Teaching young kids about animals

[JoJo 95]

Ok I am a 10th grade student at an agricultural school. My three favorite hobbies are being around animas and nature, teaching kids, and helping make a difference. So I have decided to put these three things together and teach kids about animals. What would be some acceptable activities that would be fun, safe, an educational. I also have a few animals that would be used for hands-on learning. I will definitely have goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, fish, pigeons, and a few turkeys. All of my animals will be docile as to not scare the children. Any advice, tips, or suggestions will be considered.

ETA: my ag teacher says this will be a good S.A.E project

 

[JoJo 95]

 

[CoopCrazy]

I like to do hands on animal progression with kids.. My sons preschool had a blast .. When we brought in fowl I brought a hen, a roo, chicks at different ages, and eggs form the birds. It was cool to see how many knew the right progression.. Then at the same time I brought in Quail and a Frizzle .. i showed that the kids that thier are all kinds of fowl and showed them some of the differences.. another fun one would be to show canlding incubation pics and how the baby forms inside the egg....

 

[JoJo 95]

I planned on doing an incubation project. I also wanted to teach them how the different animals interact with each other

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

I am very glad to see you including pigeons in this. Every year on the 3rd saturday of July, there's a thing around here called Farmer's Day. Main street is filled with tents and stands of people selling anything and everything. Handmade, homegrown, and whatever else they have. Lots of food and music, it's really fun

But my part in it is setting up a pigeon display in the fire department. It's the main place people come in to cool off and take a break from walking, so it's a good spot to set up (and it's free, haha). We have tables set up with show cages, which I try to get as many different breeds in as I can. I used to have a lot of fancy breeds but now I'm mainly into racing homers, so I need to find some other people to help, haha. Anyways, we also have a TV playing pigeon dvds and chairs set up in front of it so people can watch. Another table has examples of trophies, pigeon books, a racing clock, and different kinds of bands. Anyone who stops by I usually offer them a band as a souvenir. I've also got some little info pages I've typed up with interesting facts that people can take. I usually have a lot of success with it. All the kids want to pet the birds, and you should see the looks on their faces. They're fascinated by them. Although a LOT of people around here own chickens (or at least have seen them), not many people raise pigeons anymore. A lot of the people I've talked to didn't even realize there were people who raised them as pets. It's a completely new experience for many of the adults, and all of the kids. By the end of the day, I had a few kids begging their parents to let them have some pigeons

Some people had their cameras taking pictures or video of their children with the birds. It was great.

I'm a rising senior in high school. I think us being kids ourselves make a difference. They see us interested in animals, and it makes them realize they can be too.

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

By the way, it really would make a good SAE project

I could see the story of your project in the FFA magazine.

 

[JoJo 95]

Pigeons are cool. They aren't my favorite domestic bird but they are in the top 5. Do you ship homers?

 

[JoJo 95]

 

[NanaKat]

Besides showing the wonderful docile pets and animals, it might be helpful to show photos of those "critters" the children should not handle. While it would be better to have the real thing....children want to touch and must be taught a healthy respect for scorpions, certain spiders or snakes, and poisonous centipedes.

Children need to learn the difference in what is safe to touch and what isn't. Outdoors is a wonderful place to explore...especially around ponds and rocks on creeks.

We have poisonous orange headed centipedes with irridescent black/green bodies that can grow to 9 inches long. They are so fascinating that the first thing a child wants to do is pick one up. When excited, just crawling across a bare foot can leave burns from the many feet the centipede has.
With our own grandchildren, we captured two of these centipedes for them to see under our supervision. Then they were released back into their habitat.


Good luck with your SAE and hopefully it could lead to a career someday. (My mom was a 5th grade science teacher who had snakes and tarantulas in her classroom.)

 

[JoJo 95]

I haven't thought of that. However that would be a good project as I live in an area with alot of wildlife and could show them plenty of wild animals.