Preschool teachers-- need ideas please?

Question

Hi! Okay, i took a group of 20-30 children for an outing to the zoo, but now i need to do 3 or 4 follow up activities with them. They're 5-6 years old. I've thought of letting them paint their favorite animal and then describing the animal and I'd write down what they say about it on the paper. I've gone blank for anything else?? I need activities, not discussions- this is part of an evaluation test as well from my principal, so i need good ideas please?? THANKS!!!!! :-)

Answer 1

How about letting them make their own aquariums/habitats.you can use paper plates or shoe boxes.They can build an environment for whatever animal they choose.You can go around the class and they can discuss with their classmates what they remember about the animal they have chosen(what it eats,how much it weighs,etc.).You can even open a discussion about the various continents/countries the animals live on.

Answer 2

How about making paperbag puppets and having a story activity - use a story like the story on http://www.magickeys.com/books/?

Or an animal table with model animals (some made from playdough by the children) with paintings.

Or a musical activity - a variation of ''Old McDonald" - maybe '??? school went to the zoo eieio and in this zoo they had a....''

Good luck

Answer 3

How about having pictures of zoo animals and having the kids sort them into different categories such as has four legs, fins, fur, where sleeps - it's interesting to see how one child will group a tiger with a monkey (based on fur) and another will keep them separate because of number of walking legs.

Another is to split the kids into two different groups and have them face each other like in steal the bacon.  You call out a kind of animal like a kangaroo and the kids have to act like a kangaroo while heading toward the group/person opposite them, pass that person until they have switched places.  Other animals that are fun include monkey, fish, elephant, etc  ---also let the kids chose animals -

Good luck!

Answer 4

Have the students draw and/or describe which animal they would be if they were in a zoo and why.  The students could give themselves names as well as describe a typical day in the life of their creature.

Have the students create a new animal that is at the zoo.  This animal has just recently been discovered, so the students will have to give the animal a name.  They could also describe where the animal lives in the wild, its eating habits, etc...

Answer 5

I like the song idea of Old MacDonald very much. I would suggest you build a zoo. Have the kids dress up as their fave animal. do a play about involving the animals you saw.

Answer 6

any of the previous ideas are good...and then add these activities...

make a map of the zoo...using one from the zoo but allow the children to create their own interpretation of it

make a graph of the animals they liked best or least

try animal masks---you can allow the children to decorate a precut mask, or add decorations to a eye mask like feathers or fake fur,

try making a recipie like one or more of the animals would eat ....salads, soups, or something else(maybe something they got to try at the zoo)

get together a collection of books related to zoo animals or animals in general and add them to your personal collection that you allow the children to use, or make some backpack sets that the children can take home overnight or over the weekend

create some flannel board stories from the books, or just some animal shapes to make a zoo or other story with for the language area

see if you can borrow some animal items from the local museum(probably natural history) so that the children can acutally touch and feel what the animals feel like

try to get a photo student or friend to make slides of the trip or of zoo animals in general and show them to the children

lots and lots of other ideas would be good too....