Have pictures of as many common zoo animals available as you can find. Have the children stand around in a circle, and one by one show off the pictures and ask, “What animal is this?” followed by, “What sound does it make?” Make the sound and have all the children repeat it after you. Then put the pictures away reverse the game, first making a sound and asking “What animal am I?” If you like, have the children take turns making sounds while the others guess.
Spread all your animal pictures on a table where the children can see them. Have the children sort the animals in different ways: color, size, with or without hair, tail length, ability to climb trees, et cetera, so that they can see how each animal is unique while sharing characteristics with others. If you have pictures of both adult and infant animals of the same species, ask the children to match them.
Serve several types of food that animals eat too, like fruit, nuts, lettuce and lunch meat. Explain that all animals either eat plants or meat, which means they are predators and eat other animals. Ask the children to sort the types of food you gave them into foods that animals that eat plants and animals that eat meat can consume. Then the children can eat the different types of food themselves. Point out that humans are animals that eat meat and plants, although some people chose to only eat plants and are called vegetarians.
If you happen to have a world map on your wall, point out the different continents that various animals live on. Show the children pictures of different types of habitats — forests, rivers, savannahs and whatever is appropriate for the selection of animals you have, then together sort the animal pictures into the different habitats. Talk with the children about how each animal is suited to its habitat: monkeys have hands and long tails so that they can climb, giraffes are tall so that they can reach the leaves on the trees.