All About Animals

All About Animals
Your preschoolers will be wild about these
animal activities!
Literacy
Herd ’em Up!
Herding animals into the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3
Take Along Barn? Turn this into a fun beginningsounds activity! Open the barn and set out the
accessories. Tell youngsters that the girl included
in the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3 Take Along Barn set
needs help rounding up each animal and getting
it into the barn. Then, ask a child to find an
animal whose name begins with the /p/ sound.
After locating the pig, have the child place
the animal in the barn and say, “/p/, /p/,
pig!” Continue with the other animals and their
beginning sounds until each critter is in the barn.
Continue the learning with these activities:
•Have students identify each animal according to its color and put it in
the barn.
•Have students identify each animal according to the sound it makes
and put it in the barn.
•Line up the animals and have students select one to put in the barn
based on its position in the line (first, second, third, etc.).
•Display several animals and play What’s Missing? Students study
the animals and then close their eyes while you hide one in the barn.
Then, they open their eyes and guess which animal is missing.
© 2013 Playmobil®. Text and design by The Education Center, LLC
www.playmobilusa.com
Math Practice
Forest Friends
Use the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3 Forest Animal Park
to help students practice sorting, counting, and
comparing. Set out the animal
park figures and animals and ask
youngsters to sort and group the
figures according to type. After
sorting the items, help students count
the number of members in each
group. Ask questions like “Which
group has the most members?”
and “Which groups have the same
number of members?” After sorting,
counting, and comparing the groups,
invite students to use the park for
independent play.
© 2013 Playmobil. Text and design by The Education Center, LLC
www.playmobil.com
For extension activities,
try the following
suggestions:
•Have students sort each individual group by size.
Then have them identify the sizes and count to see
how many of each size are in the group.
•Have students sort the groups by attributes such as
hair color, clothing color, or gender.
•Use the accessories to make a simple object graph
and discuss the results with students.
© 2013 Playmobil®. Text and design by The Education Center, LLC
www.playmobilusa.com
Critical Thinking
Two by Two
Sharpen youngsters’ listening skills and
activate prior knowledge with the PLAYMOBIL
My Take Along 1.2.3 Noah’s Ark. Remove
the top of the ark and rest the plank against
the side of the boat. Conceal the animals in
a bag. To begin, tell youngsters you have
pairs of animals that are ready to board
the ark. Then, give youngsters clues to help
them guess one of the animals. When a child
guesses correctly, remove the pair of animals
from the bag and have the child walk them
up the plank and onto the boat. Continue
until all the animals are aboard.
To continue the fun, try the following
suggestions:
•Have a child locate each pair of animals
according to the beginning sound of its name
and then place the pair in the ark.
•Invite students to reach into the bag with the
animals and use their sense of touch to find the
matching pairs.
•Set out one of each animal pair. Ask a child to
line up the animals in size order from tallest to
shortest or shortest to tallest.
•Float the ark in your water table for
independent play. Add the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3
Coastal Search and Rescue toy to inspire an
imaginary search-and-rescue scenario.
© 2013 Playmobil®. Text and design by The Education Center, LLC
www.playmobilusa.com
Block Center
New at the Zoo
Highlight fun facts about the rhinoceros with
the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3 Safari Truck with Rhino.
Show students the set, drawing their attention to
the rhinoceros and the two horns on its nose. After
examining the toy rhino, share a few fun facts
about a real rhinoceros. (See the list below.) Then,
place the safari set and the water hole pattern
(scroll down) in your block center and have youngsters build a
zoo with a special enclosure for the rhinoceros. Help students
make a list of rhinoceros facts to post near the rhino exhibit.
Then, review the facts with youngsters and encourage them to
have the zookeeper share the information with visitors.
Fun facts about rhinoceroses:
•They are one of the largest land animals.
•Some types of rhino have one horn on their noses, and
other types have two.
•Rhinos have three toes on each foot. Their front feet
each have a fourth toe that is not used.
•They eat grass, leafy twigs, and shrubs.
•They have been known to live almost 50 years.
•Rhinos are related to a prehistoric animal called the
Baluchitherium (pronounced b -lü-chi-thir’-e-m), which
is believed to be the largest land mammal of all time.
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To enrich and extend the activity, try the following
suggestions:
•Incorporate the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3 Forest Animal Park as part
of the zoo.
•Provide the PLAYMOBIL My Take Along 1.2.3 Noah’s Ark to
use as a special exhibit at the zoo.
•Use the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3 Excavator and the PLAYMOBIL
1.2.3 Truck with Garage to help build the zoo, deliver
food to the animals, and help with zoo maintenance.
•Provide the PLAYMOBIL 1.2.3 Mother with Baby and
Stroller. Model for students how the zookeeper can take
the mother and baby on a tour of the rhino exhibit and
share the rhinoceros facts.
© 2013 Playmobil®. Text and design by The Education Center, LLC
www.playmobilusa.com
www.playmobilusa.com
© 2013 Playmobil®. Text and design by The Education Center, LLC