Raising Creative Children » squirrels http://raisingcreativechildren.com Nurturing creative young minds and wiggly bodies Tue, 22 May 2012 15:36:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Squirrels and Woodland Animals http://raisingcreativechildren.com/squirrels-woodland-animals/ http://raisingcreativechildren.com/squirrels-woodland-animals/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:00:06 +0000 Lorelei http://raisingcreativechildren.com/?p=1564 Concepts: Qu, the number 7, the color tan, and the square.

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Squirrels are Fun to Watch

This week, Squirrels and Woodland Animals, your child can learn:

  • A woods or forest is an area with lots of trees and bushes. It often has small rivers of water or a pond.
  • Animals who live in the woods are called woodland animals.
  • The most common woodland animals are rabbits, skunks, squirrels, deer, foxes, raccoons, opossums, chipmunks, turtles, bears, and birds.
  • Small forest animals are frightened by loud noises and people.
  • We should not pollute ponds and streams, as this hurts the animals who live there.
  • We can sometimes see woodland animals if we are very quiet when we walk in the woods.

Watching squirrels can be so much fun! They scurry around, gathering nuts and burying them, getting into our bird feeders, and chattering away as though all the world were listening to them. To introduce this lesson, you might go for a walk with your child and look for squirrels. If it is late in the summer or early autumn, you might find them gathering acorns. Watch one for a while, and see if he eats the acorn, or carries it away to a tree. Tell your child how when winter comes, the squirrel will know where he buried his nuts (some of them, anyway!) and he’ll be able to eat them.

Hamsters Can Be Fun Pets

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Hamsters Can Be a Fun First Pet

This would be a great week to get a pet hamster or gerbil, or borrow one from a friend. Visit the pet store and select the cage and supplies necessary. These furry little animals are fun to watch and easy to care for.

Preschoolers are too young to be responsible for the total care of a pet. They will need to be reminded often, and their actions monitors so they handle the pet with gentle hands. A preschooler can fill a pet dish with food, and may even be able to refill the water dish. They should not be expected to clean the cage, but they can hold and amuse the hamster while an adult or older sibling does the cleaning.

Worksheets for Preschoolers

I will be including worksheets in most of the lessons, which are optional. Some children may be ready for these types of “school” activities. I’m not a big fan of worksheets, and consider them “busy work”. But used in moderation, they can serve a purpose. If your child is not ready for pencil and paper activities, just ignore them.

Feeding the Wildlife

One day this week your child will make a simple squirrel feeder! Squirrels eat nuts, seeds, grain and fruit. Nuts is their favorite food, with sunflower seeds a close second. Unlike bird feeders, squirrel feeders are usually made to make it difficult to get the food. That’s because squirrels are so persistent, they will keep trying to figure out how to get the treats, while birds just fly away. Also, squirrels can be quite wasteful. They might empty a feeder in a day, burying much of what they’ve found.

Depending on where you live, you might find other wildlife you can feed. Farm supply stores often sell large sacks of cracked corn and elaborate dispensers that will drop a measured amount daily, so you can set it up a distance from your house and watch the wildlife through a window. You might see turkey, deer, skunk, rabbits, raccoons and more at your wildlife feeder. In some areas, however, it is not legal to feed the deer, as wildlife management attempts to contain the spread of chronic wasting disease.

Finally, you’ll end the week with reading Laura Numeroff’s popular book, “If you give a mouse a cookie”. That day you and your child can make a batch of your favorite cookies, and eat them with a glass of milk. Maybe you’ll even add a straw.

Five-Star Picture Books for Squirrels Week

Quality Products for Squirrel Week (optional)

Optional Worksheets:

Preschool Lesson Plans:Squirrels and Woodland Animals


If you are new to this site, you may want to read:
Working with the Lesson Plans
Play Areas for Encouraging Creativity
Calendar Activities

Photo Credits:
Top: photo by Gilles Gonthier
Bottom: photo by Kristen C

]]> http://raisingcreativechildren.com/squirrels-woodland-animals/feed/ 0 F is for Fall http://raisingcreativechildren.com/fall/ http://raisingcreativechildren.com/fall/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:58:55 +0000 Lorelei http://raisingcreativechildren.com/?p=1531 2177897657_3ebfe25ea8
Take Your Child on a Nature Hike to Gather Beautiful Autumn Leaves

This week F is for Fall, share the joy and wonder of the changing seasons with your child. Your child can learn:

  • Fall is the season after summer. Autumn is another word for fall.
  • Daylight hours become shorter. Nighttime hours become longer.
  • The weather becomes cooler. It may be time to put away shorts and sandals, and wear long pants, and sweaters.
  • Frost may appear at night or early morning.
  • Leaves begin to change colors.
  • Leaves and nuts begin to fall to the ground.
  • Grass turns brown and dies out.
  • Some birds and butterflies fly south for the winter.
  • Some animals get ready for winter, by gathering nuts or storing food in their homes.
  • Some animals grow thicker coats to help them stay warm
  • Farmers harvest many foods and sow winter crops

Make Your Own Lotto Game

The Joy of Fall Leaves
Repeated in this lesson are directions for making a simple lotto game. Lotto is very similar to bingo, but uses pictures in place of numbers. Children learn to match pictures, making a one-to-one correspondence. It is a great game for the young child, the rules are simple. You can keep the child interested by making multiple lotto games. Use fall stickers to make an autumn lotto. Make a Christmas lotto with Santa, reindeer, holly, and wreath stickers. Make a baby animals lotto, or favorite Disney characters lotto. If you can find it pictured in stickers, you can make a game from it. For the older child, you could use alphabet letters or musical notes for the lotto. There is a lovely animal lotto game for sale in the store.

Go on a Nature Hike

The week activities will start with a nature walk. Stroll around your neighborhood or take a trip to a nearby park. Gather colored leaves, nuts, acorns, seeds, milkweed, or other signs of autumn. You’ll need the leaves, seeds, and twigs for some of the craft projects. Take a bag with you on the hike to carry home your child’s treasures. If you feed the ducks at the park, remember that white bread is NOT nutritious and can harm the ducks. You can buy whole corn or grain for them from a feed mill for probably less than a loaf of bread. Check with your local ordinances though. In some areas, it may be illegal to feed the ducks.

Pick Apples at an Orchard

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Visit an Orchard to Pick Some Ripe, Red Apples
The week ends then with a return trip to the apple orchard. If you did “A is for Apple” earlier, then your child visited the apple orchard this summer. Now you can point out that the apples have turned red (or yellow), although a few green ones might remain. Some apples have fallen to the ground already. Some leaves fall, too. Don’t forget to return to the apple orchard in the winter, to see the bare branches.

Have a great time with your child. And don’t forget to take lots of pictures for your memory album.

F is for Fall lesson plans

Suggested Picture Books for Fall

Why Do Leaves Change Color by Betsy Maestro
It’s Fall by Linda Glaser
How Do You Know It’s Fall by Allan Fowler
Fall is Here! I Love It! by Elaine W. Good
Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell
For the Love of Autumn by Patricia Polacco
Autumn by Gerda Muller
Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur
T is for Touchdown: A Football Alphabet by Brad Herzog

Some interesting Toys and Games for Autumn

Autumn Landscape Roll
Preschool Lotto Game
Melissa & Doug Bear Family Dress-Up
Music for the Nursery
From Caterpillar to Butterfly
Where is Puppy Listening Lotto
Baby Genius the Four Seasons w/bonus Music CD
Sing-Along with Elmo and Friends: Autumn
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

If you are new to this site, you may want to read:
Working with the Lesson Plans
Play Areas for Encouraging Creativity
Calendar Activities

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Photo credits:
Top: photo by Sarah Neville
Middle: photo by Abigail Batchelder
Bottom: photo by Dawnzy58

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