Dramatic Play: "Zoo Keeper"
Materials: Nets, boots, gloves, pail, plastic shovel or scoop, hay, pictures of animals and zoo keepers also stuffed animals.
Materials: Books of different animals that are found in the zoo. they can be factual books or they can be regular picture books, the other material needed is crayons.
Feathered Friends
Materials: Gold and orange yarn, and brown rice.
Clothes Pin Giraffe
Materials: 2 clothes pins, "Z" shape cut out of yellow construction paper, brown ripped up pieces of construction paper and a marker to draw eyes and mouth.
Description: Young children can cut their own "Z" from yellow construction paper or it can be precut by adult. Brown construction paper pieces are ripped by children and glued onto the "Z". Next, eyes and mouth are drawn with the marker. Finally, clothes pins are clipped on bottom of the "Z" to make the legs of the giraffe.
Cooking: Animal Face Sandwiches
Materials: Bread, peanut butter, raisins, pickles, carrots, plastic
knives and a carrot grater.
Paper Plate Lions
Materials: Paper plates, orange, yellow, brown and red yarn, yellow cotton balls, markers, crayons, glue and construction paper.
"One Elephant Went Out One Day"
Description: All children sit in a circle on the floor. One child gets up and imitates an elephant with one arm dangling like a trunk, and the other arm dangling behind like a tail. The child then skips around the circle while everyone sings:
Upon a spiders web to play,
He / she had such tremendous fun,
That he called for another elephant to come.
The child then picks a friend to come and join him/her.
The friend stands behind the first child in the same position holding hands, as if they are elephants in the circus.
Everyone then continue to sing as the two elephants
skip around them:
Two elephants went out one day,
Upon a spiders web to play,
They had such tremendous fun,
That they called for another elephant to come.
This continues with each new elephant picking a friend until everyone is up. Then everyone sings for example:
Five elephants went out one day,
Upon a spiders web to play,
They had such tremendous fun,
But the web it broke and they all fell down.
Everyone then falls to the floor.
Game: "Guess The Animals"
Materials: A bag of animal cookies.
Dramatic Play: "Animal Cracker Charades"
Materials: 1 Box of Animal Crackers and a tape recorder.
Animal Movements
Materials: Pictures of animals (National Wildlife is good)
Description: Ask the children to move around like different animals. Can be played like charades, worked into zoo units or have a parade. You can add sound, to calm children down in the end. Pick slithery animals like snakes or stalking cats or silently swooping owls.
Enhance your curriculum with action rhymes, fingerplays and songs take a look at Nursery Rhymes about Animals
Sing this song to the tune of The Itsy Bitsy Spider:
The itsy bitsy monkey climbed up the coconut tree.
Down came a coconut and bumped him on the knee.
Out came his mommy and wiped away his tears
And the itsy bitsy monkey climbed up the tree again.
Teachers can replace "itsy bitsy" with "great big".
Materials: Frozen roll dough around 15, melted butter, cinnamon and sugar
night.
Materials: A bean bag box and bean bag.
Description: This can be done in a small group, sitting or standing. Put a box in the center of a small circle of children. Give one child the bean bag. Everyone chants:
Freddie the Frog went to jump on a log
And, SPLASH, he fell into the pond.
On the word "SPLASH", the child throws the bean bag into the box in the center of the circle. Keep repeating until everyone has a turn with the bean bag.
Science and Art: "Terrific Toads"
Materials: Book: Frog and Toad are Friends, brown construction paper with the out line of a toad, bird seed and glue.
Follow up by making "toad houses". Cut an oatmeal container in half, cut out a door, hide outside in summer and wait to see if you get a toad. It really works! Remember to let the toad go after you look at it.
