Animal Games in Nature

Powers of Observation

Children are generally fascinated by the lives of animals and will play animal games with insects and other small creatures without any encouragement from parents. These are their first forays into the world of science and should be encouraged rather than frowned upon. By providing a few items of equipment like a magnifying glass, net and bug catcher your kids can learn to appreciate the animal world without spending their time stomping on ants or squashing bugs.

Powers of Observation
Equipment- Field Guides (can be bought as books or picked up as leaflets on day trips to National Parks), binoculars
Location- Anywhere, but preferably not in the neighbours windows!

Whether you live in the city or the country there is always a diverse range of animals to be found. Each environment has its own distinctive habitats for animals.
By spending quiet time watching animals your children will improve their powers of observation while learning about how animals:
Interact with each other;
Where their homes are;
What they eat;
How they grow;
and What they do while you observe them

Bird Watching
Equipment- Field Guides (can be bought as books or picked up as leaflets on day trips to National Parks), binoculars
Location- Anywhere

Birds are generally timid but are easier to watch than most small animals because they like to be out in the open and have distinctive songs.
You can set up a bird bath, or bird table where your children can watch birds during the day. Different bird species like various foods so try to provide a variety. Some prefer seeds and nuts while others like worms, insects or even small pieces of meat.
The bird pudding below can be adjusted for the time of year. As a christmas treat you might like to use creamed coconut instead of lard.

Recipe for Bird Pudding
Ingredients- Variety of seeds, nuts, breadcrumbs, dried fruit and chopped suet and melted lard.

Have your child mix all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl while you melt the lard. It needs to be softened but not too hot as it need to be kneaded like bread. Once the lard has been poured onto the seed mixture it is ready for kneading, be warned it is very messy! You may even want to do it outdoors. Spoon some of the mixture into yoghurt pots, filling them only 3/4 of the way. Push a length of string on top ( this is what the pudding will hang from) and cover with more of the mixture, pressing down firmly.
Leave it to harden and then it can be hung out for the birds.

Insects
Equipment- Insect/bug catcher, net, magnifying glass, field guide
Location- Anywhere

Children love to watch insects, there are plenty around and they are always busily scurrying about. You can purchase specially made insect bottles which usually come with a net and an insect field guide so that your kids know what it is they are catching. Make sure they use their net, rather than their fingers, to pick up insects or intrude on nests as some do bite or sting, and to stay away from spiders. Once the creatures have been identified and investigated with a magnifying glass they can be safely returned to their habitat.

Snail Ages
Children love watching creatures that they find in the garden, snails in particular because of their slimey trail. Get your children to look closely at snails to count the number of rings on their shell. This tells us how old the snail is. As the snail grows so does its shell, so just like trees, the more rings you can count, the older the snail is!

How Animals Grow
Many animals go through amazing transformations during their life cycle. Tadpoles turn into frogs, caterpillars into butterflies and eggs become birds of all varieties.
You can often find cocoons around your yard or neighbourhood and if you are lucky can see the butterfly emerging from the chrysallis. Tadpoles can be kept at home, as can fish which require some time and patience to breed successfully.

  Related Pages   

Plants and Gardening    Environment and Science

back to Nature Games