Advanced Animal Guessing
Fire Up Kids' Critical Thinking Skills
ADDED August 05, 2009
Length: Thirty to forty-five minutes
Parental Involvement: Explain the idea. Participate in the thinking and the guessing.
Kids Should Be Able to: Think about aspects of animals. Guess.
We will tell you that today's fun kid activity is a game -- and indeed it is. But there is so much more here lurking beneath the surface. We're really getting kids to look at things a bit differently. Also, today we are going to study the details that make up the bigger picture.
Oh, and we haven't yet announced: today's activity comes with a free download. Click here to get the guessing sheet we've made, then print and go.
Once you've got our free, fabulous activity sheet all printed out, you can explain the concept to your little one.
What you do, basically, is think of an animal. Don't tell anybody which one -- keep it to yourself!
Next, go through the printed form and circle all the attributes that best represent the animal you have in mind. Circle all that apply!
In what kind of habitat would you find this animal? A forest, a farm, or where?
What kinds of foods does this animal eat? Is it a carnivore or omnivore? Or both?
Answer the questions about your animal. (It's easy -- there are only ten questions, and they're all multiple choice.)
It's okay if you don't (or if your child doesn't) know the answer to one or more of the questions. (Just draw a question mark next to any unknown item.) Unless you're a professional zoologist, you might not know each and every characteristic. That's okay! Nobody knows everything. Just try to answer enough questions to give some sense of the particular animal.
Finally, at the bottom of the page, in the box, write and/or draw a picture of the animal you had in mind.
Part two: Have a kid guess your animal
Go through the list, characteristic by characteristic, with your children. Can anyone guess the animal you had in mind?
This is not always simple, I admit it. You do have to really think, both when you're describing your animal by circling characteristics, and when you're trying to guess. But kids do know a lot about animals, and if everyone pays close attention, you can get even tricky ones.
After you've filled out a sheet, print another one and have your kid take a turn. You guess an animal that your child has in mind.
Here are two examples we've done. Can you guess the animals here?
(1) Fur (2) Yes tail (3) No wings (4) Lives in the jungle, the zoo (5) Four legs (6) Carnivore (7) Paws (8) Babies, no eggs (9) Orange, black (10) Nocturnal
Second animal:
(1) Smooth skin (?) (2) No tail (3) No wings (4) Lives in the sea (5) Eight legs (6) Carnivore (?) (7) No feet (8) Babies, no eggs (?) (9) Changes color (10) Not diurnal or nocturnal
I'll post the answers in a few days' time. If you absolutely need the answers sooner, please email me at steve@todayisfun.com.
Please enjoy this activity. And if possible, please don't make me (that's right, me) the "animal" you have in mind, as one of my children did!
(And thank you to wwarby for the animal image above!)
| summer activity, |
Comments
Karina Porras 08-10-2009 08:52Hi!
This is a great idea. We play this game in the car, without the sheet, as a guessing game, as in "I am a land animal, am brown, have four legs and love to eat blueberries, etc." Then each one gets a turn, and it's great for passing time in traffic or lines.
Thanks for all your ideas!
Greetings from Caracas
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