Animals

Activity #1

Animals That Fly or Do Not Fly

Children classify animals according to if they can or cannot fly.

Materials:
Two large sheets of white blank chart paper
Title one “Animals That Can Fly” and the other “Animals That Cannot Fly”
Markers
Index cards with names of animals printed on them
Pictures of animals from magazines

Plan:

1. Take the two pieces of blank chart paper and hang them up on a wall.
2. Discuss with the children how some animals fly and some do not.
3. Ask children what they think the animals use to fly? Are animals that fly very large animals? Why or why not?
4. Have students start to give examples of animals that fly and animals that do not fly.
5. Start writing down their examples on the chart paper.
6. After all the children are done giving some examples, have the teacher or aid point to every answer on the chart paper and say what that word is. For example, hummingbird. They should point to the word and then say hummingbird.
7. The teacher might also have the students tell her what the first letter in the name of the animal is.
After the students are all done, try to find pictures of some of the animals in National Geographic 8. magazines and glue them on the chart paper.
9. Keep the chart up and talk to the children about the fact that they organized animals into two different categories: animals that fly and animals that do not fly.
10. Explain to the children that this is called classification.

Activity #2

Spiders-Spiders Don't Get Stuck

Materials:

Paper,
Markers, two colors
Colored chalk, two colors

Plan:

1. Ask the children if they know why spiders don't get stuck in their own webs. Explain that not all of the treads in a web are sticky. Spiders first spin vertical threads, which are not sticky, and then horizontal threads, which are. Insects get caught when they touch the sticky threads, but spiders "tiptoe" over them.
2. Give the children paper and have them draw the vertical lines of a spider web in one color and the horizontal lines in another.
3. Go outside and draw a large web with chalk on the playground. Draw the vertical lines in one color and horizontal lines in another. Have children pretend they are bugs and try to walk across the web without stepping on the "sticky lines.