Zoo Animals

This week the children have been learning about zoo animals. This has been a great theme to cover lots of learning areas.

The children were able to practice their maths skills, counting animals and recognising colours and patterns and discussing sizes.

They tried out their animal movements – waving like a chimpanzee, stomping like an elephant, hopping like a kangaroo and running like a cheetah. All great for keeping them active while learning.

‘Goodnight Gorilla’ and ‘Dear Zoo’ were our two books for the week. The children put on animal masks to act out ‘Goodnight Gorilla’ and took turns to open the parcels which had been sent from the zoo for ‘Dear Zoo’. These activities encourage the children’s love of books and develop their early literacy skills. Asking questions about what has been read to them tests their understanding. During free play the children were able to use these props and resources to explore the books on their own.

Another great activity we did this week was playing the animal listening game. Each child was given a different zoo animal and they had to listen to see if they recognised the animals sound when it was played on the smart board.

Each child also had the opportunity to be creative and make a monkey.

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