Puppets!

Do you know what Kanidchen means? It is rabbit in German. I remember because my German teacher used a stuffed bunny that day for her lesson. And that was 25 years ago!
Using puppets with young learners (and not so young) is invaluable. Have several special "friends" with their own personality to interact with the kids, and to act out short stories. It is not only motivating to children, but it makes them interact more in the target language. I have a monkey that is crazy, a wolf that is always tired (my alter ego), a frog who is very sweet and a dog who loves to play. Even students who are shy will interact with a puppet.