Zoo Vet

For a while now, J has been really into animals. He LOVES going to the zoo. He is always reading books about animals and spouting animal facts (true and made up). We have a membership to the Dallas Zoo and go often. His latest obsession is a game he created called Zoo Vet. He and N play all the time. It's great.

Here are the top ten things you need to know about Zoo Vet.

10. To play Zoo Vet, you need stuffed animals...lots of them. In fact, it is best to round up every stuffed animal in the house, even the ones hidden away in closets.

9. All Zoo Vet patients should have names. Names don't need to be overly complicated or accurate. A lion: Lion. A giraffe: Giraffey. A little baby sheep: Lamby. A polar bear: Poley. A raccoon: Roley. An otter: Beaver.

8. Every animal needs its own cage. Cages can be any kind of box you find in the house. If the box happens to be full of toys, don't worry--just dump all the toys on the floor.

7. To properly care for your animals, you must have an animal cleaner. If you don't have an animal cleaning tool around, don't worry--a potholder works just fine.

6. You must also clean the animals cages. Have your dad tape a napkin onto the end a pen. With this perfect tool, you can easily clean all your zoo animal cages.

5. Zoo animals must also be fed. Any play food will do. Make sure that you give each animal some food at feeding time. Remember that all animals like the ice cream.

4. Zoo animals must also be given drinks. At the boys' zoo, they have three choices: water, milk or beer.

3. An important part of Zoo Vet is checking on the animals with your veterinary tools. If your zoo animal has a fever, you must put a top on his cage so that he doesn't sneeze on people.

2. As you can probably guess, Zoo Vet can be a very messy game that often ends with lots of toys on the floor and lots of boxes filled with animals and food covering all other available floor space.

1. It is SO adorable watching a two year-old and a four year-old play zoo vet together (hugging the animals, feeding the animals, giving the animals beer) that you really won't care how big the mess is. You will just be so happy watching them play so nicely together that you will LOVE the game of Zoo Vet.