Learning about Animals

Originally published 3/15/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Today I was teaching a tracking program to city kids. Actually, I was indoors talking about movement patterns – how the shape of an animal’s body and the length of its legs affects the way it moves, and therefore the pattern its feet makes while walking through snow or mud.

I pointed out to the kids that we were talking about mammals – specifically, four-legged furry animals. The challenge for these kids seemed to be in picturing animals in their minds. They knew terms like “mammal,” “amphibian,” and “invertebrate” but they had difficulty connecting the terms to specific animals.

Today’s suggestion is an indoor activity. Print out pictures of animals, glue them to index cards, and write the name of the animal on the card. (Be specific with the name; not just “butterfly” but “painted lady.”) The more cards the better; you can add to the deck over the years. Include a variety of local animals and animals from around the world. Include mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, fish, and other invertebrates (animals without backbones, like mollusks and crustaceans).

You may actually be able to find this as a manufactured product. You could easily end up with hundreds of cards so don’t try to make this deck all at once. If you are a teacher, you may want a few duplicate decks of pictures.

Depending on the age and knowledge of the kids, they can play endless games with these cards while learning about animals. Here are a few ideas to get kids started.

· Sort animals into groupings – mammals, birds, etc.
· Group canines, butterflies, hoofed animals, etc.
· Sort animals into those that live in your area and those that live elsewhere.
· Sort animals into habitats – ocean, forest, rainforest, prairie, etc.
· Sort animals as endangered or common.
· Sort animals into sizes (difficult when looking at pictures).
· Sort animals into those that eat plants, meat, insects, fish, anything.
· Sort animals into nocturnal (night), diurnal (day), crepuscular (dawn and dusk).
· Set the animals into food chains or webs.
Each time a child learns something new about animals they can turn to these cards and sort through for animals that meet different qualifications. This means reading up on some of the animals, not just guessing and adding this information to the cards.

The creatures of the earth become familiar – they are more than facts, they are seen in a variety of relationships to one another and the world … and the child.