Share some facts about giraffes with your child. Giraffes eat 18 hours a day. That is all day and part of the night. They only eat leaves from the trees. They do not eat anything from the ground. Giraffes need to bend their knees and spread their legs to drink water. Demonstrate this position. Encourage your child to try it too.
Experts tell us that a zebra is white with black stripes. Provide your child with white paper, strips of black paper and glue. Encourage your child to glue the black strips onto the white paper to make stripes. Here is a short poem to share with your toddler.
Zebra By Pam Schiller
A zebra looks just like a horse,
Except for all those stripes, of course.
I wonder if he’s black with stripes of snowy white,
Or is he snowy white with stripes as black as night?
Review “Welcome to Zippity Zoo” from last week at BrightPath Storytime: https://youtu.be/1x1QPLIjv_A
After listening to the story, talk with your child about giraffes and zebras. Here are a few facts to share, if your child shows interest:
Giraffes are an average of 18 feet tall. Their necks are about 6 feet long. Babies are 6 feet tall when they are born. (Use a piece of string to show this height.)
Zebras are 4 or 5 feet tall at the shoulders. Zebras communicate by braying, barking and snorting. They put their ears back when they are frightened or angry.
Play some music with an African beat for your toddler to dance to. Provide black and white (zebra) streamers, ribbons, fabric scraps, scarves or socks for your child to move creatively with. Below is just one of many recordings that can be found on the Internet. Some include beautiful photography of African life set to music. https://youtu.be/UAjRLgSHdGw
Invite your child to make giraffe spots on yellow paper with brown paint. Use a piece of sponge or place a cotton ball or crumpled paper in the middle of a coffee filter, gather up the sides and secure with a piece of string to make a paint dabber. Your child can use the sponge or dabber to stamp paint spots onto the paper.
https://www.coolmath4kids.com/math-games – Head to this site to find math games for children grades K-6. Games can be chosen by topic and grade. There are also math lessons, quizzes, manipulatives and brain teaser sections.
http://spatulatta.com/ – Take a visit to this site for recipes to get your child cooking.