African Safari

Materials

pictures of safari animals

Instructions

1. Talk about safaris. Explain that many different animals live in eastern and southern Africa and that people visit these areas to see the animals.
2. Show the children pictures of animals typically found in Africa, such as a lion, zebra, elephant, gazelle, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, baboon, cheetah, leopard, crane, vulture, and hyena.
3. Encourage the children to sort the pictures in a variety of ways. For example, the children might sort the pictures into groups of large animals and small animals, striped/spotted animals and solid-colored animals, land animals (lion), and water animals (hippo).

Instructions

Make five dots with fluorescent paint on a sheet of paper. Place a dot 2" from
each corner and one in the center. Make one sheet for each child.
* Allow the paint to dry. Make sure the paint is exposed to enough light to glow
at the end of the activity. Note: Consider using a blacklight to highlight the
fluorescence in the paint.
* Drape some dark fabric over a table to create a dark space to be used to view
results.
What to Do
1. Read one of the firefly stories suggested below. Explain that these insects (also
known as "lightning bugs") flash their lights to locate one another in the dark.
2. Pass out the papers and pencils. Ask the children to find each of the five dots
and turn them into fireflies. To do so, they might draw a narrow loop above
each dot for the body, a circle at the top of the body for the head, and two
additional loops on each side of the body to form the wings.
3. Encourage the children to take turns crawling under the table with their
drawings to see their firefly lights glow in the dark.
Assessment
Consider the following:
* Can the children say how fireflies differ from other insects?
* Are the children engaged while making their firefly drawings?