredictable sleeps → slow-motion animals → see-not-hear trick round → child becomes the singer

Sources

  • Tominey & McClelland (2011). Red Light, Purple Light — findings from a randomized trial using circle time games to improve behavioral self-regulation in preschool. Early Education and Development, 22(3)
  • Schmitt, McClelland, Tominey & Acock (2015). Strengthening school readiness for Head Start children — evaluation of a self-regulation intervention. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 30
  • McClelland & Tominey (2016). Stop, Think, Act — Integrating Self-Regulation in the Early Childhood Classroom. Routledge
  • Diamond, A. (2013). Executive Functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168
  • Bodrova & Leong (2007). Tools of the Mind — The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education (2nd ed.)