Although June is National Zoo Month, incorporating a zoo unit into your elementary or preschool lessons is a lot of fun any time of the year! These fun and interactive activities are sure to keep kids active and involved. Even better, they help introduce and reinforce math, language and science standards.
Zoo Activities
Elephant Estimation
This fun math activity involves not only estimating, but counting and some physical exercise, as well! To begin, cut out approximately twenty elephant shapes from gray construction paper and laminate them. Show the class the elephants and ask them to guess how many elephants they can jump over. Explain how the elephants will be laid out on the floor (i.e. – head-to-tail in a chain or back-to-feet on top of one another) and how long of a jump each elephant is (i.e. – five inches). Next, create a chart on the class white board that shows the estimations that students give. Ask them to calculate their estimated total distance based on the number of elephants they think they can jump. Next, line the elephants out on the floor and have the students take turns jumping. You can have them jump once or twice, depending on the class size and amount of time available for the activity. Once they have jumped they can record their actual distance in both elephants and inches. Have the class compare the estimations to the actual results and discuss. Students love this activity, because it gets them thinking abstractly and gives them a reason to get out of their seats.
Meet Me at the Zoo
Transform your classroom into a zoo for the whole school. Have students pick one zoo animal that they are interested in and do research on that animal. You can provide a guideline for the research that includes the following: animal coloring and covering, natural habitat, eating habits, etc. While younger students can write one page projects about their animal, older students can create a more in-depth report. As the culminating activity, have students dress up as their animal and talk to visiting classes as they tour the class zoo. They can share information about their animal and pass out bookmarks or information cards that they have created. Not only do they get a chance to perform, but the work leading up to the presentation ties in language, research skills, science and writing.
Adopt-an-Animal
Most zoos offer adopt-an-animal programs where individuals or groups can adopt an animal for the year. The adoption cost helps cover the animal’s food and care. As a class, decide on one animal to adopt at the beginning of the school year. Host a class fundraiser (i.e. – bake sale, button sale, etc.) or use class supply funds to adopt. Throughout the year, study the animal and make it your class mascot. Incorporate it into lessons, classroom displays and more. At the end of the year, take a trip to the zoo to see it. If possible, choose an animal that can be seen by web cam, so that the children can easily see him throughout the year.
What are some of your favorite zoo activities for the classroom? Does your class usually go to the zoo on a field trip each year? Share with us!
Yvonne Richard says
While on our field trip to the National Zoo our charter bus got VERY lost for 2 hours. So when many of the children turned in their paper listing their favorite part of the zoo and favorite animal, many listed they said just getting there was the best part. Some said their favorite animal was Nemo because we watched the movie on the bus.
Mary Jacobs says
A great zoo activity is to have a scavenger hunt where the students need to follow the clues (learn animal facts) in order to get to the finish line. First team to the finish line wins a stuffed animal or some prize zoo related. This is a great activity for field trips and groups.
Melissa says
These sound like fun ideas. The children love zoo animals.
Jill Niethammer says
Our first grade goes to the zoo every year. Before we go, we divide the grade level into four different habitats. Each habitat is studied so that when we go to the zoo, the children understand the animals even more. Each chaperone knows which habitats at the zoo must be covered by the end of the trip. The next day, we get back into our habitat groups and decorate bulletin boards with animals, food, and other things found in that habitat. The kids love making their animals and where they live. Each item on the boards is labeled, making a great looking hallway.
Bobbie says
Right before we went on our field trip to the zoo we did a zoo unit. We graphed our favorite animals before the zoo and after. It was fun to see whose animals changed and why.