The illustrations help emphasis how baby animals are cared for by their parent. The pictures give children a clear look at what these animals look like and endnotes provide additional details. This book shows that all creatures need food, shelter, love, and family no matter how big or small they might be.

Materials

• Loofa, nail brush, soap to make bubbles
• many gingerbread shapes in several colors
• Baby and parent animal cards

Vocabulary

• Protection (to be kept safe)
• Shelter (a place to go to get out of the weather)
• Caressed (another word for hugged)
• Groomed (cleaned and dressed)
• Family (a group of people who live together)

Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about families.  Explain that every child lives in a family but not all families are the same. Encourage the children to share about their families. (My Mommy and Grandma live at my house with me, I have a Mommy, a big brother who bosses, and my Daddy).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; progresses in understanding similarities and respecting differences among people such as genders, race, special needs, culture, language, and family structures.

Reading the Story

As you read, stop on the pages and allow the children to share any insights of how their parent helps them when they are hungry, protects them from danger, etc..

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions, and for other varied purposes.

After Reading the Story

Pass out the parent and animal pictures.  Go back through the book but this time as you turn the page; ask the children if they know the name of the animal.   The child with the picture can then come up and tape it on the wall.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Discovery

The web site 1+1+1=1 has some wonderful baby and mommy animal cards that can be turned into puzzles. http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/Preschool_Pack_Baby_Animals_PART_ONE.pdf

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantities.

Music and Movement

Remind the children that in the story it said that all parents and babies need to move.  Explain that another word for move could be exercise. Take turns making up exercise moves and doing them to ten. (10 jumping jacks, 10 toe touches, 10 leg kicks, etc.).

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increasing ability to count in sequence to 10 and beyond.

Or give the children scarves and move to the music (can you make a circle over your head with the scarf?  In front of you?  By your feet?  Can you throw the scarf up into the air and catch it?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Blocks

Remind the children that in the story, animals provide shelter for their babies.  Put out any animals that you have and encourage the children to build shelters for them. Do all the animal houses look the same, why/why not?

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem-Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Art

Encourage the children to draw pictures of their family using colored pencils or markers.  Ask them if they would like you to write each family members name under their picture.  As they work, talk about how all families are different and talk about the names of family members (mother, father, brother, sister, younger, older, uncle, aunt, grandparent, cousin).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition.

Sand and Water

Remind the children that in the story it stated that babies need to be groomed, cleaned and dressed.  Put water in the table today along with hard plastic baby dolls that the children can wash.  Add a washcloth and several dish towels for drying. 

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Creative Arts/Drama; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Add bubbles to the water today.  Include a nail brush, loofa, or any other  bathing equipment. 

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, washing hands, brushing teeth, and toileting.

Library and Writing

Put the animal cards into the center today and encourage the children to copy their names onto paper using pencils or markers.  If they want, they may draw a picture to represent the animal.

Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas, to using letter-like symbols, to copying or writing familiar words such as their own name.

Put out magnet letters and the In My Name-Not In My Name cards.  The child picks up a letter and then puts it on the correct side of the page by following the rule at the top.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows that letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Dramatic Play

Remind the children that in the story it stated that animals are part of a family.  Encourage the children to play as a ‘family’ today.  Help them decide on their roles if they cannot do on own.  (Jason, why don’t you be the uncle and Lamar you can be the big brother).

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

If possible, ask the parents to send in pictures of their families.  Put these in page savers and tape to the wall of your dramatic center.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Community; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition.

Math and Manipulatives

Make a bulliten board or designated spot on wall with a sign that says “How many people are in your family”?  On an index card write each child’s name and tape it to the wall/board under the title.  Cut out many gingerbread type people and help the children put the appropriate number beside their name.  Use this board to talk about who has more, or less people. How many people are in your family?  Do you see another child with the same amount?

Mathematics/Number & operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal to.

Outdoor Play

Remind the children that babies grow strong through active play.  Bring out balls today for kicking, throwing, bouncing, and rolling. 

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing balls, and using the slide and swing.

Sing the following lyrics to the tune of to Johnny Pounds. As you sing the verse, the appropriate children run from point A to point B on the playground. 

Who can be a Mommy, a mommy, a mommy.  Who can be a Mommy in a family?

Who can be a daddy, a daddy, a daddy, who can be a daddy in a family?

Who can be an uncle, sister, sibling, auntie, baby, grandparent, cousin, nephew, etc..

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Community; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition.

Transitions

Make riddles using the animals in the story today. “I’m thinking of an animal that has a long neck and spots all over its body”. The child who answers the riddle goes off to the next activity.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Resources