How can we help to protect animals? Find out about the role of different charities, including zoos, in conserving rare breeds and animals. Explore the tasks of animal keepers and train to be an Animal Protector, learning about suitable habitats, good living conditions and appropriate food and water. Find great opportunities to explore maths about size, volume and patterns.

Session 1 How do we protect?

Objectives

Early learning goals

  • Know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
  • Talk about the features of the immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
  • Make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
  • Sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them.

Lesson Planning

Introduce endangered animals and think about the part humans play in this. Watch a video clip on habitats and endangered animals and find out ways to help. Small world animal sorting, matching fur to animal, painting, using instruments to be different animals.

Teaching Outcomes
To understand the wider world and how they can play their part in it. Understanding that some animals are endangered.

Children will:

  • Understand that animals live in different environments (habitats).
  • Know some animals that are endangered.
  • Understand what these animals need to be safe.
  • Enjoy and learn a song, joining in with the part they know and suggesting changes.

Provided Resources

  • Pictures of endangered animals
  • Close up animal fur pictures

You Will Need

  • Small world zoo and farm animals
  • Hoops
  • Zig-zag books
  • Fiction and non-fiction books
  • Percussion instruments

Session 2 So you want to be an animal protector?

Objectives

Early learning goals

  • Know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.
  • Use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems.
  • Recognise, create and describe patterns.
  • Explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.
  • Know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.

Lesson Planning

Begin training to become an animal protector by learning what we need to be happy and safe and comparing this to what an animal needs. Learn about what foods different animals need. Measure food by weighing, making grape snakes, sorting unhealthy and healthy food and ordering sizes of bowls.

Teaching Outcomes
To develop an understanding about how important it is for us, and animals to eat healthy food.

Children will:

  • Understand that different animals need different foods.
  • Know what a healthy and unhealthy choice is.
  • Use maths knowledge to work out problems involving weight and capacity.

Provided Resources

  • Pictures of animals for children to draw food for
  • Instructions for feeding animals by balancing cubes and oats
  • Healthy/unhealthy food choices sheet
  • Animal pictures for outside measuring of food

You Will Need

  • Sticky labels
  • Balancing scales
  • Sandwich bags
  • Oats
  • Cups to measure with

Session 3 Water training!

Objectives

Early learning goals

  • Know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.
  • Use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems.
  • Explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.
  • Know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
  • Make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

Lesson Planning

Continue with their Animal Protector training and learn how important water is to animals and us. Measure and compare capacities. Order containers, make animal footprints in paint and watch a video clip of elephants learning to use their trunk in water.

Teaching Outcomes
To solve problems involving capacity. To realise how important water is to keep animals and us healthy.

Children will:

  • Learn what we need to keep animals and ourselves healthy.
  • Make estimates about capacity.
  • Measure the capacity of containers.

Provided Resources

  • Instruction sheet for giving water to animals
  • Ordering water bowls sheet

You Will Need

  • Measuring jug
  • Tuff spot
  • Glitter
  • Small world animals
  • Sorting/counting animals
  • Water container
  • Syringes
  • Cups
  • Plastic measuring cylinders
  • Post-it notes
  • Large paper to cover table
  • Paint

Session 4 Habitat training

Objectives

Early learning goals

  • Know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.
  • Try new activities confidently, and say why some activities are liked more than others.
  • Be confident speaking in a familiar group, talk about their ideas
  • Choose the resources needed for chosen activities.
  • Know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
  • Talk about the features of the immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
  • Make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

Lesson Planning

Complete the last phase of the Animal Protector training and become fully qualified protectors. Learn about different habitats and where animals might live. Sort animals into habitats and make their own books.

Teaching Outcomes
To learn about different animal habitats and how they differ from their own.

Children will:

  • Understand that different animals have different habitats.
  • Compare their habitats to an animal habitat.
  • Talk about their learning and feel a sense of pride.

You Will Need

  • Small world animals
  • Tuff spot with resources, e.g. rocks, plastic cups, grass etc
  • Large paper and paint
  • Sticky labels
  • Post-it notes
  • Dolls house
  • Plastic water creatures

Weblinks

There are no weblinks needed for this session.

Session 5 Local animal protectors

Objectives

Early learning goals

  • Show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements.
  • Move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space.
  • Handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.
  • Know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
  • Talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
  • Make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
  • Use what has been learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes.
  • Represent own ideas, thoughts and feelings through, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.

Lesson Planning

Explore local wildlife and act out how the animals might move and travel. Guess the animal game. Create a class dance about these animals. Sketch with detail observations, make salt dough animals, label different animals, find them in non-fiction and guess the animal nose!

Teaching Outcomes
To name animals which are local to their environment. To use movement to explore these animals.

Children will:

  • Understand which animals live in our country and what makes them unique.
  • Name some British animals and move like they would.
  • Create observational sculptures and sketches.

Provided Resources

  • Large pictures of different British Wildlife animals
  • Small pictures of different British Wildlife animals
  • Salt dough recipe
  • Close up pictures of noses

You Will Need

  • The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
  • Small world animals
  • Pots
  • Salt dough ingredients (water, flour, salt)
  • Possibly cooker/microwave

Weblinks

There are no weblinks needed for this session.

Session 6 Save our wildlife!

Objectives

Early learning goals

  • Play co-operatively, taking turns with others.
  • Take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise an activity.
  • Talk about the features of the immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
  • Make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
  • Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

Lesson Planning

Watch a video about British wildlife and their habitats. Discuss local changes that may have affected their local wildlife. Transform the outside classroom into a wildlife area and become local animal protectors by planting wild flowers, making hedgehog homes, bird food and ponds!

Teaching Outcomes
To understand how they can play their part in helping local wildlife and look after their environment and the things in it.

Children will:

  • Combine knowledge to make a suitable animal habitat.
  • Understand how important it is to look after our local environment.
  • Choose resources for different jobs.

Provided Resources

This session does not need any provided resources.

You Will Need

  • Extra adults
  • Sand timer
  • Resources to make animal habitats, e.g. straw, hay, stones, cardboard boxes, newspaper, other junk modelling
  • Oranges
  • String
  • Bird food
  • Melted lard/solid vegetable fat
  • Tyres
  • Pond lining
  • Stones