Zoo Theme: Making Animal Figures for Pretending

After last week's Blogger fiasco, I fell a little behind on our zoo theme.  I wasn't able to access my account or post (thankfully, all of my posts have been restored), so I have one more zoo idea!

If there is one toy I highly recommend, it is a nice set of wooden blocks.  The possibilities are limitless with them!  If you are able, I also suggest a set of animals.  A sweet friend gave us a whole set of very realistic animals in a plastic toolbox (it's the barn)!  The girls have played and played with them.

We built a "zoo" for our animals!

If you don't have any animal figures, you can easily make some to put in your zoo!

Supplies:

Animal sheet or stickers

Crayons

Glue

Scissors

Toilet paper tubes

1)  Color a sheet of animals.  You can make your own, use the quick sheet I made (sorry it's a little lame -- I just used the clipart I had!!), or use a printable sheet with animals from Goodnight Gorilla.

2)  Cut out the animals.

3)  Glue the animals to the toilet paper tubes to make movable animal figures!  If you use stickers, you can just stick them to the tubes!

 

Masterpiece Monday: Henri Rousseau (Part 2)

Oops!  Just a day later than I promised...here is part 2 of the project we started Monday!

Supplies:
Paint
Paintbrush
Leaves

1)  Collect several types of small leaves.  Cover the leaves with a thin layer of paint.

2)  Press the leaves on the painting to make prints all over the background.

Masterpiece Monday: Henri Rousseau (Part 1)

Because he painted many jungle scenes (and because our theme is zoo animals), I've picked the artist Henri Rousseau for our Masterpiece Monday!

Henri Rousseau was born in France in 1844.  He was a self-taught artist and painted in his spare time.  Although he never visited a jungle, he often painted jungle scenes -- using his imagination and time at zoos and parks to create his paintings.  You can find out more about him here.

Supplies:

Paper*
Paint
Paint brushes

1)  Paint the body and head of a "jungle" bird.

2)  Add handprint wings.

3)  Paint a beak and tail.  Add feet if desired.  Use an index finger to dot on an eye.

*If we do this project again, I will definitely use a larger sheet of paper.

I found this project from The Usborne First Book of Art. This is one of our favorite art books...and a springboard for many ideas! We'll finish the project in Part 2 tomorrow!

Zoo Math: Animal Cracker Snack

It's always fun to play with food, and animal crackers are great for exploring math!!

Supplies:

Box of animal crackers

Plates or bowls (for sorting)

1)  Sort the animal crackers by animal.  Which animal has the most?  Count them.  Which animal has the least?  Count them.  How many are there all together?  Count them!

2)  Snack on the animal crackers.  Try giving clues about what animal to eat.  For example, growl and ask your child to eat the animal that makes a growling sound!

If you have an older child, you can make (and eat) visual math problems.  For example, there are five animals at the zoo.  Four of them escape.  How many are left?

Zoo: Animal Movement Game

It's my birthday today, and my thoughtful in-laws sent me tickets to the zoo for our whole family!!  I was not expecting them at all, but I'm very excited!  For the next few weeks, I had zoo activities planned for the blog!

This first activity is so simple...I hesitated to even share it (because I thought maybe it was too simple).  But then I remembered, I'm a mom of three and I need simple!  I'm guessing there are many of you out there looking for simple, too!

Supplies:
Child

1)  Share an animal and encourage your child to move like the animal.  A few to get you started:  tiger, bear, frog, snake, kangaroo, fish, eagle, lizard, etc.  Your child can make the animal sound, if desired! 

Also, use direction words (up, under, over, on, around, etc.) to provide more listening practice (i.e., move like a bunny around the table, go up the stairs like a bear, go under the table like a snake.)

We play this game quite a bit at our house!  It works especially well when we're stuck inside and need some physical activity!