"Mom, I see 6 bug bites on Alice's (our dog's) belly."
"Hmmm. Those are nipples, honey."
That's how I identified a need...an opportunity for learning about mammals. Today I would like to share our week-long lesson all about mammals. I geared the plans toward the preschool and kindergarten level.
Learning Objectives:
Learning Objectives:
- Be able to describe characteristics of mammals
- Identify mammals from other types of animals
- Understand animals are classified into groups according to similar characteristics
I started out by explaining what a mammal was. In case you're wondering, here is the definition straight from Merriam-Webster.
"any of a class (Mammalia) of warm-blooded higher vertebrates (such as placentals, marsupials, or monotremes) that nourish their young with milk secreted by mammary glands, have the skin usually more or less covered with hair, and include humans"( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mammal ).
Preschool Definition:
It's a type of animal that has a backbone, gives milk to their babies and is usually covered in hair. Humans are mammals.
You can also explain warm-blooded if you think it won't go over their heads. I did only because the girls have some background knowledge on it.
I said that mammals are better at keeping themselves warm and don't have to sun themselves like snakes do. They're also better at keeping themselves cool when it's hot outside. We have turtles and snakes in our pond that sun themselves so we've talked about cold-blooded animals.
Make Your Own Mammal
I drew up some animal parts for the girls to make their own mammals. I told them they could make a mammal they already knew of or create a new animal completely. I drew them on construction paper and then had them cut them out (my youngest tries). I gave the girls googly eyes and they drew mouths. We attached arms and legs and then we gave them fur by covering them with unrolled cotton balls. This was a pretty fun art activity for them.
Montessori Three-Part-Cards for Mammals
We incorporate a ton of Montessori into our lessons. I'd say our educational style 75% Montessori, 15% Contemporary and 10% Accidental. I love Montessori for a variety of reasons. I talk about that in an upcoming post.
I printed mine on cardstock and laminated them so that they would last through a few kids. I usually pass these on to a family member after we finish with them so they get a lot of use. If only a few kids will be using them you can absolutely skip this step.
**I made these cards to match our Schleich animals but noticed that some match up with the Safari toob mammal skulls pretty well. Luck.
Mammal Sensory Tub
Oh yes. My youngest loves the sensory tubs.
We had talked a lot about how mammals take very good care of their babies so I decided to hide mammals and their babies in the tub. The girls had to find them and match them up. There was a lot of squealing and playing involved during this activity.
I also gave them a few reptiles and birds and asked my oldest to pick out all of the mammals if she could.
We had talked a lot about how mammals take very good care of their babies so I decided to hide mammals and their babies in the tub. The girls had to find them and match them up. There was a lot of squealing and playing involved during this activity.
I also gave them a few reptiles and birds and asked my oldest to pick out all of the mammals if she could.
*Recipe for Rainbow Rice:
I made rainbow rice a while back and we've gotten a lot of use out of it. Rainbow rice is very easy to make. You simply fill a ziplock halfway with dried rice, drop in a few drops of one color of food coloring and a few drops of vinegar, and then shake. AND shake. Then shake some more. Then hand it to your kids so they can shake it. DONE. I microwaved mine for a few seconds too then poured it out onto cookie sheets to cool and "set" for an hour. Repeat with as many colors as desired.
*little tip: This rice gets everywhere. I vacuum mine up using the sock method that I talk about in another post. It saves rice and time.
Mammal habitats
I took our mammal toys and created little dioramas to show that animals live in different habitats. We talked about how mammals are adapted to live where they do. We talked about how the different type of fur or body covering on mammals is different depending on what the mammal needs.
For example, Polar Bears have a lot of fur and fat to keep them warm. They're white so they blend in with the snow. Cheetahs are long and lean so that they can run fast
Worksheets Featuring Mammals
Here are a few lovely worksheets I found on the web. They're easily accessible (plus no need to subscribe to anything) and free as of the time of this posting.
Mammal Puzzle
We're fortunate to have the Montessori zoology puzzle cabinet, so I asked the girls to identify the mammal puzzle out of all of the other animal puzzles. They had to apply what they learned to pick out the horse. My youngest decided she wanted to work the puzzle with a little help from another furry mammal.
Books on Mammals
We usually try to read a book each day about the topic we're learning about that week. I like to plan ahead and put holds on a few from the library. WE LOVE OUR LIBRARY!
Here is a list of children's books about Mammals:
Sam the Sea Cow is a sweet story about a Manatee who is separated from his mother, rescued and then successfully released back into the wild. It provides education on mammals while encouraging conservation. We own this one. (and also, yay for Reading Rainbow!)
Is a Camel a Mammal describes all different types of mammals in the loveable Suess rhyming style.
The Smithsonian Animal book has a whole section on mammals. It details mammal features on the first page of the section and has subsections featuring different types of mammals. With all of the sections, we could have just used this one all week. We love our Smithsonian books and use them all the time. The pictures are great. I usually leave them on the lower shelves because the girls like to look through them on their own. (I'm not being paid to say this. The Smithsonian doesn't know I exist.)
Animal Resource Pages
I found some really fantastic pages with a bunch of educational resources on different types of mammals. I try to incorporate conservation lessons whereever we can so a lot of these pages are for endangered animals. They're also aimed at a little bit older kids but I was still able to find a ton of ideas we could use and I learned a few things in the process too!
Elephants https://elephantconservation.org/resources/teacher-resources/
Polar Bears https://polarbearsinternational.org/education-center
Kangaroos + https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/kangaroo/#kangaroo-hopping.jpg
Whales and Dolphins http://us.whales.org/wdc-in-action/international-education-resources
I tried to pick a new mammal each day to talk about. We learned neat facts about the animal and did some of worksheets or quizzes together from the above links.
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| No, Flamingos aren't mammals. But this is the only picture I took! Whoops. |
Mammal Scavenger Hunt at the Zoo
We finished up our lesson on mammals by visiting the zoo with Grandma! I printed out a page with a bunch of pictures of mammals (that reside in our local zoo) to take with us. We made it into a mammal scavenger hunt.
You could also just go on a nature walk and look for mammals in your area. During the week we pointed out squirrels, chipmunks, deer, a muskrat and rabbits just in our backyard and neighborhood.
You could also just go on a nature walk and look for mammals in your area. During the week we pointed out squirrels, chipmunks, deer, a muskrat and rabbits just in our backyard and neighborhood.
And there you have it! Now the girls know all about mammals. We had a lot of fun and we'll probably revisit this lesson plan a few more times. I feel like we just skimmed the top and there are so many fantastic resources out there. I hope your kiddos have as much fun learning about mammals as we did!
