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Zoo Themed Activities for Kids

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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

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.

Have you read?

Crafts to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year (because it celebrates the time period when several countries gained their independence) and it’s a great time to bring in some Hispanic inspired crafts and foods. For an overview on the celebration, the difference between Hispanic and Latino and the importance of the holiday, as well as a look at Latino art and famous Latinos and Latinas, check out this post and related information from the National Museum of the American Latino.

Spanish Playground has a great collection of craft ideas that you can do in Spanish class or with kids in any class or at home. It includes things like weaving, making mola (folk art from Panama; learn more at Kid World Citizen), doing an artist study of a Hispanic artist and more.  

Crafty Chica has a great collection of crafts, coloring pages and printables for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with kids. I love this coloring page inspired by Amante bark painting, but there are also folk art stamps, corn husk dolls, tile painting ideas and more. 

Papel picado is a classic folk art from Mexico that will feel familiar if you’ve ever made a paper snowflake. Learn how to make them from tissue paper with this video from Hispanic Society Museum and Library. 

Learn more about Hispanic Heritage Month, get recipes and crafts from PBS Kids. I love this Peruvian siku flute, which can be made with old markers or paper straws.

While not exactly a craft, playing loteria (a Spanish language bingo game) is a fun thing to do with a group of kids. Free Kids Crafts has printable bingo cards with basic Spanish vocabulary and images for people who don’t already know these words. 

And if you need a little snack when you’re done crafting, try these no bake mini tres leches cakes from Inspired by Family. They’re made with purchased pound cake so they’re pretty fast and easy. 

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