Australian Animals Week - Preschool Homeschooling

Given where we live (semi rural area) Mini Miss has seen Kangaroo's since she was born on a daily basis. They are nothing new to her, but suddenly her interest was peaked by watching 2 young males having a fight in our backyard. 

The idea of Aussie Animals week was born.

We started off with something fun, an animal dice game. She rolls the dice, and whatever animal it landed on, she had to imitate...

Jump like a Kangaroo

Fly like a Kookaburra

Climb like a Koala

Snap like a Crocodile

Slither like a Snake

Run like an Emu

I got the idea from House of Baby Piranha. Being a rainy day, this was a great activity to burn off that excess energy a 3 year old builds up. Over a week later and this dice, even after the dog tried to eat it, is being pulled out and played with!

Next we did lots of fun crafts.

We made an Echidna using a printable from HERE, some brown paint and some wooden tooth picks for spines. Mini Miss is still developing her fine motor skills so this was a great activity for that.

Next we did some join the dots to make a Kangaroo. Mind you, I got this off the internet (not sure of the source, for some reason I didn't save its details) and as we did it, it proved to me that its worth double checking these things first. 

Can you find the error?

Then we did a bit of talking about Aboriginal art and the Dreamtime. One of Mini Miss's favourite books is "What Made Tiddalik Laugh" by Joanna Troughton, a dream time story about a giant frog, so this was a great link in to something familiar for her. Then we did our own dot painting. I got the template for the kangaroo & an example of a dot painting from Free Kids Crafts

Next was a Koala craft. We have been focusing on the letter K, so this linked in well with that. I got the craft from Get it done Momma. She decided the Koala needed a sun and some bats. Apparently "the bats were scared by a noise and thats why they were flying at day time when they sleep mummy"

Lastly, to finish off our week of Australian Animals, and our bit of learning about the letters K & L, we decorated an L with gum leaves. Simple, fun activity for a Mini Miss who LOVES all things glue! Firstly she insisted on lining up all the leaves and counting them, and then, because they were different sizes, she grouped them into small, medium and large. All by herself. Great impromptu child led maths! Easy when you have a little miss who LOVES to learn!

 As we complete things that go with our theme week, they go up on our work wall, where our family planner lives too. This encourages retelling of activities, remembering of things we have learnt, and obviously, showing her I am proud of her work!

There was so much more we could have done. But I am using Theme weeks as an introduction to new ideas, new things. Sometimes they will last a week, other times it will be a couple of weeks. Being mostly child led in this learning experience means some flexibility. Also, now Mini Miss goes to Preschool 2 days a week, it means we might need a bit more time to do all the things we want to when it comes to a theme.

This week we are covering Bugs. This has been so much fun, and I guarantee we will still be covering it next week too!