Here's a fun theme to do when the
animals are busy outside preparing for the coming winter or any time the
children seem especially interested in these fury friends.
Flying Squirrel at Acorn Place by Barbra Gaines
Winkelman
Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Songs, Poems, &
Fingerplays
The Squirrel These are the brown
leaves fluttering down,
And this is the
tall tree bare and brown.
This is the squirrel with eyes so bright,
Hunting for nuts
with all his might.
This is the hole
where day by day,
Nut after nut he
stores away.
When winter comes
with it's cold and storm,
He'll sleep curled
up all snug and warm.
Adapted Traditional
Literacy
: Have out a
variety of forest animal rubber stamps, paint sponges, or stencils for
the kids to use to create animal pictures, ask them to create a poem about their
picture, record their voice and play it back for them to hear.
Activities
What
do I eat... hold up a picture of a forest animal and ask what does this
animal eat... kids will find most eat berries, nuts, seeds, plants,
grasses, and small animals: for example some owls will eat mice and snakes.
Some forest animals come to peoples homes and eat people food they find
in the garbage and in gardens!
Owl
Paper Bag Puppets
Supplies:
Brown paper lunch bags, various owl parts cut from construction paper for
the children to glue to the bag (yellow triangle beak, small yellow triangles
to glue on as feet, brown triangles to glue on as feathers on the chest,
two brown triangle ears, two big white eyes with black dots in the center
for pupils.)
Directions: Have
the kids glue parts on the owl, talk about the shape and color of each
part.
Mouse Count Props:
Use some easy to find props with the Mouse Count
story book by Ellen Stoll Walsh. All you need is a jar (an old
plastic peanut butter jar works good) and some rubber mice.
You can usually find these in stores around Halloween time or check the
Oriental Trader. Use then when you read the story for added
interest. Let the children practice counting with them when your
finished.
Squirrels
Supplies: Toilet
paper tubes, picture of a squirrel, with it's tail able to be cut off,
brown colors or markers, scissors, glue.
Directions:
Have
the kids color the squirrels brown. Then if they are able cut it
out or you can, and let them glue it's body to the front of the toilet
tube, and it's tail to the back of the toilet tube.
Mouse
Paint
Supplies: Large
sheet of white finger paint paper, yellow, red, blue, finger paint.
Directions: Give
the kids one color at a time and have them mix the color to see what color
they get just like the mice did in the story Mouse Paint. If you
want you could also give them some mice cut from white construction paper
to glue on when they are done painting.
Forest
Friends Feeders
Supplies:
Chenille sticks, Fruit Loops and Cheerios.
Directions: Have
the kids string Fruit Loops and Cheerios onto the chenille sticks, tie
ends together to make a treat wreath! Hang it in a tree outside for
birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and other wildlife to eat!
Chipmunk Nut and Seed
Pictures
Supplies:
a chipmunk coloring book picture, a variety of seeds and nuts, brown crayons,
glue. Directions:
Let the kids color the chipmunk picture and then glue seeds and nuts
on the picture to give it more texture and add dimension. They could
make it look like the chipmunk was collecting the food or actually use
the seeds and nuts to fill in the body.
Set up a Camp Site!- A
small pup tent is great for creating a fun "camping" dramatic
play adventure where kids are sure to come face to face with some plush
wildlife! Be sure to include a sleeping bag, binoculars, and maybe even a
fake campfire.]
Maurice Sendaks "Little Bear" books would be great to have out to read!
Fill the puppet area with as many forest animal puppets or stuffed animals
you can find.
Chipmunk Nut Search:
Hide a bunch of peanuts in the room or outside and have
the kids pretend to be chipmunks searching for food! Have them bring
the nuts to you for storage! (Use care around very young children, peanuts
are a
choke hazard, also check for peanut allergies! Use fake package peanuts
instead.) After all the nuts are found celebrate because the
chipmunks
will have plenty of food for the winter! Hide them again and play
a few more times!
Owl
and Snake, Hide
and Seek: Turn off the light and have the person who is it pretend to
be an owl hunting for snakes to eat... When the owl says "Whoo can I eat?"
the children have to try to crawl on their bellies to get away from the
hungry owl back to their home!
Animal Sort: Find
pictures of forest animals and then let the children sort
the animal pictures into groups of animals of the same color, size, kind.
Have out a
variety of picture of various forest animals for the kids to look at and
explore, fill the discovery box with leaves, twigs, moss, etc. and ask
the kids to build a squirrel/bird nest.
Nuts and Berries:
Let the kids sort them, talk about how they are
different and how they are the same.
Have
a Forest Animal Snack! Let the kids make some trail mix, add
some nuts, chocolate chips, raisins and popcorn to some of the Fruit
Loops and Cheerios left over from the feeders. The kids will think
it's great to pretend to be eating like the squirrels, chipmunks, and other
forest animals!
Pear Mice: cut a pealed pear in half from the top and set it on a plate, add
some cloves for eyes and a little piece of carrot for a nose and a bit
of string cheese for a tail. Or what ever you can come up with to
make a mouse! A great snack to go along with the Mouse Count & Mouse
Paint stories.
: Have out a
variety of forest animal rubber stamps, paint sponges, or stencils for
the kids to use to create animal pictures, ask them to create a poem about their
picture, record their voice and play it back for them to hear.
