Animal Activities

Dramatic Play: "Zoo Keeper"
Materials: Nets, boots, gloves, pail, plastic shovel or scoop, hay, pictures of animals and zoo keepers also stuffed animals.

Description: Set out the materials. Children can pretend to be a zoo keepers working at the zoo and feeding the animals.

Literacy and Art: "The Zoo Book"
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.

Description: Teachers ask children to write their own stories of what the animals they will see at the zoo (young children can just draw animals) and then have them illustrate it. After they have done that have them share their books with the class, if they would like. The students will benefit from hearing the other stories as well as writing their own.

Feathered Friends
Materials: Gold and orange yarn, and brown rice.

Description: Teachers pre cut a duck for all of your children. Then give each child a handful of gold and orange yarn cut into small pieces. The gold yarn is used for the beak of the duck. Then you use the orange yarn for the feet. The children then spread glue over the rest of the ducks body, pouring rice over the glue. Pour enough to make a thick coat. Dump the excess rice and BAM you have a feathered friend.

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.

Description: Let children make animal face sandwiches for sanctum. Give them each a slice of whole wheat toast and have them spread on peanut butter. Let them place raisins in the centers of their toast slices to make eyes and noses. Then give them thin slivers of pickles to add for whiskers and grated carrots to sprinkle on for fur.

Paper Plate Lions

Materials: Paper plates, orange, yellow, brown and red yarn, yellow cotton balls, markers, crayons, glue and construction paper.

Description: Use the paper plate as the lions head. Glue yellow cotton balls or colored yarn all around the paper plate for the lion's mane. Have the children draw and color the face of the lion. Cut out ears from construction paper and glue them to the top of the paper plate. If desired, cut out the eyes of the lion, to make a mask!

"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:

One elephant went out one day,
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.

Description: Teachers provide a bag of animal cookies and invite the children to take turns pulling a cookie out of the bag. Younger children can act out the noise the animal makes or movements that animal does. The other children get to guess what animal they have. Older children that understand charades can act out the animal any way they need to. Children 8 and up can make it as a game of pictionary, using a board or paper.

Dramatic Play: "Animal Cracker Charades"
Materials: 1 Box of Animal Crackers and a tape recorder.

Description: Teachers choose one child to pick out an animal cracker, so no one can see which one is picked. The child turns away from the others and eats the cracker. Now, the child "becomes" that animal and pretends to be it through motions.The other children must guess what animal it is. The one who guesses correctly is the next cracker eater.

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

"The Itsy Bitsy Monkey Song"
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".

Cooking: "Monkey Bread"

Materials: Frozen roll dough around 15, melted butter, cinnamon and sugar

Description: We were studying about animals and I had this recipe for Monkey Bread. I am not sure why they call it Monkey bread but they do. You take the slightly frozen dough and cut it in fourths. Then have the children put it in the melted butter and roll it in the sugar and cinnamon. Next, put it in the slightly buttered loaf pan. Cover loosely with saran wrap and let rise over

night.

The next morning put it in the oven on 350 and bake for about 30 minutes. The children were so excited that they had made Monkey bread. They had a wonderful time licking their fingers.

Game: "Freddie the Frog"
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.

Description: Teachers read the book and then provide the toad outlines. Let the kids put big splotches of glue on the paper. For best results use straight glue, not mixed with water. Sprinkle on bird seed. When dry: It's bumpy like a real toad!

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.