We Went to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

how about you?  We went to the Buffalo Zoo earlier this week and saw some animals that aren't at our zoo.  They have:

reindeer,

mountain goats,

buffalo,

zebras and

giraffes!

Eva was especially excited about the giraffes.  She couldn't get over how tall they were and has not stopped talking about them.

To commemorate our zoo week, I made Eva her own lift-the-flap zoo while she was taking a rare but much needed nap.  I started out by putting animal stickers on a sheet of card stock.

Next, I placed a sheet of plain white paper over it and traced where the stickers were.  Then I used an exacto knife to cut around three sides of each box.  I added the bars to the cages along with the names of the animals and a road to follow around the zoo.  I glued the white paper to the card stock and- tada!- a zoo.

When Eva awoke she enjoyed her little zoo surprise.

Roooaaaarrrr!

Don't be afraid, the lions here are friendly.  And quite fancy!
We started with pieces for our lion's face that I pre-cut from card stock and construction paper.

Eva glued on the parts using my face as a reference.  As she is going to place each body part on, I ask her where mine is.  For example, "Are my eyes above my nose or below my nose?  Where do you think lion's will be?".  I find this helps guide her without telling her exactly where things should go.  Plus it gets her thinking about directionality (over, under, next to, etc).

When we had all the important parts glued on, I drizzled some white glue around the entire lion's head and Eva stuck on pieces of yellow and orange curling ribbon.  I found it was easiest to cut a long piece of each, curl it and then cut it into little strips.  When he was dry he joined our elephants on display.

My Monkey

Today we made a monkey using different sized circles (and a tail).  I precut the circles and Eva glued them on as we talked about what each body part was and where it would be.  Eva is getting to be quite the pro at using the glue stick but I did have to help a little with the smaller circles.

We also made some snakes with play dough.  I showed Eva how to roll the dough with her palm on the table and with a little assistance she was able to do it.

There was a lot of hissing going on during this and here she is making a snake face:

Mommas and their Babies

Eva has been playing with our new felt animals pretty much non-stop since they arrived.  She loves matching the mommas with their babies and having them talk to each other.  It is so sweet to hear how the moms talk to their little ones.

To continue this moms and babies theme, I decided we would both make handprint elephants.  We started by mixing up some gray paint.

Then I painted Eva's hand and she stamped her handprint on the paper.

Next, it was my turn.

I filled in any big gaps with the paint brush and set the paper aside to dry.  When it was ready, I drew eyes, mouths and ears on our elephants and Eva added some grass for them to walk through.

I love how they turned out and I love that I was able to be a part of this craft with my sweet baby.

Hissssssssssssssss

If Eva had to pick a favorite animal at the zoo, it would be Daisy.  Daisy is a beautiful yellow python and she is a must see every time we go to the zoo.

In honor of Daisy, we made a hanging snake craft.  I started out by cutting out a large circle from a sheet of construction paper.  Then I cut a spiral in it but in hindsight I probably should have waited until after Eva painted it to do so because it made it very wiggly.

Then Eva stamped white spots on it with an old bottle brush.

When she dried, we added eyes and a tongue.  (Did you know snakes don't smell with their noses but use their tongues to smell instead?  We learned that at zoo school on Saturday.)  Isn't she pretty?

We're Going to the Zoo!

This week is all about zoo animals!  We will be reading about them, acting like them and, of course, visiting them.  Yesterday we went to Zoo School at our local zoo and Eva got to meet a snake up close.  Later in the week we will be visiting the Buffalo Zoo when we visit Grammy and Papa.  Lots of animals and lots of fun!

Small Motor Activities
Sticker Zoo- Eva will fill paper cages with zoo animal stickers

Animal Puzzles- I made some simple puzzles using photos we had of animals at our zoo

Large Motor Activities
Walk Like an Animal- we will be mimicking how some of our favorite animals walk (and talk)

Crafts
Circle Snake- we will start by decorating a circle and watch how cutting it a certain way transforms it into a snake

Shape Monkey- what shapes do we need to build a monkey?  you'll have to check back to see!

Handprint Elephant- using Eva's hand we will create a mini elephant or two

Curling Ribbon Lion- this lion's mane will be the fanciest you've ever seen

Learning Activities
Five Monkeys Fun- we will be acting out a few of our favorite monkey songs on the felt board

Feed the Monkeys- each monkey eats a certain number of bananas, so Eva will have to count to make sure they all get the right amount with this felt board activity

Mother and Baby Animal Match- once more we will be using the felt board to match baby animals with their mommies (can you tell I just ordered some new felt board sets?)

Zoo Checklist- we will make a list of animals that may be at the zoo and then check them off as we see them

Books