ZOO ANIMALS

We are exploring the fun of animals for the next few weeks and this week we talked about Zoo animals. 

BOOKS:

The Zoo that Moved (true story about the Los Angeles Zoo moving) - by Gloria D. Miklowitz and Don Madden

Goodnight Gorilla - by Peggy Rathmann

Barney Goes to the Zoo - by Linda Cress Dowdy and Karen Malzeke-McDonald

Hop- Skip- Jump-A-Roo Zoo - by Jane Belk Moncure

ART:

We created lions with fork painting.  I didn't get pictures of the beginning of the process, but you can imagine.  We took a bowl and put it upside down on the yellow paper.  I helped to hold the bowl down as the children traced around it with an orange marker.  The I had them draw a small upside down triangle in the middle of the circle (to make the nose), two half circle lines out form the triangle (to make the mouth), and two larger circles for eyes.

Then they dipped a plastic fork in a shallow bowl of orange paint, making sure to press the fork down flat to get the bottom of the fork filled with paint.  Then they took the fork to the paper and pressed down and pulled to make the "hair" of the lion's mane.  

They continued the fork painting all around the face of the lion creating a beautiful mane and cute lion!

TABLE TOYS:

I put playdough out with popsicle sticks (long and short sizes), and animal shape cookie cutters.  The kids loved cutting out animals and putting them in "cages" they had made from the popsicle sticks stuck in playdough.  Some of them just used the cookie cutters as animals for their cages, as seen in the picture below.  They enjoyed their playdough zoos.