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Animal & Insect
Teaching Tips
Below are some subjects and characteristics to assist teachers and parents
in introducing
subjects and content before interactive
music instruction. Pick the content you would like to
review, and then use the music to solidify it. Review these subjects prior to playing and
practicing the songs. Ask
questions of the students about their experiences and things
they have
seen.
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SAMPLE SUBJECTS & CHARACTERISTICS
for DISCUSSION
(How
to dig deeper!)
ANIMALS
& INSECTS
o Characteristics (Wild, tame, fat, thin, furry, long nose,
tall neck, quiet, loud, strong, weak, pretty, ugly, smelly,
small, big...)
"What is the stinkiest animal you've ever
smelled?"
"Do you know the difference between a wild animal and a
tame animal?"
o
Description of body parts & how they differ (antler,
tail, bill, coat, feathers, wings, fin, hand, horn, mane,
scales, muzzle, beak, claw, fang, hoof, paw…)
"Name everything you see in the classroom that is living.
How can you tell if it is living or not?"
Activity:
Play
the observation game: Pick any one item that has a variety of
styles and colors. Take 5-10 different varieties of
that item. Place them on a tray, let the kids observe them for a
few seconds, and then have try to remember what was different
about all of them. Balls work well. You can also make shapes out
of construction paper with dots, lines, squares, colors, etc.
o Color
(bright, dull, shiny, dark, light, favorite…)
"How
can an animal's color help protect it?"
o Sizes (height, weight, length, shape, tall, short, small,
big…)
"What
is the largest animal you have ever seen?...the smallest?"
"How do the large animals move?.... and the small
animals?"
Activity: 1)
Draw a large dinosaur foot, and have the kids step off with
their own feet and count how many of their feet can fit across
the dinosaur foot. 2) Use a ruler, tape measure, adding machine
tape, or string, and have the measure each other (and other
objects in the room), then compare measurements. 3) Have the
kids make a growth chart. Using a picture from home, tape
the picture on top of the their chart after mounting it on the
wall. Measure every three months or so, and compare.
o Movement (runs, walks, flies, jumps, hops, swims, crawls,
slithers, gallop, waddle…) Have the children
imitate the movement of an animal they have seen.
Integrate books such as "From Head to Toe,"
by Eric Carle.
o Sounds (honks, growls, meows, clucks, hisses, stomps,
brays, moos, baas, purr, bark…) "What is
the loudest animal you've ever heard?" "Can you
make a sound like a goose, cat, chicken, snake, elephant,
donkey, cow, lamp, lion, dog...etc.)
o Habitat (cave, snow, desert, sun, tree, underground,
grass, water, sand, hive…)
"Where do animals sleep? Do they sleep in beds like
we do? Do they wear pajamas? Do they take baths? Where
does a bear sleep?...a camel, a snake, a koala bear, a bee, a
bird...etc?"
o
Mood & Intent (bite, chase, cower, dance, dive,
escape, flee, float, scatter, linger, lounge, patrol, prowl,
race, splash, follow, visit, roll, protect…)
"How do animals let you know they are mad? What does
a dog do when it is mad.. a cat... a lion...a bird...a fish...
an alligator...etc? Do animals get sad...happy? How
do you know when a cat is happy? a dog? etc?"
o
Experience (farm, zoo, pet, pet shop, friend, on boat,
swimming, aquarium…)
Fishy
Facts: Fish
come in an amazing variety of shapes and colors, but they all
have 3 important things in common: All fish live in water, have fins,
and use gills to get oxygen from the water so they can
breath. Fish that swim in a group and have something in
common are called schools. The small bony plates
that cover most fish are called scales. They serve as a
protective skin against the environment. Fish have no outer
ears, but enclosed organs situated on either side of the head
and eyes respond to sound waves in the water. Note: The gills
are rich in blood vessels, and as water passes through the thin
membranes of the gill filaments, oxygen is absorbed.
Activities:
o
Children
can create a diorama or shadow box "aquarium"
by taking a shoe box, coloring white paper that can be glued
into the inside walls of the box, and then coloring the pictures
on Template 2 &
Template 2B . They can
then hang the fish from the top of the box with string, or
adhere them to a toothpick and stick them in little mountains of
Play-Doh on the bottom floor of the box, which is the base of
the aquarium.
o
Using
a live aquarium, have the children study the fish and then ask
questions about their observations:
-
How did they move?
-
Were the fish eating? What were they eating?
-
Were the fish sleeping? How could you tell? Fish
have no eyelids; therefore it is difficult for us to tell
whether they are asleep or not. Most fish probably slow
down, hovering or cruising in mid-water or on the surface for
short periods of time.
-
Were the fish fighting? How
could you tell?
-
How were the fish moving? (Fast, slow, one direction, up &
down, stuck to something)
-
What color were they?
-
What size were they?
-
Were they all the same?
-
What was their favorite fish?
o
Have
the kids create their own hand puppet for “A Fish in the
Sea” using
Template 1.
o
Have the kids create their own fish kite out of
tissue paper, using a light string or twine to pull it around while running.
The faster they run, the more the kite will fly. The fish kite
is cut our of gift wrap tissue and should be at least a foot
long and 8 inches high. The bigger the better. You can cut the
shape of any animal out of tissue. Octopus:
One
way an 8-legged octopus moves is by filling a cavity in its body
with water, then shooting the water out. This causes the octopus
to jet backward with its arms trailing, and is used mostly for
quick escapes. When on the bottom it moves by crawling along in
its arms.
Activities:
o
Have kids lie on the ground
and try to crawl along the floor using only their arms. It
is very hard to do, unless you are in water.
Birds:
Bluebirds
build nests of grass, weeds, pine needles, twigs and sometimes
hair or feathers.
Some
birds can sing. Some
birds can talk by mimicking the sounds of our voices. Some birds
eat berries and vegetation, others eat meat and hunt other birds
and small animals.
Activities:
o
Have
kids mimic the sounds you make, or the sounds of each other.
Can they talk/imitate the voice of their friends?
o
Have
the kids build their own nests out of stray craft pieces found
in the classroom. Take
them outside and have them build their own nests out of what
they find on the ground.
o
Take
a pinecone and roll it in peanut butter, then roll it in
birdseed. Attach
a pipe cleaner at the top and hang the bird feeder outside
near the classroom. Have the class observe what type of bird,
or other creature, eats from the cone.
o
Have the kids create their own bird kite out of
tissue paper, using a light string or twine to pull it around while running.
The faster they run, the more the kite will fly. The kite
is cut our of gift wrap tissue and should be at least a foot
long and 8 inches high. The bigger the better. You can cut the
shape of any animal out of tissue.
Snake:
Their
skin muscles allow the ribs to pull scales forward and backward,
which help the snake to move.
Activities:
o
Children
can make a rattle by sealing one end of a paper towel roll,
inserting beans, rice or granola, and sealing the other end
with tape or staples.
o
Have
children lie on the ground and try to move their entire body
with their arms at their sides, and their legs straight.
o
Take
the inside of a wrapping paper roll and either pull it apart
at the seams, or slice it at angles to make a snake. Have the
children decorated it, tie a string at the front and pull it
around.
Bunny
Rabbits:
Activities:
o
Have
the children mimic the movement of a bunny jumping.
o Place
a boiled egg and a raw egg on the table. Ask the children if
they can figure out which egg is cooked. Encourage them to
compare the color, weight, and by shaking. Spin the egg. Does
one wobble more than the other. Crack them both open and see
if they were correct.
MISCELLANEOUS ANIMALS
Activities:
o Children
can cut out pictures of living things from old magazines and
make a collage by gluing them onto a piece of paper.
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children's music
preschool music