Zoo Themed Activities for Kids

I read that July 1 is American Zoo Day, but any time is a good time to talk about, learn about and act like zoo animals. Even if a visit to an actual zoo isn’t in your plan for this year, having a zoo day or zoo week at home or at school is a fun way to mix things up and incorporate some animal-related fun.

There are so many great ideas out there for things you can do with kids related to zoo animals, but here are a bunch to get you started!

First, check out a live cam from a zoo so kids can see some of these animals firsthand. The San Diego Zoo has a bunch of great streams, from penguins to hippos to burrowing owls.

Zoo-Themed Printables

I Spy Zoo Animals Printable – Mrs. Merry
Printable Animal Masks – Preschool Play and Learn
Zoo Bingo – Deceptively Educational
Zoo Animals Color by Number Worksheets – Kindergarten Worksheets and Games
Zoo Animals Word Search – Crayons and Cravings
Printable Safari Matching Cards – The Purposeful Nest
Zoo Pretend Play Printables – 123 Homeschool 4 Me

Books and Activities

Check out Pockets of Preschool’s list of 21 zoo themed books for little learners, then find a craft or activity to go with them.

Read Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell, talk about the kinds of zoo animals you might want as a pet and make a super cute monkey snack and other simple craft ideas from Littles Love Learning.

Here’s a writing activity from ABCs of Literacy to go with If I Ran the Zoo. Or have kids design their own animal with this activity from Classy Kinders.

More Ideas

Need more ideas for zoo-themed activities? Natural Beach Living has an A-Z roundup of letter of the week animal crafts (not all are zoo animals), while Happy Toddler Playtime has a great list of sensory bins, animal activities, crafts and more.

Don’t miss the giraffe science experiment from Preschool Powol Packets, or all the zoo animal crafts collected at I Heart Crafty Things.

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Zoo Learning Activities for Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

Zoo-Themed Printables

Books and Activities

More Ideas

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