Colorful Creatures - From a purple peacock to a yellow stripped snake, animals come in every color of the rainbow!

And, many of these colors and patterns exist for very important reasons. Let’s explore the colors of the animal world,

discovering why zebras are black and white and why macaws have bright yellow, red, and green feathers.

Guiding Question: Why do some animals have unique colors and patterns?

Intended Outcomes As a result of the program, what I want my audience to FEEL… 1. Amazed by how different and special animals are. 2. Curious about why some animals have stripes and other patterns. 3. Excited to express themselves and be unique in their own way just like animals!

As a result of the program, what I want my audience to LEARN… 1. Some animals have stripes, spots, and a variety of colors to help them camouflage or hide out in the open. For ex., a zebra’s stripes and a cheetah’s spots help them hide in the grasslands. 2. Some animals have bright colors and patterns to warn other animals to stay away. For example, poisonous frogs and skunks 3. Peacocks have bright feathers to attract other birds.

As a result of the program, I want my audience to ACT by… 1. Looking for patterns in nature around their homes and local parks.

Materials:

Sensory Play: Rice, plastic animals, pom poms, tools

Art Exploration: Paper, sequins, glue sticks

Snack: Pretzels, sugar wafers, frosting, M& M’s, twizzlers

Craft: Paper plates/CDs/coffee filters, feathers, pipe cleaners, sequins, crayons, tissue paper, construction paper

Schedule

ACTIVITY OUTCOMES

Sensory Play:

*Colored rice, colorful plastic animals, colorful pom poms (dyed cotton balls), tools for scooping

(measuring cups, spoons, small cups, kid’s garden trowel & hand rakes, etc.)

Photo source & how-to: https://www.simplisticallyliving.com/rainbow-rice-

sensory-bin/

Art Exploration:

*Draw or print out a fish coloring page and let kids glue on sequins or bits of colored tissue paper.

Free coloring page website: http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/fish

F1, F2, F3, L1,

A1

Story: Bees, Snails, and Peacock Tails by Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins F1, F2, F3, L1,

L2, L3, A1

Snack: Colorful Butterflies

Photo source: https://www.eatsamazing.co.uk/fun-food-for-

kids/creative-food-tutorials/party-food-garden-theme

*This snack can be made in a variety of different ways! Here’s one of our favorite: sugar wafer cookie

body, pretzel wings, frosting “glue”, m&m’s to stick to wings and add color, twizzler antennae.

Alternates can but using celery sticks and cream cheese or peanut butter instead of frosting and wafer

cookies. Or use banana for the body with peanut butter or chocolate frosting!

F1, F2, F3, L1,

A1

Activity: Animal Pattern Matching

*Using the outline below and various patterned scrapbook paper, cut out several animals and have

children match the animal with matching pattern.

F1, F2, F3, L1,

A1

Craft: Peacocks (inspiration photos below found doing a good image search)

Cut out the peacock body for kids using paper or cardboard. Then give kids different options for the

tail depending on what you have available: paper plates, CDs, coffee filters, feathers, leavers, etc.

For feet use: pipe cleaners, twist ties, construction paper, etc.

Decorate with sequins, crayons, tissue paper, wrapping paper, markers, glitter glue, etc.

F1, F2, F3, L1,

L3, A1

Animal pattern for matching game Source: https://www.clipart.email/download/6996052.html