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Volume 4, Issue 10
May 23, 2006
Baby Animals
WELCOME! to Education World's Early Childhood Newsletter. Every other week, I'll share some
ideas on a familiar teaching theme. Hopefully you will find a new activity idea or two -- or a new
twist on one of your old favorites! Since I know you are very busy, I'll be short and sweet -- like
most of activities I suggest.
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 Use
this rhyme at any time during a unit that covers the topics of Animals, Spring, The Farm, The Rain
Forest...
Baby animals
Soft and sweet.
Tiny mouths,
Eyes still asleep.
Some have feathers
Some have fur
So brand new
They hardly stir.
Baby animals
Oh so small,
Come in spring.
We love them all!
 MATCH
IT!
Collect pictures of baby animals and their adult counterparts. Glue each picture onto a sheet of
tag board, write the name of the animal, and laminate the card. Invite children to identify which
animals are babies and to then match the babies with their parents.
ANIMAL TIC-TAC-TOE
Use masking tape to create a tic-tac-toe grid (3 boxes X 3 boxes) on the floor. Divide students
into two teams, the Xs and Os. Call out the name of a mother animal for one team. The first player
must identify that animal's offspring. If the player answers correctly, he or she takes a place
in a box on the floor grid. The first team to fill a row of three boxes makes the noises of each
animal identified. The game continues until everyone has had a turn.
 WOOLY
LAMBS
Give each child a baby lamb shape cut from black construction paper. Help children glue the shapes
onto pieces of white drawing paper. Encourage children to use crayons to add the sky, sun, grass,
and trees to their white paper. Next give children cotton balls to glue onto their lamb shapes for
wooly lambs.
WHO HATCHES?
Read to children Chickens Aren't the Only Ones, by Ruth Heller. Talk with children about
the many kinds of animals that hatch from eggs. Provide children with egg-shaped pieces of drawing
paper. Encourage children to choose a baby animal that hatches from an egg to illustrate. Write
the animal name on each picture. Bind the drawings into a classroom booklet titled "Who Hatches?"
GRAPH IT!
Create on a piece of poster board a grid consisting of seven or eight vertical rows each having
six to eight boxes going across. At the bottom of each column, glue a picture of a baby animal.
Provide coloring pages of each baby animal shown on the grid. Invite children to choose their favorite
animal page to color. Paste each child's colored picture in one of the grid's boxes above the corresponding
animal's name. Discuss the completed graph with children and pose questions they can answer by using
the graph.
 Check
out the following Web sites for additional background and activities.
BillyBear4Kids
Download baby animal jigsaw puzzles for kids to complete online.
http://www.billybear4kids.com/jigsaw-puzzles/BabyAnimals/puzzles.html
Baby Animals
Visit some cute babies -- polar bears, pandas, tigers, and lions. Get some fun activities too!
http://keep3.sjfc.edu/students/dsd2658/e%2Dport/unitplan/
Enchanted
Learning
Find out the correct male, female, and baby name for a comprehensive list of animals.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml
Small Wonders
See some great photos of babies that have been at Sea World.
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/small-wonders/
'Babying'
Young Animals
Get some helpful information about what to do if you see a wild baby animal -- from the Kansas State
Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
http://www.mediarelations.ksu.edu/WEB/News/InView/40705babyanimals.html
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