Website Archive - April, 2008

Spotlight on Science, Animals and Plants

Children

Here are some websites for children with online activities with animals.

 

PBS Kids

PBS Kids has several games to play. So check them out.

Help Curious George match the currect sound to the right animal in Cows Don’t Quack.

Mama Mirabelle’s section looks at the natural world through National Geographic:

  • In Where in the World help Mama’s friends get back to their habitat and then watch a very brief video about their habitat.
  • In Savannah Symphony listen closely to the animal sounds and play along.
  • In Photo Safari take photos of the animals and collect them in your own Savannah photo album.

 

Sesame Street

Join Snuffy from Sesame Street in exploring the jungle, the arctic, and the ocean to look for animals and then listen to a brief description about the animal in Snuffy’s Safari.

UpToTen.com

Here’s a silly game on the UpToTen.com website, Make your own Sheep Face by mixing and matching eyes, ears, a mouth and face.

Or play music with some unusual garden instruments.

 

Parents

Here are some activities and ideas to encourage the development of science concepts with your preschooler.

 

A Walk in the Woods

The University of Illinois Extension has A Walk in the Woods website with a pictorial and audio walk through a forest that explores trees, mushrooms, wildlife, insects and flowers. It is intended for 3rd to 5th graders but can easily be viewed by a parent and child. **Please be advised that they do show a picture of a dead robin while they are talking about decomposing materials.

Kids Gardening.com

Kids Gardening.com has a Parent’s Primer that is not just about creating a garden for your child but about taking advantage of “gardening moments” with your child in your backyard, front yard and at the windowsill. There are 10 “chapters” filled with information, ideas and opportunities to garden with your child.

PBS Kids

PBS Kids has a number of activities for you to do with your child concerning animals:

  • Create Animal Blocks from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood by cutting out animal pictures and gluing them to milk cartons and have an animal parade.
  • Check out Animal Fun Facts from Between the Lions
  • Learn about animals and where they live with Arthur in Animal Habitats.

 

Teachers

There are so many websites offering resources on science and knowledge about living things, their changes over time, and plant and animal life cycles, and we’ve highlighted just a few.  So check them out!

 

Beals Early Childhood Center

Beals Early Childhood Center in Shrewsbury, MA has an Exploring Butterflies in Kindergarten section that describes the life cycle of butterflies, FAQ, butterfly bodies and a butterfly curriculum.

Brain Pop Jr.

Brain Pop Jr. offers educational movies, quizzes, games, vocabulary, and activities for kids. Although designed for K-3 students, the active viewing and learning experiences can be adapted to younger children. This is a subscription site, but there are also free activities, etc. on it. Check out the sections about plants and animals with background information, teacher activities and family activities:

Plants:

Animals:

 

DLTK

DLTK’s Kidzone.ws has a picture story of a Monarch Butterfly with beautiful butterfly pictures
and also a lesson plan on the Life Cycle of a Frog.

First-School.ws

First-School.ws has science lesson plants about growing plants and observing the changes that occur. There are also book suggestions to go along with the plan.

 

Peep and the Big Wide World

Peep and the Big Wide World by WGBH Educational Foundations has an Explorer’s Guide with a Unit on Plants (PDF format). You can follow the lesson plans for planting seeds indoors and observing the growing plants. And then go outdoors and explore trees and weeds and their life cycles. The unit includes the learning goals, classroom resources, book lists, and teacher preparation needed.

 

Scholastic

In Scholastic’s Tadpole Transformation (PDF format), students make a paper tadpole puppet that turns into a frog and also learn the meaning of “metamorphosis”.

Sustainable Horticulture – University of New Hampshire

Growing a Green Generation is a curriculum of gardening activities for preschool and kindergarten children and is a collaborative effort between the Department of Plant Biology, the Child Study and Development Center (CSDC), and UNH Cooperative Extension at the University of New Hampshire. It contains sections on Plant Basics, Gardening Basics, Gardening Themes, Experiments, Nature, Arts and Crafts, Useful Tables, and Resources. In each of the sections, you have a choice of lesson plans with objectives, materials needed, the set up, activities and questions to ask.

 

The Perpetual Preschool

The Perpetual Preschool has a section for Gardening Science. Check out the activities for growing plants and observing the life cycle of the plants.

 

A Walk in the Woods

The University of Illinois Extension has A Walk in the Woods website with a pictorial and audio walk through a forest that explores trees, mushrooms, wildlife, insects and flowers. It is intended for 3rd to 5th graders but can easily be viewed by a teacher and child. **Please be advised that they do show a picture of a dead robin while they are talking about decomposing materials.

 

Treetures

Meet the Treetures, a community of tiny tree friends that teach about trees and tree care. Check out Blanch who helps forest birds and animals find homes in trees. There are 2 lesson plans that deal with animals that live in trees in your own community and understanding the interdependence of animal and plants.

 

 

[Posted on April 9, 2008]

 







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