#2744. Hibernating animals - Winter

Science, level: Kindergarten
Posted Sun Nov 24 06:11:39 PST 2002 by Allison Archer (atarcher@hotmail.com).
St. Catherine Laboure School, Wheaton, Maryland, USA
Materials Required: shoeboxes, fabric pieces, cotton balls, glue
Activity Time: 1 hour
Concepts Taught: Hibernation

Objective: The children will be able to recognize some hibernating animals and create a "den" for them.

Materials:book, "Time To Sleep", by Denise Fleming
fabric pieces
glue
sticks
pinecones
cotton balls
shoeboxes

Procedure:
1. Read "Time To Sleep".
2. Discuss animals that sleep through the winter. Introduce the word hibernate to mean sleep through the winter.
3. Tell the children that in the art center, they will be creating a "den" or a place for an animal to sleep through the winter. Talk about what they see in the book about where the animals sleep. Talk about what they would like about where they sleep. (soft, warm etc.)
4. The children glue scraps on the insides and outsides of their boxes.
5. When all children have completed a box, encourage them to bring an an animal that hibernates through the winter to hibernate in their box.
6. Creat a "Hibernation Station" with wintery pictures and the boxes with animals inside. The children may write letters to their sleeping animals to read when they are awakened.
7. The animals can be hibernated as long as you like!