Animals are always a fun theme for children and a surefire way to pique their curiosity. These 22 animal-themed fun activities will teach positive behavior towards animals and animal protection issues and have you snacking on animal crackers, goldfish, and Swedish fish while learning about the protection of animals.
1. Animal Shapes
These beautiful geometric animal shapes in step-by-step directions are the perfect addition to your art and mathematics lessons. These animal shapes can be perfect for making your own animal parade, learning about animal noises, making an animal collage, or creating your own picture book. All you need is pictures of animals and sheets of paper.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
2. Animal Music
This fun animal music website has a ton of songs that can teach your students the animal noise! Play the animal music in the background while discussing life cycles, making an animal collage, or doing the chicken dance!
Learn more: Songs for Teaching
3. Organize a Food Bowl Drive
Fill food bowls with batches of animal food! Create an animal club to teach the community about animal food preferences, and collect food and food bowls.
Learn more: Best Friends Save Them All
4. Read Animal Picture books
Reading picture books on animals with a strong message about animals will surely help students understand the protection of animals, animal shelters, and animal welfare organizations. Books on animals are also a great way to address the animal protection issue and learn about wildlife rescue groups and what type of food they eat.
Learn more: Reading Middle Grade
5. Draw Animals
This amazing website has step-by-step tutorials on how to draw all sorts of animals, from wild animals to farm animals. You can create an animal collage and play a drawing game using these tutorials. All you need is sheets of paper and these pictures of animals.
Learn more: We Draw Animals
6. Pretend To Be an Animal Trainer
This fun game can teach students a lot about animal behaviors and mannerisms. Create a background scene on paper using crayons and use plastic animals, animal stickers & stuffed animals to act as animals.
Learn more: Best Accredited College
7. Create Your Own Ocean Habitat in a Jar
For this fun activity, you will need a large plastic container with a wide mouth, 5 different shades of blue cardstock (from light to dark), ocean animal stickers, blue string or thread, tape water, and small ocean animals. By following these instructions, your students will learn about the ocean's different levels, or zones, and which animals can be found where.
Learn more: EDventures with Kids
8. BAMONA Project
The BAMONA Project is the Butterfly and Moths of North America project to collect, store, and share information about the moths and butterflies around America. Your students can help this project by taking pictures of these animals as they see them and submitting them to the website.
Learn more: Butterflies and Moths
9. Play Zoo Bingo
Your curriculum's animal unit is the perfect time to go on a zoo excursion! When on your outing, take along these zoo bingo cards and let your students play along as they learn and have fun at the zoo. You can also compare cards and play games back in the classroom using the information they gathered.
Learn more: 24 Animal Habitats Activities Kids Will Love
10. KWL Chart - Animals
This KWL chart - animals will help your students determine what they know, what they want to know, and what they have learned about the protection of animals.
Learn more: Twinkl
11. Learn About Animal Rescue
Animal shelters are filling up all around the world, and these picture books on animals that have been adopted or rescued can help educate your students about the protection of animals, and animal welfare organizations. Help your students exhibit positive behavior towards animals by reading these picture books.
Learn more: Growing Book by Book
12. Animal Behavior and Adaptations
These sheets of paper have everything you need to teach your students about animal behaviors and adaptations they make to stay alive and thrive. It also teaches them about biomes, food chains, and animal classification.
Learn more: Teachers Pay Teachers
13. Animal Cards
These animal note cards have batches of animal groups and items on animal organizations on them. These cards have information on each animal on the back so your students can learn about them. This can also be used as a sorting and classifying game.
Learn more: Amazon
14. Chicken Crafts!
These 25 chicken crafts will teach you how to make a chicken beak, chicken legs, and even a cute baby chicken. You'll simply need white paper, construction paper, brown paper bags, colorful sheets of paper, green food coloring, paper towels, tail feathers, bits of yarn, and some magazine pictures.
Learn more: I am the Maven
15. Fish Activities
These 40 fish activities and crafts will ensure hours of fun and learning! from learning about different colorful fish to making your own rainbow fish. Some of these activities even allow you to snack on some goldfish and Swedish fish!
Learn more: Fantastic Fun and Learning
16. T. Rex Pop-Up Activity
For this fun pop-up activity, all you need is a white paper with the dinosaur and background printed on it, glue, crayons, and scissors! The activity directions are very simple to follow, simply color the T. Rex and background scene on paper using your crayons, cut, glue, and enjoy!
Learn more: 10 Minutes of Quality Time
17. Chicken Dance!
Move around like a rubber chicken while you do the chicken dance! This fun video will get your students up and moving around. It will teach them how chickens move by making a chicken beak, moving your chicken leg, and acting like a little baby chicken!
Learn more: The Education Lab-For Kids Toddlers And Babys
18. Animal Tag
This fun game can be an outside or gym area game. The rules can be changed to suit your needs. Everyone makes different animal sounds while running around. The first person needs to tag someone, and the tagged person then needs to make the same noise as that person. They must do the same until everyone makes the same animal noise.
Learn more: Playworks
19. Read About Animal Protection Issues
This online publication is an animal welfare organization that informs readers about animal issues, peoples' behavior towards animals, and the protection of animals.
Learn more: World Animal Protection
20. Animal Food Preferences
Learn about the type of food ad what kind of shaped foods animals eat while making your own treats. Fill animals' food bowls by making big batches in a food processor. These aren't your regular animal crackers, but batches of animal food can be made into animal shapes.
Learn more: All Recipes
21. Brown Paper Bag Crafts
These brown paper bag crafts are very simple. You just need brown paper bags, construction paper, and bits of yarn. Make a colorful fish or a chicken beak. Use your animal shapes to create an animal collage or pretend to be an animal trainer.
Learn more: I Heart Crafty Things
22. Jokes About Animals
These funny jokes about animals will have your students roaring with laughter! Hand out a few sheets of paper and let them write a few jokes of their own!
Learn more: National Zoo
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