Zoo and Farm Animals for Preschool and Kindergarten!

We have been diligently writing mini-themes over the past month.  Below are excerpts from LIFE ON THE FARM and ZOO ANIMALS.  ANIMALS of all kinds are fascinating to children!  We hope your children enjoy some of the activities over the summer!

LIFE ON THE FARM

Farm Animal Bingo  – Farm-Animal-Bingo 

Materials needed:
Farm Animal Bingo.pdf (linked above)
Small chips or counters, or anything to use to mark off each square
Scissors
Prior to playing any of the versions below, cut apart the animal picture cards on page 2 of the pdf file.

Laminate the playing cards and/or game board for durability if desired.

Farm Animal Bingo Version #1: Place all of the animal picture cards in a pile and turn over so you cannot see the pictures. Next, turn over one card at a time and use a chip or counter to mark off each animal picture found. You can choose to cover a row or cover the entire game board in order to call “Bingo.”

Farm Animal Bingo Version #2: The teacher (or whoever is going to be in charge of running the game) chooses one animal picture card without letting the student(s) see what animal has been chosen. The teacher then uses descriptive words to describe which animal is being called. For example, “It has 4 legs, it is black and white and it says ‘moo’.” Continue choosing and describing animals until all of the animals have been chosen.

PAPER PLATE COWS

Materials needed:
1 large paper plate per child
1 small paper plate per child
Pink construction paper
Black construction paper
1 black pipe cleaner per child
glue
hole punch (optional)
crayons or markers
scissors

Glue the small paper plate on top of the large paper plate. Position the small paper plate so it is glued on towards the bottom of the large plate. With scissors, cut out a pink oval so it covers half of the small paper plate. This will be the cow’s snout or nose. Glue onto the bottom half of the small paper plate.

Next have the child cut out 2 pink ears and glue onto the plate. Then, use the black construction paper to cut small to medium size “spots” and glue onto and around the edges of the large paper plate. Set aside. When dry, use the crayons or markers to draw eyes (you could also glue on wiggle eyes) and the nostrils of the nose. Poke a hole in the top of the paper plate (or use a hole punch) and thread the pipe cleaner through. Bend the pipe cleaner to it stays in the hole and forms the cow’s tail.

ZOO THEME ACTIVITIES

SONG:  DID YOU EVER HEAR AN ELEPHANT? (to the tune of “On Top of Old Smokey”)

Did you ever hear an elephant? An elephant? An elephant?
Did you ever hear an elephant STOMP this way and that? (have the children do the action around the room)
STOMP this way, STOMP that way, STOMP this way, STOMP that way!
Did you ever hear an elephant STOMP this way and that?
~Original Author Unknown

OTHER SUGGESTIONS:

MONKEYS/SWING (have the children sway back and forth)

BEARS/CRAWL (have the children crawl or bear crawl)

GIRAFFES/STRETCH (have the children stretch their arms as they walk around the room)

SEALS/SWIM (have the children make swimming strokes with their arms)

 

ZOO ANIMAL WORDS – Zoo Animal Words

Materials needed: One Zoo Animal Words (linked above), scissors, clothespins, glue, and markers or crayons.

Print the pdf file for each of your children. This activity can be used in several ways, but here are a few suggestions:

1). Have the children cut the letters and glue the letters into the blank boxes below each of the words.

2). Label clothespins with the letters for each of the zoo animal words. Put the clothespins into a basket and have the children find, match, and clip the clothespins to the corresponding animal word letters (see photo).

3). Have the children write or stamp uppercase or lowercase letters into the blank boxes below each of the animal words.

For younger children – place a basket of paper or plastic letters out on a table or the floor. Have the children find the letters for each of the animal words and place the paper or plastic letters below the matching animal word from the file. We have also used the plastic letters to work on POSITIONAL WORDS. Let the children find, match, and place the plastic letters ABOVE, BESIDE, BELOW, ON TOP of the animal word letters.

For older children – as they learn the letters to the animal words, the children can try spelling/writing each of the words independently.

Page 3 of this file contains BLANK boxes to use with different animal words to introduce to the children.

This activity works well with mixed-aged groups of children as each of the children can work at their own skill level.