Fun Friday: Extreme Animals

We had a great time at our Fun Friday program yesterday, 22 kids from 1st – 4th grade came to the library to learn about animals, camouflage and to use their imaginations to create their own extreme animal.  We began with finding camouflaged animals in the book, Where in the Wild? Camouflages Creatures Concealed… and Revealed.  The kids had a great time trying to find the animals as I showed them the pictures. 

Afterwards, the kids guessed what some of the most extreme animals in the world are – largest, smallest, fastest, etc.  Then they spent about 20 minutes creating their own extreme animal using their imagination to create something brand new.  I’ve stopped giving the kids product art projects to complete at these programs because some of the kids have very little experience using their imagination to just create rather than making something “the right way.”  We ask questions as the kids are creating, in the hopes of making them think of something they hadn’t’ thought of before – what can your animal do? does it fly, crawl, swim, float?  where do you find your animal?

Read Aloud:

• Where in the Wild? Camouflages Creatures Concealed… and Revealed by, David M. Schwartz and Yael Schy & Photos by, Dwight Kuhn
• Ever Hear of an Aardwolf?  Compiled by, Madeline Moser  & Illustrated by, Barry Moser

Information Sharing:

What is the weirdest animal you’ve ever seen?

• What is the largest animal in the world?
  • Blue Whale (100 ft. long, 200 tons)
• What is the smallest animal?
  • Fairyfly (0.01 inch)
• What is the world’s fastest animal?
  • Peregrine Falcon (200 mph)
• What do you call a group of jellyfish?
  • A smack
• What is the longest living animal?
  • Galapagos Tortoise (100+ yrs.)

Activity: Design Your Own Animal

Supplies:

• Colored Pencils
• Scissors
• Glue
• Crayons
• Leftover craft supplies (beads, pompoms, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, etc.)

Directions:

1. Using the supplies create your own animal
2. Share with the group what makes your animal so extreme

Book List

• Extreme Animals by Nicola Davies
• 101 Freaky Animals by Melvin & Gilda Berger
• The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest – and Most Surprising – Animals On Earth by Steve Jenkins
• National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry – 200 Poems with Photographs that Squeak, Soar, and Roar!
• The World Almanac for Kids