Dear Zoo Book and Toy Gift Set: Lion

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Is it munch munch munch? Or you can search the internet together to find out. What words can they think of to describe each animal?

Collect a range of animal figurines/ toys to match the animals in the book (Lion, Giraffe, Camel, Elephant, Monkey, Snake, Frog, Puppy). As you are reading the book you should introduce each animal toy as you come across them in the story. To support your child’s attention and listening skills, when you re-read the book you should give your child one of the animals and encourage them to hold up the animal when it appears in the book. Another idea for younger children in to model the symbolic noise associated with each animal in the book. As you come across the animals in the book, you should make the associated noise. Place no pressure on your child to copy these noises, but praise him/her if he/she does. After reading the book you can engage in pretend play with your child acting out the animals’ noises and movements. This is a lovely way to develop their pretend play skills. If you love reading zoo animal books with your kids then these are some more we think you might enjoy! Introduce the topic of ‘zoo’ and ‘zoo animals’. Discuss the animals in the book with your child. Explain that these are animals (excluding the puppy) that we find in the wild or in a zoo. Encourage you child to think of other animals they might find in the zoo/ wild. But my daughter really loves this book. And my husband told me to lighten up, get off my high horse and "it's only a kids' book. Don't worry about it." So maybe the lift up flaps are great. And how lovely it would be to have a zoo keep sending you animals on demand. Yeah, ok, it's a fab book.He deliberately ends the book with an uplifting message: a huge, final flap, which reveals that, because “kind people” have looked after the whale, it is thriving in the sea. This zoo small world from Teaching 2 and 3 year olds was originally designed for the book Tuff Spots but I think it works really well as a Dear Zoo activity for kids too. Since he wrote Dear Zoo, he notes that many zoos are now conservation parks and play an important role in wildlife preservation. “The numbers have diminished so much in the wild. But at least we have small populations in zoo-like conditions so, at the very least, we can teach children about them.” Make this cute giraffe finger puppet from I Heart Crafty Things or this paper bag giraffe inspired by Greedy Steve He decided the best way was to write a picture book from the perspective of someone who tries to find their favourite animals, and then discovers there aren’t many of them left. Like in Dear Zoo, which has sold over eight million copies worldwide and is a perennial top-10 picture book in the UK, an animal hides behind each flap of the book and is only revealed when the flap is opened.

But this book has a delightful extra feature. It is a “noisy” book! And I can assure you (because I’ve done this myself) that if you accidentally sit on it, you will find that it might trumpet at you, or chatter like a monkey, or even (and this is a bit scary if you’re not expecting it!) even hiss like a snake! There are loads of fabulous Dear Zoo activities for kids in this post from You Clever Monkey including a lift the flap drawing prompt and animal weighing activityYou can now introduce other sub-categories of animals to your child (e.g. sea animals; farm animals; pets). Go through each sub-category one at a time, encouraging your child to think of animals in each sub-category. He hopes parents will be able to use the book to talk to their very young children about the challenges that endangered species face. For example, they can discuss the simple message that if you don’t look after the wild animals you love, there will be fewer of them in the future. “And if you do, those animals will always be there.” First, decide on the pattern you’d like to make for your snake. We chose three colors, but you could choose however many you’d like! This is a great opportunity to practice making patterns. As he hasn't ruled out one day becoming a zookeeper, Ben found the premise of this book intriguing; a kid writes a letter to the zoo and gets free stuff. Sounds great, right? After all, he's currently unemployed and can't very well buy his own things, let alone afford a pet. Also there's flaps and those always blow his mind. We made this toilet roll dog craft for Valentines Day but it could be easily adapted by not using the hearts.