Kids love going to the zoo and it offers so many educational opportunities. Why not go the extra mile this summer and bring the zoo to your classroom?
There are several ways to pull off the zoo theme. You can split the week into different continents highlighting animals from each continent or you can just fill the week with fun zoo activities in each center. Here are some ideas to get you started using the center method.
Art Center
Making masks and puppets are always fun for preschoolers. For masks, you can go the easy route and purchase zoo plates then allow kids to glue craft sticks to the back. Create a parade of animals allowing the kids to act like the animal on their plates.
Puppets are just as fun. Gather paper sacks, googly eyes, yarn and glue. Let the kids imaginations run wild as they make their animal.
Modeling clay is also a fun activity during zoo week. The kids can make whales, pigs, lions, etc. Be sure to have googly eyes available for this project. It makes it look more realistic.
Paint-You can finger paint a yellow lion, gray giraffe, brown monkey, etc. You can also have the kids put dots on a leopard or brown spots on a giraffe.
Snack time
Snacks during zoo week can be fun and yummy. Animal crackers is of course the number one snack. You can turn it into an art project using craft sticks to paint the animal crackers with colored icing.
Bananas are also fun and healthy snack in which the kids can pretend to be monkeys. You can also include some dipping chocolate for them to dip if you are feeling adventurous.
Sensory table
Place water in the sensory table with fish, sea lions and other water animals that might be found at the zoo. Preschoolers love playing in the water.
Homeliving
Place stroller, sunglasses, bags and babies in this center for the kids to utilize. Tell the kids you are going on a trip to the zoo and have them pack. Be sure to place on the wall in an area of the classroom different pictures of animals for the kids to walk to see.
Put a doctors kit and stuff animals in the center and allow the kids to pretend to be veterinarians for the zoo animals.
Blocks
Place animals in the block section. Have the children build cages with their blocks. Or place larger blocks and have the kids pretend to be different animals and build cages for their self.
Music
Kids love the songs, "Five Little Monkeys," so be sure to sing it and read the book.
Another fun song is to the tune of Wheels on the Bus:
The snake at the zoo goes Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss Hiss The Snake at the zoo goes Hiss Hiss Hiss All day long
The lion at the zoo goes Roar Roar Roar Roar Roar Roar The lion at the zoon goes Roar Roar Roar All day long
This song can go on as long as you can think of zoo animals and there sounds
Story time
There are so many great zoo books available including one by Dr. Seuss called "If I Ran The Zoo." Just do a search fro preschool zoo books or visit your local library.
These are just a few suggestions to get you started. This would also be a great time to see if you could hire a petting zoo to visit the school or go on a field trip to the local zoo. Kids love animals and will enjoy this week immensely.
As always, feel free to leave any other suggestions in the comment section below.
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