Zoo Animals Lesson Planning

​Welcome to the Pre-K Printable Fun Zoo Lesson Planning Page!

There is so much to explore at the Zoo! In this fun theme children will learn all about a wide variety of animals and the habitats they live in. 
This is a great opportunity to talk about the importance of taking care of those around us (people and animals alike) and our world. 

On this page you will find ideas for this theme that support Cognitive, Social, Physical Development, Creativity, and Parent/Community Engagement. 

You will also find Book and Material suggestions to add to your learning environment this week. Plus fun ways to use activities from the Pre-K Printable Fun Zoo Preschool Activity Pack

Get a jump start with a FREE sample Zoo Lesson Plan from Pre-K Printable Fun!
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 The activities marked with an asterisk * are Pre-K Printable Fun products that can be purchased below, or downloaded for free inside the Pre-K Printables Club Member Area. Not a member? Find out more here. ​

Zoo Preschool Activities from Pre-K Printable Fun

The Pre-K Printable Fun Zoo Preschool Activity Pack is full of wild learning activities for preschoolers
 
​Use as file folder games, tot trays, or create your own invitation to play using the printables and your own materials!

​Find out more about what's included in this fun pack on the Zoo Activity Pack Description Page
​​
These resources are available FREE to Pre-K Printable Club Members inside the the Member Download Area.

Zoo Activity Pack

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Zoo Dramatic Play Pack

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I Can Sort and Classify Animals

$4.00
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​​Here are just a few of the learning activities that can be found in this pack
This week in your art center add fun Animal Stencils, Scrapbook paper with animal prints, old magazines about animals (National Geographic Kids or Ranger Rick JR. ), craft sticks (for creating animal habitats) and modeling clay for creating animals. 
  • Make animal masks
    • Materials: paper plates, markers or crayons, variety of collage materials, large mirror or small handheld mirrors, and elastic
    • Preparation: Cut out two eye holes in each plate. Poke a hole in each side of the paper plates and attach the elastic (this could also be done upon completion, however children may be anxious to try out their masks and may want to try them on through the process). 
    • Procedure: Consider using a book to lead into this activity. The book My Visit to the Zoo by Aliki shows all kinds of zoo animals. After the activity encourage children to discuss which animal they like to see when visiting the zoo. Talk about the invitation to create animal masks that you have set up. Talk about which animal(s) they would like to create. Talk about the materials they think they may need, retrieve extra materials as needed prior to introducing the activity. While they are creating encourage them to talk about their animal, do they know what the animal eats? what kind of habitat they thrive in? what sound they make? 
    • Follow-Up: Have the children wear their masks during a fun game of Simon Says or to pretend to be different animals during free play.
    • Assessment Opportunity and Parent Engagement: Take a picture of each child wearing their mask to post on a parent display, along with the photograph take a quote from the child saying why they chose that animal. Add both to the child's portfolio. This will be an example of the child's interest, oral language skills, and creativity. Have them write their name on the bottom of the anecdote for a writing sample as well. 
  • Create 3d animals
    • ​Materials: Variety of clean recycled materials such as paper towel tubes, milk cartons, milk caps, yarn, newspaper, small plastic bottles, food cans (with safe edges on tops), and food boxes. Markers, glue, scissors, and tape. 
    • Introduction: This would be a great time to explore a fun Pop-up book about animals. While reading the book you can talk to the children about how the pop-up book looks different from a regular book, invite children to talk about the differences. Tell children they are going to have an opportunity to create their own 3-d art.  
    • Procedure: Be sure that all materials are clean and safe for use by children. Organize the materials on a table near the place where children will be working. Invite children to explore the materials. Encourage them to make a plan before they begin, some children work better just jumping in-it's important to allow them to create how they would like. You can talk to children about what their next step will be as they are creating. 
    • Consider having a place available where children can put their art if they want to come back to work on it the next day. They may need more time or want some of it to dry before moving on. 
    • Follow-up: Students may be interested in extending this activity by creating a habitat for their animal from a box. 
    • Assessment opportunity: Pay attention to how children use scissors, how they grip writing tools, and how much glue/tape they are using for this project. Record results on post-its to transfer to their assessment pages later. 
  • Paint animals with puffy paint
  • If I were in the zoo art
    • Take photos of the children's faces and print. Give each child their photo, allow them to glue onto a large piece of paper. Encourage them to add a body (they can add an animal body or draw their own body, it's up to them!). Next they can add a story about what they would do if they were in a zoo. 
  • Make animal coverings prints with a variety of textures. 
    • Materials: Roll of large white paper, washable tempera paints, bubble wrap (reuse bubble wrap from packages, ask parents to donate any they may have), texture rollers (you could also make your own by attaching rubber bands or using hot glue gun to make patterns on rolling pins), invite children to explore the art center and to bring in items from nature that can make fun prints as well. 
    • Preparation: Lay out the white paper on a table, tape down, if you decide to have each child do their own then cut off sections for them. Place the rollers, bubble wrap and other art tools into small containers for easy access, squirt tempera paint into large shallow dishes so the tools will easily dip inside them. 
    • Procedure: Prior to this activity read a book about animals and talk about the patterns on the different animals. Next, tell children they will be creating some animal prints of their own. As children create their art talk about the patterns you notice in their work. 
    • Variations: For individual projects consider using sturdy paper plates or card stock. Instead of tempera paint explore wax resist art by inviting children to color using crayons and then painting over them with watercolors. 

Related Literacy Activities from Pre-K Printable Fun

When learning all about the Zoo be sure to include plenty of fiction books as well as non-fiction.
There are so many fun fiction books that you can include in your reading center this week. Good Night Gorilla is a fun book that will be sure to elicit giggles from your bunch. I Want to be a Zookeeper is an excellent book to read before introducing a Zoo Dramatic Play invitation!

Book Picks

Z is for Zookeeper by Marie Smith
Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo by Mary Jean Hendrick
My Visit to the Zoo by Aliki
I Want to be a Zookeeper by Dan Liebman
Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire
Zoo by Gail Gibbons
Curious George Goes to the Zoo by H. A. Rey
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
123 to the Zoo by Eric Carle
A Trip to the Zoo by Karen Wallace
A Day in the Life of a Zookeeper by Nate LeBoutillier

Book Picks

  • ​Read 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed to your group. Add felt materials for retelling this story to your felt board. If you do not have a felt board 5 Little Monkeys set you can create them by printing bed and monkey images, laminating, and gluing to felt or velcro. 
    • Variation: print bed and monkey images and attach to magnets for use with a magnet board. 
  • Encourage language skills by playing Zoo Animal 20 Questions. 
  • Practice 3-step directions. Give three directions for children to carry out, children listen to all the directions and then carry them out. "First, roar like a lion. Then, jump like a kangaroo. Next, slither like a snake" (also great for motor development, be ready to jot down notes for assessment)
  • Invite children to create a story about a zoo, they can create a picture and then dictate a story to an adult to record. 
  • Supply clipboards and paper for children to practice writing while engaging in Zoo Dramatic Play activities. 
  • If you take a trip to a zoo be sure to include a zoo scavenger hunt for children to engage in. If you're not taking a trip to a zoo, consider setting up a pretend one in your classroom!
  • Animal Alphabet Sort
    • Materials: Large letters (these can be printed on paper and laminated, stuffed letters, decals....they just need to be big enough to be easily seen) in uppercase or lowercase or both! (whichever your approach is for your classroom), a large variety of animal figures. 
    • Procedure:  Place the letters around the room with space for a small pile of animals near each letter. Place the animals in a large basket and have the children sit around the basket. Have a brief discussion about animals and the alphabet, perhaps read a fun A-Z Animals book! Next, invite the children to sort the animals in the basket based on the letter they start with. Provide support as needed, when children ask what letter an animal starts with ask them to say the animal with you, focusing on the beginning sound. Support them as they figure out which letter the animal begins with. 
    • Note- When children are sorting they may make some mistakes, keep in mind they may be misidentifying the animal or have another name for an animal. For example they may have a dog under letter P for puppy. or they may have a tiger under C for Cat. 
    • Assessment- This is an excellent opportunity to assess their understanding of phonics and letter recognition. If possible, have another adult available or record the session for assessing. You can also have a closing session where the children tell which animals they sorted and why. 
  • Play a fun variation of freeze dance
    • Materials: Fun kids music, large photos of zoo animals 
    • Procedure: Play music, randomly stop the music-when the music stops children land on a photo of an animal, then they act like that animal. 
    • Variation: With each stop of the music give a specific instruction "Make a sound like your animal", "Move like your animal", "State a fact about your animal", "What letter does your animal start with"
  • Add craft sticks into the play dough center for children to create animal habitats out of. 
  • Interlocking blocks, such as LEGO Duplo are excellent for fine motor development. This week add some zoo themed interlocking blocks such as this one. 
  • There are all kinds of games to be played where children can workout their muscles by pretending to be animals. You can challenge them with a fun obstacle course that they complete while pretending to be a particular animal "Do you think it's easier to complete this course as a human, lion, or snake?" Or change up old favorites to be animal themed such as Simon Says, Red Light Green Light, or Mother May I
Science Activities for this theme from Pre-K Printable Fun
  • Make a zebra pattern.
    • Materials: Book about zebras such as Lots and Lots of Zebra Stripes. Black paper plates or paper, white paper plates or paper, glue sticks, black construction paper, white construction paper, and child appropriate scissors. Invite children to cut stripes from. An index card with facts about zebra stripes written on it (or just have them in mind if you have a great memory).
    • Procedure: Read a book about zebra stripes. Ask children if they think zebras are white with black stripes or black with white stripes. Listen to their responses and support their discussion. When they give their responses ask them to explain why they think that and record their answers. Next, invite children to choose either a black base or a white base. Then they can use scissors to cut out stripes from paper in the other color. Next, they can glue the stripes onto their base paper. Once the projects are complete bring the children back together for a closing discussion. Talk about how some scientists believe that zebras are white with black stripes because they have a white underbelly, while other scientists have determined they are black with white stripes because they have dark skin. 
    • Animal Habitat Matching
      • Materials: Large laminated Photos from a variety of animal habitats, consider including desert, rain forests, Ocean, and the arctic. Plastic animals that live in the above habitats. 
      • Procedure: After discussing animal habitats, invite children to engage in sorting and play with  the animals and habitat pictures. Children can begin by sorting the animals into the different zones, provide support by asking questions to help children discover where each animal would live "Camels live in a dry, hot climate, where do you think they might live? Why?"
      • Variations/Follow-up: Help create habitats in the block center for children to play with and sort their animals into. Provide boxes for children to paint and create habitats out of, provide paper copies of the photos of habitats to be glued inside of the boxes. After the activity leave the photos out for the children to use in their daily play. 
    • Explore animal x-rays on the light table. 
  • View live zoo cams like these from the San Diego Zoo
Add Animal Masks, and Costumes to your Dramatic Play Space this week. Consider creating a Zoo in your space with Animal Habitats, and Stuffed Animals. Add plenty of "Zoo Keeper" Dress up items and props. Some Ideas Include : Safari Hats, Rubber Boots, Vests, Buckets, Gloves, and Nets. The Children can practice caring for and feeding the Animals in their Zoo.  Add Animal Signs to this space to encourages literacy.
Club Member Cassandra of Mud pies and Butterflies created this adorable Zoo in her dramatic play space using the Zoo Dramatic Play pack from Pre-K Printable Fun. 
Create a Zoo Dramatic Play Invitation
  • Suggested Materials: Signs for the zoo, stuffed animals, small animal figures, cube shelves or boxes for habitats, pretend food for the animals, safari costumes for staff, checklists, tickets, exhibit signs, zoo map, attractions list, veterinarian station, and clip boards for checklists. 
  • There are lots of math opportunities to be had when exploring animals. Be sure to take the time to talk about patterns on animals, and count stripes or spots. 
  • Place spots and stripes on the walls of the classroom or hide them around your classroom. Children can count the ones they see on the walls or collect them from around the classroom to collect, count, and possibly create!
  • Use Jungle Animal Sorters for a variety of activities in the classroom! Invite students to sort them based on their habitat, skin coverings, what they eat, and more!
  • Find out the different lengths that some zoo animals will grow to be. Invite children to use counting cubes or measuring tape to compare the different lengths. 
  • Marianne Berkes is an author of children's books that has some great books that involve rhyming, numeral recognition, and counting aloud. These books are a lot of fun and they have the added benefit of discussing different animal features and habitats as well. These books are great for this theme and all year round, a must for any early childhood classroom. 
Math Activities included in the Pre-K Printable Fun Zoo Activity Pack
  • Zoo Patterning Activity
  • Sorting Animals at the Zoo
  • Zoo Number Puzzles #1-10 & 11-20
  • Animals at the Zoo Counting Mats
  • Tiger Counting Mats
  • At the Zoo Counting Mat
  • Zoo Animals Count and Clip Cards
  • Giraffe Spot Shape Clip Cards

Create an invitation to build Zoo habitats in your Construction Space this week. In addition to blocks, add Zoo Animals, Different Color Felt to create landscapes, Greenery, Twigs, Popsicle Sticks, Rocks and Books about animals.
  • During this theme there are a lot of natural opportunities to talk about the world we live in! You can include talking about a variety of climates, habitats, and geographic locations. Be sure to point out these things when engaging in activities with the children. Take special note of any locations and topics of interest for further study. 
  • Set up a Zoo Dramatic Play Invitation. At each exhibit hang information that shows where the animal came from. Include the location on a map, and photographs of their natural habitat. 
  • Invite children to help set up small world animal habitats outside, setting them up outside is a great opportunity to include water and other natural elements in the habitats. Include animals for each habitat. Children can learn so much about the world they live in with these little habitats. Engage in play (if invited) to support their knowledge of these habitats using descriptive language and rich vocabulary. 
    • Suggested vocabulary: temperature, moderate, adaptation, erosion, barren, temperate, species, ecosystem, climate, monsoon, tropical, shore, barrier reef, tide, savanna, marsh, tundra, and glacier. 
    • **Teacher Tip: Hang index cards with these vocabulary words near where you have set up invitations to explore them. 
  • Invite someone that works with animals to the program to talk about their work. 
  • Many zoos have live cam feeds that can be viewed. Screen these in advance and show to children, talk about the different habitats that can be seen. 
  • Play the Animal Race game included in the Zoo Activity Pack from Pre-K Printable Fun.
  • Play  animal charades
  • Ask parents if any of them have experience working with animals and if they would like to come to the classroom for a class discussion. 
  • Have the children help transform the classroom into a zoo. Have them draw posters for the zoo, consider having each child set up their own exhibit. Host a family zoo night where families come into the zoo to experience the exhibits. Children can share the information they learned during the Zoo theme study. 
  • Ask parents to send pictures of a visit they made to their zoo to class with their student. Give students an opportunity to talk about their trip to the zoo. 

Materials to Enhance Your Space

Resources from Around the Web

National Geographic Kids
San Diego Zoo

Plan Your Next Theme!