Monkeys on the Bed and Caring for Animals

Monkeys on the Bed

This fun rhyming book came with our Mother Goose Time ‘Bedroom’ day. The kids had fun reenacting the story by cutting out monkeys band aids and making monkey beds.

Caring for Animals in the Home

Why I loved this day…

I think every preschool environment could do with some animal activities and safety.

It teaches empathy – when kids are allowed to interact with living things and given responsibilities towards those living things they gain empathy in all aspects of life. This day was a great chance to reinforce how the kids interact with family pets in a way that is positive and safe. Animals are not people and kids need to learn safe boundaries with pets. I believe this is an important skill whether they have animals in the home or not. Your child will be safer around animals if they know how to act.

Bird Puzzle

 

Transition from Circle Time to our bird puzzle activity by doing a 'Bird' dance.

This game combined number matching to shaped pictures and taking turns to build the puzzle together.

Spanish Animal Book

We built this Spanish animal book and practiced reading it out loud several times.

Dog Training

What I loved about this activity is how it blended different skills the kids took turns – leading and acting. One was the trainer and led the puppy exercises, the other got to act and then the roles were reversed.

Afterwards we practiced on our real dog. We talked about positive reinforcement with our household animals and discussed why we don’t play with pets through negative or unsafe behaviors. For example we don’t squeeze our cat or wrestle with our dog even though it may seem fun because when animals get frustrated and feel trapped they will defend themselves in a way that can be unsafe. We also discussed how every member of the household is responsible for teaching positive behavior to our pets. This is why we don’t feed the dog from the table. It is not healthy for them and if they get fed when they beg they will do it all the time.

'T' s turn to train

I loved watching his teaching style. He was patient and would show her each time how to do the behaviour.

Playing a game of puppy obedience with Cooper joining in.

'M' s teaching style is is clear, calm and controlled 

'Cooper, turn around'

Thanks for stopping by. We'd love to hear how you teach animal care and safety at home.

Disclosure: I receive Mother Goose Time Curriculum free of charge for educational purposes in return for posting my honest experiences using the curriculum. Photos of children featured on my blog for review of Mother Goose Time are used with signed consent of the child's parents. I welcome any questions or concerns.