Preschool Nocturnal Animals and Day & Night Themed Activities
On this page you'll find preschool Nocturnal Animals themed activities for your preschool lesson plans.
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Create Owl Puppets
Set out brown paper bags and a variety of shape cutouts for children to create their own owl puppet.
After each child has a puppet learn this 5 Little Owls chant and use the puppets while singing.
After each child has a puppet learn this 5 Little Owls chant and use the puppets while singing.
A Forest at Night Collage
Invite the children to make a forest at night using black construction paper, brown paper for the tree trunks, you can use pom poms dipped in paint for the tops of the trees and invite them to glue googly eyes down! This will look like a forest at night.
Coffee Filter Bats
The child will color their coffee filter, spray them with water and let them dry. When dry, use a black painted clothes pin to hang your bats up.
More ideas
Nocturnal Animal SanctuaryAdd signs and props to your dramatic play stand to create a nocturnal animal sanctuary. Provide animal figurines or stuffed animals, or even printed photos of nocturnal animals. Children can use boxes as the habitats for each animal.
Support children in finding out what each animal needs for their habitat. |
Bat Cave
Turn your dramatic play area into a batcave by building a fort or you can bring in a small tent to cover with a black sheet. Incorporate flashlights as well, the kids will love this one.
More ideas from around the web:
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Include pictures of dens, caves, spider webs and hollow nests. You can bring in loose parts like leaves, sticks, and bark pieces with nocturnal animals to enhance their block building.
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Storytime Activity:
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Nocturnal Animal Writing Tray
Using colored sand and a nocturnal animal word wall cards to have the child practice writing in the tray
Little Owl's Night Book Activity
Read Little Owl’s Night and create a snack to go with: Use a waffle for the body, have them twist open an oreo for the eyes, grab some candy eyeballs to place on top and a candy corn for the nose. Such a fun activity to go with a book.
Flashlight Letter Search
Tape letters on the walls or use environmental print for this activity. Give each child a flashlight and turn out the lights. Search the room for letters using the flashlights.
After Dark: Poems About Nocturnal Animals
by David L Harrison
by David L Harrison
Nocturnal Animals
by Abby Dunne
by Abby Dunne
Forest Bright Forest Night
by Jennifer Ward
by Jennifer Ward
Owl Babies
by Martin Waddel
by Martin Waddel
Flashlight
by Lizi Boyd
by Lizi Boyd
Nocturnal Animal Footprint MatchPrint out photographs of nocturnal animals and the tracks they make. Invite your preschoolers to try and match them up!
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How Many Bats in the Cave?
Place different amounts of black pompoms inside brown paper bags. Have the child remove the pompoms and count how many are in each bag.
More ideas from around the web:
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Night Playdough
Create an invitation to build playdough tray with black playdough, googly eyes, bat or spider cookie cutters. Invite the child to create their own nocturnal animal.
Black Bat Sensory Bin
Create a sensory bin using a filler of your choice such as colored rice, you will dye bow tie noodles black to represent your bats.
Sense of Sound
Some nocturnal animals rely on their sense of sound to get around in the darkness.
Challenge your preschoolers to explore sound with this game.
Sit outdoors with your group, or try this game during a walk.
At random intervals signal children to stop and listen, each time have them listen for something different: loudest sound, quietest sound, something far away, something unfamiliar and then encourage each person to share what they heard.
Challenge your preschoolers to explore sound with this game.
Sit outdoors with your group, or try this game during a walk.
At random intervals signal children to stop and listen, each time have them listen for something different: loudest sound, quietest sound, something far away, something unfamiliar and then encourage each person to share what they heard.
Spider Web Weaving
For this activity you will need a paper plate and white yarn. Cut little triangular notches around the paper plate, these will help hold the yarn in place as children wrap it around the plate.
Cut a long piece of white yarn and tape one end to the center of the plate. Then invite children to wrap the yarn across the plate resting the yarn in the notches as they go.
Cut a long piece of white yarn and tape one end to the center of the plate. Then invite children to wrap the yarn across the plate resting the yarn in the notches as they go.
Porcupine Playdough
Invite the children to create their own porcupine using playdough, googly eyes and toothpicks. Watch those fine motor skills at work when they are carefully placing their toothpicks.
Owl and Opossum Game
Have a conversation about how opossum’s are great at tricking their predators because they play dead. In a large space you can play a game where some students are the owls and others are opossums, have them play dead when their predator comes.
Nocturnal Animals in my Community
Learn about the animals that live in your community. Determine which are nocturnal and which are diurnal.
If you have family or friends that live far away ask them about the animals that live in their community, are they different? the same?
If you have family or friends that live far away ask them about the animals that live in their community, are they different? the same?
Nocturnal Animal Sort
Gather pictures of various animals and have the child sort the nocturnal animals into one category.
Owl Calm Down Strategy
Bats Are Sleeping Fingerplay
Try adding this fun Bats Are Sleeping fingerplay to your activities this week.
Community Engagement
Find out if there are any local organizations that work with nocturnal animals in your area. Perhaps there is a zoo or animal sanctuary or even animal control that can come and speak about the nocturnal animals that live in your community.
Family Engagement
Communicate your upcoming theme with enrolled families.
Sharing about the theme in your program newsletter is a great way for families to understand what their children are learning and expand on the focus at home.
Sharing about the theme in your program newsletter is a great way for families to understand what their children are learning and expand on the focus at home.
Nocturnal Animal Display
Print out (or cut out) B&W images of nocturnal animals, these should be a full-page with one large image on each page. Send home a different animal with each family. Encourage them to decorate the animal at home in any way they choose and then send back to school to display. As a fun extension encourage each family to learn and share a fact about the animal with the class.
This is a great first introduction to completing projects at home and sharing at school. This is becoming a kinder requirement in many places.
This is a great first introduction to completing projects at home and sharing at school. This is becoming a kinder requirement in many places.
Assessment Opportunity
This week offers several opportunities for assessing children naturally as they engage in offered experiences. Here are a few suggestions:
- Math: Classify, sort, & compare based on a common quality (Nocturnal/Diurnal Animal Sorting)
- Language & Literacy: I use new vocabulary (nocturnal and diurnal
- Science & Discovery: I use my senses to explore (Sense of Sound activity)
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Suggested activities for parents to do around their homes to extend the learning and make connections to the topic
