For this you will need plastic googly eyes, or if you want to push the boat out, glass cabochons in the shape of eyes, which can be bought here. If you're using glass eyes, pre-sort them into pairs. Ideally too provide some black paper and metallic pens for drawing, though the children could work on any dark-coloured paper with light chalks or pastels. Basically you're going for a moonlight effect.
Ask the children to close their eyes and imagine they are outside at night, far away from civilisation and humans. They could imagine being in a jungle, a forest or out on the moors. Ask them to imagine what they can hear - rustling leaves, the wing, the pad of paws, bird calls - and what the air temperature is like on their skin. Ask what the surface under their feet is like, and what scents they can smell, and what the sky above looks like - can they see the moon, lit clouds, constellations? Ask how they are feeling about being out on their own in the dark wilderness. Then tell them they have seen some sort of animal coming towards them.
As the students open their eyes, give out the props. First suggest they draw their animal (it can be real or made-up), and then, when they're ready, they can write about it. I gave mine the choice of writing a description or putting the animal into a story.
Some animals were friendly but most turned out to be pretty threatening!
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