At yesterday’s barbecue, a bright yellow parakeet landed in the yard and hung out with our party goers. The bird was hesitant when someone got too close, but it rarely flew off and instead would take a few sidesteps while watching us. Obviously, this was a pet that escaped but from where? We enjoyed the bird for quite a few hours. It got so bold as to land next to a piece of cake and begin eating just inches from where we sat!
An animal control volunteer showed up with a cage and the request that someone keep the bird until the next day when the animal control officer could take the animal. Our neighbor enjoyed a few more hours with the parakeet.
When the bird first appeared, someone called to me and said, “Look at the yellow cardinal.” It could have been a slip of the tongue that he said ‘cardinal’ and not ‘bird’ since we’d had a male and female cardinal flitting about the yard since morning. However, it is a good lesson in how our brains work; when faced with something we don’t know we compare it to something we do know so the unknown makes more sense.
We look at squirrels chasing one another and say they are playing, but they might be fighting over territory. On the other hand, noticing similarities can help us with identification and our understanding of what animals are doing.
Play an analogy game with your kids. This can get a bit silly, and that’s fine! On at least ten slips of paper, write one common human object (chair, car, etc). On another ten slips of paper, write the name of any sort of mammal, bird, fish, insect, reptile, or amphibian. Keep the two categories, human stuff v animals separate. Place each stack in individual bags, bowls, or hats.
Pull one slip from each bag. Now the fun begins. Everyone uses their creativity to find something that these two dissimilar things have in common. How is a cat like a car? How is a book like a squirrel? There is no right answer, no wrong answer, just imaginative fun!
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