Wild animals are a topic that fascinates many children and adults. The following activity is designed to help families, teachers, and children explore the world of wild animals together while simultaneously building children's physical, cognitive, and language skills.
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Age Group: This activity is very moldable and can easily be used with children ranging from 2-5 years
Type of Activity: This activity is designed to be done either one on one at home or in a small group in a classroom because it requires close adult supervision.
Learning Goals:
1. Children will practice their cutting skills by cutting out pieces of paper and cardboard and/or building the muscles needed for cutting by tearing and gluing paper.
2. Through listening to Polar Bear, Polar Bear children will explore places where you might see wild animals, such as the zoo, and work on building their animal vocabulary.
Areas of Development Addressed
Language Development: Reading to children and engaging them in discussions helps build their language skills, vocabulary, and pre-reading skills.
Physical Development: Cutting out pieces of paper builds children's scissor skills. Also, tearing and gluing paper helps build fine motor skills such as the pincer grasp, which are precursors skills needed for cutting.
Cognitive Development: As children explore the topic of wild animals, they gain a better understanding of the world around them. They also practice the mental skill of categorization as they learn what types of animals can be classified as wild.
Materials:
- Colored paper. You can use construction paper, tissue paper, crepe paper, or even torn up magazines and newspapers.
- Glue
- Recycled cardboard. For example, empty toilet paper rolls, empty cereal boxes, or unused paper plates.
- Child scissors
- (Optional) tape and popsicle sticks.
Activity Description:
This activity is divided into two parts. The first half of the activity involves watching a short video with children. In the video, I talk with a puppet giraffe about what wild animals are and some places you might see them, such as at a zoo or a circus. I also speak briefly about why we usually don't see wild animals at circuses anymore. I then move on to reading a book about wild animals called Polar Bear, Polar Bear by Bill Martin Jr., and Eric Carle. If you don't have a way to play the video for children, for example, you are in a classroom that doesn't use electronics, you can still do the activity. Instead of watching the video, you can read the book aloud to children and have a short discussion about places where you can see wild animals. If you don't have a copy of Polar Bear, Polar Bear, you can find it at most public libraries, or you can use a different book that shows pictures of wild animals.
The second half of the activity involves giving children the opportunity to create an animal face mask. To prep for this activity, you will need to cut a basic mask shape out of cardboard. You can use whatever cardboard you have lying around. I made a trial mask to get an idea of what works and what doesn't. I started by tracing a circle using a small mixing bowl on an old cereal box.
Then I cut out the circle, cut it in half, and cut eye holes into each
half. This created two masks. You could also use a paper plate cut in half to save time.
Once you have your masks cut out, gather together your paper, scraps of cardboard, scissors, and glue. After children have heard the story, explain to them that they can create animal masks like the ones the children in Polar Bear, Polar Bear had. Provide each child with a mask, glue, scissors, if they are ready for them, and an assortment of paper and cardboard. Also, try and set out some books with pictures of real animals to give children inspiration. If you are at home and don't have picture books available, you can print some photos out or even pull up some pictures on a phone or computer to show children. Explain to children that they can decorate the masks with the paper and cardboard to create any animal they want. Encourage them to try cutting or tearing the paper and gluing it on to their mask. For younger children, you may need to demonstrate this or offer some physical assistance. Also, this project may be too open-ended for some children. If this is the case, try to provide some gentle guidance that still allows children to make choices. For example, ask them what animal they would like to make or ask them what colors they would like to use. As children work, build their language skills and vocabulary by asking them to tell you about their animal. Comment on the colors they are using or talk about the animal they are making. For example, if they are making a lion talk about where lions live, what they eat, etc.
As children create, it may not look like a discernable animal to you, but that's okay. Research has shown that one of the best ways to build children's creativity is through projects that are open-ended and focus on experimenting with various art mediums rather than creating a picture-perfect product (Fox & Schirrmacher, 2011).
Once children are done creating their masks, you can help them attach a handle. For my mask, I found it worked best to tape a popsicle stick to the back. However, if you don't have these materials, you could also cut a strip of cardboard and have children glue it to the mask to create a handle.
Ways to Expand or Adapt the Activity:
- After children create their masks, they could be used in the dramatic play area to play pretend zoo or animal parade.
- If children aren't interested in cutting and gluing paper, try having them paint the masks or draw on them.
- If you have children with advanced scissor skills, try having them cut their own mask out of paper or thin cardboard.
References
Fox, J. E., & Schirrmacher, R. (2011). Art and Creative Development for Young Children (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.
