Montessori-Inspired Zoo Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now 

I'm so excited today! I have Montessori-inspired activities for a popular theme with young children ... zoo animals. At Living Montessori Now, I have a list of free zoo printables. The free printables include my latest subscriber freebie (a Montessori-inspired zoo pack), which is now expanded to cover additional concepts and a wider age range! 

Here I'm sharing a number of Montessori-inspired activities using the free printables. These are great ways to complement a trip to the zoo ... a perfect warm-weather field trip! 

You'll find many activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities. 

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools. 

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.   

Shelves with Zoo-Themed Activities 

 

My shelves with zoo-themed activities include a free hand-painted printable zoo culture card designed by The Montessori Company. You’ll also find Montessori-inspired zoo numbers and letters (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

The books on my top shelf are all Montessori friendly. They're Zoo by Gail Gibbons, Life-Size Zoo, More Life-Size Zoo, and A Children's Zoo. My 3-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, especially loves Life-Size Zoo and More Life-Size Zoo. Another favorite zoo book that she's loved for a long time is One Gorilla (a Montessori-friendly counting book with fascinating realistic pictures. It's in our book basket). 

I also have a handmade book: Little Letter "Z" Book on the middle shelf.  It uses a free printable: Little Letter "Z" Book from The Measured Mom. Check out my "Simple Easily Rotated Activity to Teach Letter Sounds to Toddlers and Preschoolers" to learn how we use these letter books, which Zoey loves. 

You could mix your zoo-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special zoo area something like the one pictured. My shelves this month have a mixture of skill levels, although they're mainly for 3-5 year old pre-readers. 

You'll find a couple of more advanced activities below. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, just rotate them.

Zoo Culture Card (on Shelf with Life-Size Zoo and More Life-Size Zoo Books)

 

I'm happy to share with you a beautiful hand-painted zoo culture card from The Montessori Company. You can use it on your shelves to introduce a zoo theme. I’m hosting the free printable as an instant download at Living Montessori Now. You can always access the free zoo culture card here. The description says: “At the zoo we can learn about animals from all across the world and see them up close safely.” 

Animal Pattern Matching  

Free Printable: Animal Patterns from Mumma Diaries 

For this activity, I simply used a Montessori Services basket with the printables - super easy! I did omit the cow and ladybug patterns because of the zoo theme. 

For a toddler, it would be wonderful to use this activity with large Schleich animals or Safari Ltd. animals to match each of the patterns. 

Wildlife “I Have, Who Has” Game  

Free Printable: Wildlife “I Have, Who Has” Game from PreKinders 

This was another super-easy activity to prepare. I just used the printable along with a Montessori Services basket. Games like this can be a fun way for children to work together at home or in a classroom. 

Subtract the Animals at the Zoo Free Printable: Zoo Pack Update (part 5) from 3 Dinosaurs. There are also printables for counting the zoo animals (perfect for younger children), adding the zoo animals, and greater than/less than in the pack. For multiple ages, you could have more than one of the printables on the tray. 

For this activity, I used the subtract the animals printable, 10 animals from the Safari Ltd. Wild TOOB, a Montessori Services basket for the animals, and a small bamboo condiment cup for the numbers. 



Zoo-Themed Teen Number Cards with Montessori Bead Bars

 

Free Printable: Zoo Animal Numbers (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

For this activity, I used a piece of felt for a table mat and bead bars from the decanomial box in a Montessori Services basket. (My bead bars, which I love, are from Alison's Montessori. You can get them on Amazon, although I haven't personally used materials from those companies.) 

You could make this into a game by placing the number cards in a stack upside down. Then the child draws a number card and matches the bead bars. 

 

This is a great extension for children who are working on place value using Montessori bead materials. 

Letter Z Object Basket with Mystery Bag and Blindfold Free Printables: Zebra Letters for Letter Z Object Basket (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

I used the "z" sandpaper letter, another tactile letter "z," a magnetic letter "z," a sandpaper numeral 0, a zebra, a zipper, and a laminated photo of Zoey  for the/z/ sound. Zoey has so much fun with this activity!

Using Letter Z Objects with Mystery Bag and Blindfold

If you'd like ideas for teaching phonics, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics post. 

We used a Montessori mystery bag and blindfold for interest and to work on the stereognostic sense. I got the basket, mystery bag, and blindfold from Montessori Services. 

Zoo-Themed Beginning Sounds and Word Building  

Free Printable: Zoo Pack Update (part 6) from 3 Dinosaurs 

Free Printable: My 1" Movable Alphabet (instant download available in manuscript, D'Nealian, or cursive) 

For this activity, I used a Montessori Services basket and a small bamboo condiment cup for the letters. This is a fun hands-on way to focus on beginning sounds and word building. 

I cut out 4 of the easiest words to build. After simply identifying the beginning sound for each picture, the child will have built a word!



Vertebrate Classification with Safari Ltd. Figures Free Printable: We’re Going to the Zoo Unit Study and Lapbook by Ami Brainerd at Homeschool Share 

For this activity, I used a multicraft tray, the pieces from the printable cut apart, and 5 different types of vertebrates. I used figures from the Safari Ltd. Rainforest TOOB plus a fish from the Safari Ltd. Rainforest TOOB. 

Older children could have a number of different species to match while younger children can match figures such as the ones pictured that are obvious matches although not necessarily the same type of fish, bird, etc.



Zoey really loved this activity and enjoyed having me read the different attributes of each classification. 

Zoo Creative Writing Free Printable: Zoo Creative Writing Printables (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

For this activity, I used a multicraft tray, the printables, a pencil, and a pencil sharpener for an added practical life activity. Advanced preschoolers on up can write their own story, while younger preschoolers can dictate a story for you to write. They could use the "Tell about your favorite zoo animal," or "Tell about your trip to the zoo," after a zoo trip. 

More Free Zoo Printables 

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to free zoo printables from around the blogosphere: Free Zoo Printables and Montessori-Inspired Zoo Activities. And be sure to subscribe to my email list if you'd like to get an exclusive free printable each month (plus two more awesome freebies right away): Free Printables. 

More Zoo Activities and Resources at Living Montessori Now

• Montessori-Inspired Zoo Animal Activities
• Montessori-Inspired Zoo Animal Unit
• Farm, Zoo, & Ocean Animal Sensory Bottles for Babies and Toddlers
• Using the Montessori 3-Period Lesson to Teach Vocabulary to a Toddler
• Montessori-Inspired Toddler Vocabulary with Animals and Silhouettes
• Zoo Animal Unit Study Pinterest Board

If you'd like to focus on manners with children, please check out my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy! It's written for anyone who'd like to feel comfortable teaching manners to children ages 2-12. I'm also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!

I hope you have some zoo fun this spring and summer!

Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in San Diego with her husband of 42 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and 3-year-old granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

End of the Year Hullabaloo!

IT'S WILD!!  

IT'S CRAZY!! 

 It's ALMOST the END of the SCHOOL YEAR! 

So much to do!  

Assessments...

Field Trips...

End of the year gifts...

End of the year celebrations...

End of the year picnics...

So little time!

 OH MY!!!! 

 

Hi! I am Carie Ramirez, a very busy kindergarten teacher this time of the year! 

We are getting ready to go on a field trip to the zoo! So we have made some ZOOS  and FARMS of our own! I covered the student's tables with paper and allowed them to draw a zoo or a farm...or both! Whenever they finish with work early or whenever they have free time, they are allowed to draw and color, using marker, crayon, pencil or colored pencil! (many times they do this while I am trying to get some individual assessments dome) THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

  

After the zoo, we will be having our end of the year P.B.I.S. celebration! It is a celebration to reward our students for making good choices by Being Ready, Being Safe and Being Kind (our 3 school rules). Our P.B.I.S. committee works to plan a "field day". There are 10 different stations set up outside in the school yard and inside the gym. Each class rotates from one activity to the next. These activities are activities that the students are familiar with and have done sometime throughout the school year.  We do ask parents to come in an help work the stations. We also get members of the community to come and join in the celebration! 
The stations are:  

1. Scooters 

2.  Bowling 

3.  Hurdles 

4.  Tag 

5.  Shot put 

6.  Basketball 

7.  Bean Bags 

8.  Hula Hoops 

9.  Jump ropes 

                                           10.  Dance (chicken dance, hokey pokey, YMCA)

 The same day of our P.B.I.S. celebration, 15 lucky students will have the chance to put whipped cream in the face of our school principal! This year, we got the student's involved in raising money for Relay for Life. We have a school team where teachers and staff are raising money this year we wanted to go that extra step and get the students involved as well.  We have several cancer survivors on our staff and even have two student survivors in our school this year. So we decided that there was no better time to get our student's involved than NOW! We are having coin wars! Each classroom has a milk jug that they are filling with coins! The three classrooms that raise the most, will get to choose 5 random students each to put whipped cream in the principals face! HOW FUN!!!

We also made a flower box to auction off to raise money for Relay For Life! This is a great auction item but also would be a GREAT end of the year gift for a classroom aide, a parent helper, a grandparent helper or your head room parent!

We will be putting real flowers into the box before we auction it off! 

Then we get ready for our end of the year picnic at a local park. Each year, all ten

of our kindergarten classes head to the park on the last day of kindergarten. We

have a picnic and let the children run and play. Parent's are more then welcome to

come and join their child for the day. Upon our return back, we have an "Autograph

Session". This is where the students gather together in the hallway and get each

others autographs for their Kindergarten Memories Book. The student's love to get

the autographs of each other and of course the autographs of the kindergarten

teachers! 

As we finish up the the 2011-12 school year, we can say...man that was fast, where did time go! But we can look back on the school year and see all of the progress that our students have made in the last 10 months! Both academically and socially! Isn't it great! It is one of the most rewarding feelings! I like to show the students and the parents how much my students have grown too, by putting together a special little kindergarten memory folder of my own. The contents include: Any pictures of the student that I have taken throughout the year, the beginning of the year class book photo page, their name puzzle from our Name unit, the students name magnet that has been hanging on our "Name Wall" all year long, their own personal page that they designed from any class book that we made throughout the year, desk tag, beginning and end of the year self drawing, beginning and end of the year writing samples and their "pick-stick". I share this and send it home with each student on the last day of school!

 So as you end your school year, rejoice and be glad in all that you have done for your students! They appreciate you, their parents appreciate you, and I appreciate you! 

I know some of you were looking for the follow up on my Poetry Blog. I will be posting that at my own blog, so stop on over and check it out at Kindergarten Hugs!