Peek-a-boo! Who's In The Shelter? Science and Drawing

This is a fun project for kids of many ages, especially if they are learning about shelters and habitats and hibernation. This sample was done by my Kindergartener and he had a fun time drawing from photographs (it's too difficult to get a chipmunk to sit still!) and he was able to use the pictures I had on hand to create his own version of the chipmunk, complete with bushy tail (most of the tail is inside the tree).

Peek-a-boo! It's a chipmunk!

Critter In The Hole of a Tree

Supplies Needed:

• One 9" x 6" piece of brown construction paper• Scraps of brown paper• One 9" x 6" piece of black construction paper• One 9" x 6" piece of white card stock• Pictures of the critter you choose• A piece of wood to use for rubbing (make sure it has a nice, raised grain), optional, you could draw the wood grain• Dark brown and/or black crayon• Colored Pencils• Scissors• Stapler with staples

Directions:

1. Choose the critter you'd like to draw. I talked to my son about the types of animals that would live in holes in trees and under the trees among the roots. He chose to draw a chipmunk. I gathered a couple of photos of chipmunks for him to reference.

2. Draw the critter on the piece of white paper. I drew a line on the bottom edge of the white paper about an inch and a half up from the bottom, so that my son wouldn't draw the animal too low (you want to be able to see the critter when the piece is all together). I told him to draw the chipmunk about 4-5" tall (about THIS big, I showed him with my fingers). You don't want to make the critter too small--we need to be able to see it!

3. Color the critter with colored pencils. Use the pictures as a guide to make the colors just like in nature. Cut around the critter, but leave the 1 1/2" border along the bottom edge of the critter. This bottom border is how you'll secure the critter in your project and it boosts him up so he's peeking out of the hole you'll make later. Set aside your critter drawing for now.

4. Place the brown paper on top of the wood surface and secure with tape. Use the edge of the crayon to rub and create the wood grain on the paper. We used our old wooden steps--the texture was just right. My son drew in one of the knots he saw since that didn't transfer well.

5. Cut a U-shaped section out of the wood-grained brown paper from the top edge. This is the flap for your shelter. Set aside for now.

6. Cut some 1/4" wide strips of the brown paper and crumple a few of them in your hands to use for nesting material inside the tree.

7. Assemble the project: Lay the U-shaped piece of construction paper (not the flap piece, the rest of the tree piece) on top of the black rectangle of construction paper. Staple along one side. Place the critter between these two pieces of paper, with the bottom edges of all the pieces of paper lined up an your critter looking out the hole. Staple along the bottom edge of your piece and up the remaining side. This will secure the critter in the hole. Stuff some of the nesting material inside around the opening of the tree. Replace the flap of the brown construction paper back in place and staple across the top edge to secure it to the piece.

Check out who's living in that old tree! What critter do YOU see?

The project with the flap closed--see the woodgrain?

Peek-a-boo!

This is a close-up in case you need it for assembly
or want to check out that cute critter even closer!

Preschool Leaf Exploration

The other day I had a lovely class with a bunch of preschoolers at Peabody Mill Environmental Center. They stop by once a month to learn about science and nature and this month I was asked to teach them about leaves. This is what we did:

Outdoor Activity
We discussed how trees change throughout the seasons. Right now the leaves are very colorful and are falling to the ground since it is Autumn. We went on a leaf hunt and collected interesting leaves. We noticed how leaves can come in different shapes, colors, and sizes. A nice book that tied in with our walk was "Leaf Jumpers," by Carole Gerber. I quickly skimmed the book showing them the different leaf shapes and pointing out the ones that matched the leaves we had collected. We were able to collect red maple, birch, burr oak and regular oak leaves (as well as a couple I could not identify).

Indoor Time:
We discussed the seasons and talked about how trees look different in each season. I read the book "Leaves!" by David Ezra Stein and pointed out the trees depicted in each season. This is a cute book about a little bear who doesn't understand why the leaves are falling off of the tree, but is VERY happy (and reassured) when he sees new leaves in the spring. We were able to tell what season it was in the pictures by looking at the details in the illustrations.

Leaf Critters:
Once we came back inside with our leaves, we glued them to paper. We then added eyeball stickers to them and used a marker to add details such as arms, legs, wings, and/or antennae to make Leaf Critters. A good book that ties in with this craft would be "Leaf Man," by Lois Elhert.

Making Trees of Our Own:
The children also created autumn trees using simple art supplies. This was similar to the project I did the other day with the Kinders at Clark, but I used smaller paper (9" x 12") and traced their hands and had them color the "trunk" and "branches" with crayons. Then they were able to use wine corks to stamp paint "leaves"onto their pictures. They came out very cute and this gave us an opportunity to try some new stuff (stamping/printmaking, tracing, coloring) while learning the parts of the tree and noticing all of those beautiful fall colors.

Additional Activities:
Leaf collecting is fun for little ones--it is nice to see how many different kinds they can find! You can keep the leaves as they are or glue them to pieces of paper to make a leaf book.

Leaf rubbing may be overdone in some people's eyes, but it is fun! One thing I've done (that I saw on Pinterest) is to take a big long piece of paper (from a roll--maybe the piece is about 6' long) and tape it down to the floor or on a long table with various leaves scattered underneath. Show the children how to use the side of a crayon to make a leaf rubbing and the leaves magically appear on the paper. I used newsprint on a roll with great results.

Additional Fall Books: "Why Do Leaves Change Color," by Betsy Maestro is a great book for older children (and for parents to read so that we can answer all of those questions about Autumn!). It is one of the Let's Read And Find Out series of science books. "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf," by Lois Ehlert is also a good one, as is "When The Leaf Blew In," by Steve Metzger (this one is great for cause and effect and a bit of silliness!).

Sing a Song of Autumn: many sites have great songs to get children up and moving. One site I like is  Perpetual Preschool. What a wonderful way to end the day with a song!