Preschool Letter Z - Zoo

 For preschool this month we focused on the letter Z. So we had a Zoo day.

Here the kids are practicing writing the letter Z.

 For show and tell I had the kids each bring stuffed animals. The night before me and my girls set up all of our animals in our stuffed animal zoo. Then all of the kids showed us their animals and added them to the zoo.

Then we sang the song below while acting out different animals. We did several verses and the kids yelled out an animal and they acted like it while we sang.

Zoo

Here we go to the zoo in the park,

the zoo in the park, the zoo in the park;

Here we go to the zoo in the park so early in the morning.

This is the way the elephant walks,

the elephant walks, the elephant walks;

This is the way the elephant walks so early in the morning.

This is the way the big bear walks,

the big bear walks, the big bear walks;

This is the way the big bear walks so early in the morning.

This is the way the kangaroo hops,

the kangaroo hops, the kangaroo hops;

This is the way the kangaroo hops so early in the morning.

This is the way the penguin walks, the penguin walks, the penguin walks;

This is the way the penguin walks so early in the morning.

(http://www.rif.org/kids/leadingtoreading/en/babies-toddlers/finger-plays/zoo.htm)

I found this really cool book at the library called "Life-Size Zoo"  that we looked at next. It has life size pictures of different zoo animals. As we went through it the kids pointed out different things they observed about the animals and I read to them a few facts about each animal.

Then we did the below rhyme a couple of times:

THREE LITTLE ZEBRAS
Three little zebras went out to play
One of the zebras galloped away.

Two little zebras out at play,
Another zebra galloped away.

One little zebra out at play.
Finally, that zebra galloped away.

Zero zebras out at play.
Now all the zebra’s are far away.

Jean Warren

Next I read them "Milia's Big Day" which takes them through the day in the life of a young Zebra:

 I had printed and cut out for each of them a Zebra that was missing it's stripes. I put some marbles in a bowl of black washable paint. They taped their zebra print outs in a large container, added the paint covered marbles and covered it up. Then they made their marbles roll around in the containers which painted stripes on their zebras. They all thought it was a lot of fun.

 Taking the top off and revealing the newly striped Zebra.

 I thought they turned out pretty cute.

Then I read them this book about lions.

 And then we made clothespin Lions. (I had these left over from last month when we were learning about L. But since we were doing a Zoo day they fit in just fine!)

Here they are gluing on their orange mane.

My girls completed Lions.

 Next they made Ziplock Zoo Books. I cut out pieces of construction paper the size of ziplock bags. I found pictures of zoo animals and cut them out. I gave them the construction paper, animal pictures and a glue stick and they went to town gluing animals on their papers. Then I stuffed them into the bags and stapled their bags together.

Here's my girls books.

 For a snack we had "Zoo Pops". They are Chocolate covered frozen bananas on a stick.

I made a sugar free chocolate syrup (see the recipe below). Then I sliced the bananas in half width wise. Put each one on a Popsicle stick and dipped it in the syrup. I put them all on a wax paper lined baking sheet and popped them in the freezer. They were a big hit with the kids!

 Chocolate Syrup - Sugar Free

• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1 ¼ cups water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup Honey or Agave

Directions:

1. In a heavy saucepan, combine cocoa powder, cinnamon and water & honey. Stir or whisk until smooth. Stir and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring often. Mixture should be thick and smooth. Cool slightly, then stir in vanilla.
3. Pour into a container or jar with a lid. Cover and store in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
4. To serve, spoon 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls over vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-syrup-sugar-free-177772#ixzz1oNs8joKZ

 After they finished their snacks they played with our Little People Animal sounds Zoo that I had set out for them and our stuffed animal zoo.

They seemed to have a lot of fun today and there wasn't a ton of prep work for me which was really nice!