- Read “Dear Zoo: A Pop-up Book” by Rod Campbell
- pop-up: This is a very cute book. There is a flaps version and this pop-up version. I love the pop-up version. “I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet…” and they send lots of different animals but none of them are quite right, until the last page. Cute. My kids love it.
- Zoo Animal Match
- Collect pictures of the animals from “Dear Zoo” from magazines or Microsoft Clipart or even pictures you’ve taken yourself at the zoo. I used the animal pictures here and shrunk them down. These are already colored and absolutely adorable! The animals in the story include:
- elephant
- giraffe
- lion
- camel
- snake
- monkey
- frog
- puppy
- Color the pictures
- Cut the pictures in half.
- Mix them up and let the kids make zoo animal matches!
- Collect pictures of the animals from “Dear Zoo” from magazines or Microsoft Clipart or even pictures you’ve taken yourself at the zoo. I used the animal pictures here and shrunk them down. These are already colored and absolutely adorable! The animals in the story include:
- Read “Zookeeper” by Heather Miller
- non-fiction: Check your library for any book about zookeepers. I love the books that have real life pictures in them.
- Zookeeper, May I? … a simplified version of Mother, May I.
- Stand at one end of the room and have the kids stand at the other end.
- You say, “Take 3 elephant steps forward.”
- Have the kids say, “Zookeeper, may I?”
- Say, “Yes, you may.”
- Repeat with other zoo animal steps:
- 4 kangaroo hops
- 2 snake slithers (they’ll think of something!)
- 2 lion leaps
- 3 frog jumps
- The first one to reach you can be the next zookeeper!
- Zoo Stamps
- Make several words strips with zoo animal names written on each (ELEPHANT on one, TIGER on another…)
- TIP: Ready to print word strips from ABCTeach here! Just click on Word Wall: Zoo.
- Call out a letter.
- Have the kids use a zoo animals stamp to stamp that letter. Or use any stamps you have. We don’t use stamps very often so my kids were thrilled!
- Repeat until all letters are stamped.
- If you want to continue the game, have them choose another zoo word strip.
- Read “Animal Strike at the Zoo. It's True!” by Karma Wilson … available here.
- Another fun one: we really enjoyed reading this book too. I love all of Karma Wilson’s book (she writes the bear books). The rhymes and illustrations are entertaining and flow just right.
- Trip to the Zoo!
- If possible, take a day trip to the zoo!
- If you want to, make a simple checklist of animals to look for.
- Or let your kids take a picture of each animal.
- Snack Idea: Animal Crackers
Love this post!! We are going to the zoo on Thursday, so thank you so much for the ideas.
ReplyDeleteJen
Creative and Curious Kids!