Our Animal Wall

This summer we have learned all about different kinds of animals. Throughout the summer we have created different animals to add to our animal wall. Little Bit has loved making and adding animals. I had planned to make many more animals but we are moving this weekend and that has completely disrupted our daily routine. Because of the move we will need to take down our animal wall.

We have enjoyed our all and we may create a special wall at our new house to show off our art work. Each of the animals were made in different ways. Check out how we made each animal.

1. Bear - I used a print out of a bear and then gave Little Bit small pieces of brown fabric.

2. Snake - Little Bit and I used leaves we found to decorate our snake. Check out my Gail Gibbons - Virtual Book Club Linkup post.

3. Alligator - I cut a mother and baby alligator out of green paper. Then we colored with green and used small pieces of green construction paper to decorate each of the alligators.

4. Butterfly - First, Little Bit picked scrapbooking paper and cut it into small pieces. My Counting in the Garden post has more information about our butterfly.

5.Giraffe - After cutting the giraffe out of paper Little Bit used her finger prints to creat spots. 

6. Hedgehog - this was created at our zoo class, we traced Little Bits hand then cut it out and glued it on to add spikes. 

7. Frog - The frog life cycle was another activity we did in zoo class. Little Bit loved this one so much that she wanted to add it to her wall. 

8. Sheep - This was made at church but I love our simple this was. 

9. Cow - Little Bit found this picture and wanted to add it to the wall. She colored the cow and then asked for it to be cut out and added.


            It was fun to see how much ownership she has taken of the wall. 

Gail Gibbons - Virtual Book Club Linkup

My friend at Fantastic Fun & Learning is part of a monthly Virtual Book Club, this month we are reading book's by Gail Gibbons. This goes perfectly with our summer long animal theme. We spent the week talking and reading about snakes and had fun with lots of different snake activities. I would of loved to have a real snake for Little Bit to watch all week but my husband would of probably moved out for the week. :)

Decorate a Snake with Leaves

I cut out a snake and we used dead leaves to decorate it. Before we started we read several books about snakes. Hannah loved looking at the pictures and was fascinated to learn that snakes live in trees.

Our leaf snake will be added to our animal wall.

Button Snake

We practiced our fine motor skills with a button snake. The idea came from Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers. I sowed a button to one end of a ribbon and a piece of fabric to the other. Then cut small squares with a small slit large enough for the button to fit through.

Little Bit enjoys practicing with the button. We also used this to practice patterns. Somehow both times I snapped pictures of Little Bit playing she was in her PJ's :) 

We read lots of books about snakes. Little Bits favorites were My Snake Blake, Lizard's Home and Hide and Snake.

Zoo Scavenger Hunt

Today, we went on a scavenger hunt at the zoo! We have been talking about animals, making animals for our animal wall and going to zoo classes all month. This scavenger hunt was a great way to look for animals and talk about them. Little Bit loves 'I Spy' and the scavenger hunt book was perfect! As we walked around the zoo and saw a different animal she would say, "Do I have that animal?" then look through her book.

 

 

 

When we found one of the animals that was in the book Little Bit pulled out her stamp and stamped the box. She loved this, to my surprise, I was expecting her to enjoy it but possibly loose interest after a few animals. Little Bit played all the way through the zoo and was upset when we had to leave and could not continue looking for animals.

I originally found the idea at We Wilsons and created a book based on the animals our zoo has. The Zoo Scavenger Hunt Book was printed, double sided on paper then cut and stapled together. It was easy to make.



 

We ended our scavenger hunt feeding the goats and alpaca, which of course were in our book. :)

Animal Footprints

 

 

I found this fun animal print activity on the site Teach Preschool. We used different animal figures based on their feet, paws, or hooves. We discussed what each animal's feet looked like and how they used them. Little Bit liked the beaver because the tail made a mark like the feet.

 

We are having lots of fun learning about animals. Check out my previous post to see what all the fun things we are planning to do this summer with animals.

Summer of Animals

 

 

Summer of Animals

This summer we will be focusing on all things animal. Little Bit and I will be taking three different classes at the zoo that is just for preschoolers. I am excited to go to class with Little Bit, she loves animals and watching her in class should be fun.

The first class is all about how animals grow from baby to adult. The second class is all about Florida animals and the third class is about being a zoo keeper. The first class starts this week and the last class ends in August.

To prepare for talking about animals I pulled together a few things to get started:

• Animal pictures: I printed LOTS and LOTS of animal pictures. The pictures all go along with one or all of the class themes.
• Small animal figures: we can use these in many different ways.
• Animal Books: it is amazing how many animals books we had around the house.
• More will be added to this list as the summer goes on.

There are so many things that you can do with animals. Below is a list of activities we will do, this is not a complete list by any means. If you have any favorite animal activities please let me know.

Animal Activities:

• Sorting picture by air, land and water animals
• Match picture of mom and baby animals
• Math animal figures to animal picture
• Animal shape cookies to decorate
• Foam animals - decorate, play, sort, etc
• Animal print match up
• Patterns with animal figures
• Visit the zoo, petting farm, state park, etc
• Books, books and more books

This is a list of some of my favorite ideas from fellow bloggers.

• Zoo Passport: We Wilsons
• Ice Animals: Sweet Happy Life
• Zoo Hunt: Kids Activities Blog
• Build Your Own Zoo: No Time For Flash Cards
• Noah's Ark Activities
• Pretend Vet Office: Mess For Less
• Play-dough Zoo: Mess For Less
• Pinterest Animal Theme Board - the rest of the animal activities I will be using are on my Pinterest board.

Sensory Bins:

• Edible Zoo: Fantastic Fun &  Learning
• Desert Bin: Blog Me Mom
• Farm Bin: The Imagination Tree
• Artic Bin: No Time For Flash Cards