Rabbit | Book Play Everyday

It is spring time and Bunny is looking for a home somewhere under something. Along the way he meets several animals but none have a home for a bunny. Finally he meets another bunny and together they find the perfect home for bunnies.

Materials

10-12 animal pictures who live under and above the ground
Cotton balls
Rabbit shape

Vocabulary

Bunny (another name for a rabbit)
Habitat (the different kinds of places that animals live)
Bog (a wet grassy place near a pond)
Burrow (a tunnel underground where rabbits and other animals live)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know what a bunny is. Show them the cover of the book and read the title. Ask them if they know where a good place for a bunny to live is. Tell the children that bunnies usually sleep all day in their burrows and then come out at night. Bunnies can sit so quietly that they hardly move at all. Ask the children if they can sit as still as a bunny.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes. AND 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.

Reading the Story

After Reading the Story

Talk about the different homes in the story and who lived in them (a tree, a bog, a log). Ask the children where people live (in a house, an apartment, a trailer). Ask what kinds of things you find in a people house.

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.

Discovery

Sort animals by those that live under the ground and those that live above the ground.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the finger play, Here is a Bunny

Here is a bunny with ears so funny Hold up 2 fingers like a peace sign

And here is his hole in the ground Make a circle with your other hand

When a noise he hears, he pricks up his ears Stretch bunny ears on hand

And jumps in his hole in the ground Put bunny hand through circle hand

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

Put on some music and do the Bunny Hop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgLL_q5FMCU

Left foot out, left foot out

Right foot out, right foot out

Jump forward, Jump backwards

Jump forward three times.

Creative Arts/Movement; shows growth in moving in time to different patterns of beats and rhythm in music.

Blocks

Challenge the children to make bunny tunnels/burrows.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Art

Cut out simple bunny shape. Put watered glue into bowls and add paint brushes. The children paint the glue onto the bunny shape and then pull cotton balls apart to decorate.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Library and Writing

Ask the children to draw their home. When they are finished, write their address on a piece of paper and encourage them to copy the numbers. The teacher can help write the street name.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Sand and Water

Add dampened sand to the table and dig bunny holes.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Dramatic Play

House play today. This would be a good day to let the children use rags and water to clean the shelves and make the dramatic play area clean and a perfect home for children.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; develops growing capacity for independence in a range of activities, routines, and tasks.

Math and Manipulatives

Let the children build with small blocks or Legos and make homes. Put out small people or animals that they can put inside their homes.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Outdoor Play

Play bunny tag on the playground. The children hop on all fours like rabbits. Put hoola hoops on the ground and the children can hop into their bunny holes where they are safe and can not be caught.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; progresses in physical growth, strength, stamina, and flexibility.

Transitions

Play I’m thinking of an animal. (I’m thinking of an animal that lives in a barn and gives us milk to drink. I’m thinking of an animal that lives in the trees of the jungle and eats bananas and swings from its tail.)