Animal Activities
Yesterday I asked my son to choose one of the animals we saw at the zoo last week and I’d think up an activity. He chose a lion and this is what we made. Now I can’t post this without saying that I did my fair share of this lion too. If I could do it all over again I’d have the kids paint the body and only collage the mane or make it a way smaller project because they lost major steam about half way through. We took a break I slipped back in the playroom filled in some of the empty spots and then the challenge was just right and they completed it on a high note and our playroom now has a super cool lion on the wall.
- Gather your materials, you will need some craft paper, glue, construction paper ( we used paper from out scrap box ) , a pencil, crayons, markers, googly eyes and scissors.
- Start by drawing a lion on your craft paper. I used the lion from Eric Carle’s 1, 2,3 to the Zoo as my inspiration.
- Next have the kids color the paper to make fur- this was my son’s idea.
- Next cut some of the paper in long strips for the mane. The big adult scissors are a treat for a kid who isn’t super fond of cutting but needs to work on it … funny how something so simple can make all the difference!
- Cut or rip the rest into pieces.
- Add glue.
- Add the paper.
- My son worked hard on the mane. Then we took a break.
- When we got back he added glue for the face pieces ( I cut them out when they were collaging) .
- Added the googly eyes .
- Let dry then cut out and display!
Books For The Zoo
Check out some books about the zoo here.
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Last week we went to the zoo and since our visit my son has been pouring over the free map asking about each animal and telling me what he learned about it. It gave me the idea to round up our best animal crafts for kids and share them in one post.
Bat
Bird
Bunny
Chicken
Crab
Ducks
Elephant
Fish
Frog
Giraffe
Hedgehog
Jellyfish
Leopard
Monkey
Moose
Mouse
Octopus
Owl
Panda
Peacock
Penguin
Pig
Rabbit
Reindeer
Seahorse
Sea Urchin
Snake
Sheep
Starfish
Tadpole
Tiger
Turkey
Turtle
Tortoise
Zebra
We love penguins and was one of my favorite themes for daycare and preschool when I was teaching toddlers. My daughter loves the penguin bath toy you see in this post so we decided to use a penguin to paint a penguin. This was a huge hit with my toddler who thought it was hilarious to whack it on the paper. With older children encourage them to do the cutting but with toddlers the goal is fun, exploration and making something fun to show off on the fridge. This penguin is on our fridge right now and my daughter likes to point to it saying her name and smiles.
- Gather your materials. You will need 3 sheets of construction paper ( blue, black and orange) , white paint, a dish , a bath toy ( but a sponge will do), glue, scissors and googly eyes ( although I put them on at the end she is too little and still eats things).
- Start by pouring paint into the dish, and placing the toy in it.
- Hand it and the black paper to your monkey and start painting. My daughter carefully made a few prints…
- Then really got into it.
- We paused to wipe paint off our hands and mouth and switched paper. The blue paper is the icy habitat so it needs paint too!
- I gave her snack after clean up #2 and allowed the paint to dry some. And cut out some feet and a nose from the orange paper.
- Then cut out the black into the shape of a penguin.
- Time to glue. We took turns gluing.
- If they want to take time to explore the glue bottle don’t fret, they are making connections. Just stay close so any giant messes can be minimized.
- Put the body on the glue.
- I added the glue for the nose and feet putting it on a wide area so she could choose where to place the pieces. Don’t correct your kids and where they place things, this is their creation. If they are able to glue ( and get more than a few tiny drops) by all means encourage them to do it.
- Add eyes ( if your little bug is like mine and eating all small potentially hazardous items wait until they are napping or engaged in other play and add them on) and let dry.
Penguin Books
Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!
Penguin
Tacky the Penguin 
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On the way to preschool a few weeks ago my son and I got to talking about foreign species of animals and how destructive they are to the habitats they invade. In that rather complex conversation I realized my son knew a lot about habitats but there were some animals he simply said came from the zoo … it was time for some learning cloaked as a game. I finally got around to making this over the weekend and we had fun.
- Gather your materials. I used construction paper and scissors for the paper habitat mats I made, double stick tape and a glue stick. You will also need a marker and lots of animal toys. Some of ours are bath toys that weren’t all the way dry… oops.
- Start by cutting the sheets of construction paper in half , this size is perfect for the mats and then you can use the other half for the cut outs.
- Decide which habitats you will make. I decided on jungle, farm, antarctic, and forest because of the animals we had on hand. Remember to use the toys you have for learning, with some brain storming you can save money and play with all those extras that don’t get much use. My helper played with the animals while I brain stormed, with her goggles on of course.
- Create. I loved doing this. If you have older kids see if they want to create this for their younger sibling(s).
- Label them and call for someone to come play!
- With my five year old I let him sort and when he tried to put the raccoon in the jungle I asked ” Have you seen racoons around here? Do we live in the jungle?” and let him answer and adjust.
Always ask why because sometimes they have a darn good reason that may only make sense to them but it will likely open up a teaching opportunity for you. Younger kids like my daughter can do an simplified version with only one mat and a simple yes or no sorting activity. I’d focus mostly on labeling the animals and their attributes at that age.
- After he sorted the rest I took some and placed them in the wrong place. Asking why a monkey couldn’t live in the antarctic, or why a whale wouldn’t enjoy swimming in the pond in a forest. This forced him to consider why animals live in specific places. We also touched on domestication and how farms and zoos are different. It was the best part of the lesson and wouldn’t have happened without the sorting game as an ice breaker.
The Next Step
These are my ideas for extending the activity for children who are ready for it . The next step for this would be to purposefully put an animal in the wrong habitat and ask your child to write down a list of things they would need to survive in the wrong habitat. For example a monkey in the antarctic would need warm clothing, fresh fruit delivered, a enclosure built off the ice, maybe even some snow boots! Let them make the list but make sure they answer why they need each item too!
Book
A House for Hermit Crab is a book I have owned for many years. It offers so many learning opportunities for young readers and doesn’t loose any of the entertainment in trying to hard to teach. The hermit crab feels drab and each month he asks different sea creatures to help decorate his shell . As the shell is getting more and more beautiful it’s also getting more and more snug and almost time for the hermit crab to leave it behind and find a bigger one. The book teaches about sea creatures habitats, months of the year and moving. More than moving it teaches about change . Change is difficult for all of us but a little trickier for most preschoolers which makes this book so valuable.
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Pretend play is probably my favorite part of early childhood education because there are countless lessons hidden in every pretend play scenario. We turned our playroom into a vet clinic simply by mixing a few stuffed animals with our trusty doctor kit and rearranging the furniture. It was fast for me to set up and both kids enjoyed taking care of their animals. Along the way they learned about body parts, empathy and my son and I had a nice chat about prescriptions and why it’s important to only ever take medicine the doctor has specifically prescribed for you .
- Gather your materials. You will need some stuffed animals, a play doctor kit , some paper, a clip board, marker , and a bench or table to use as an exam table. I added a basket for my daughter who wanted to tuck her patients into bed after she examined them.
- Set up a waiting area with furniture and books – our books were all about dogs and cats, you can check out our reviews after the tutorial.
- Set up an exam room. I labeled each area and encourage you to as well, it helps deepen the play as well as adds some reading to the activity.
- Make a check list for older kids who are reading and either have them write or circle answers. Can you tell I did this in a hurry? It was almost time to get my son from school. Best thing is he didn’t care, as long as he could read it no need to be perfect!
- Play!
My daughter examined her cat trying out each instrument and having just had her own 18 month old check up she was familiar with many of them. I chatted with her as she played but didn’t intervene unless she interacted with me. I did pretend to nurse the cat as per her request. 
- She loves her patients!
- With my son I pretended to be the dog and cat’s owners but followed his lead.
- We worked in measurement
and gave the pup a little oxygen. 
- The puppy got a clean bill of health!
Books About Cats and Dogs
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake (If You Give… Books)
Otto Goes to Bed
Otto Goes to the Beach 
This post was shared on Nurture Store’s Play Academy
