Baby Animals
Nature Buddies
Campers bring a parent, grandparent or a favorite adult to join in the fun of camp. We’ll explore nature through outdoor activities, stories, and much more. This will be a great introduction to our camp program.
Gathering: Kiss Mice
2 Hershey Kisses, pink or red construction paper, pink yarn, small wiggle eyes, tacky glue & scissors.
Cut a small heart shape out of the construction paper and glue it to the flat side of one Hershey Kiss, making sure the rounded ends of the heart stick above the Kiss. Cut about a 1 to 1 1⁄2 inch length of yarn and glue it to the pointed end of the same Hershey Kiss. Now glue the two Kisses flat sides together. You will probably need to hold these together a few minutes for the glue to set. Finally, glue 2 wiggle eyes onto the rounded edge of the Kiss that doesn’t have the tail on it. And you have a yummy mouse!
Circle
Introductions to baby animals. Discuss animals that you might find in nearby parks. Show pictures of babies and the adult animals.
Read A Pinky is a Baby Mouse by Pam Munoz Ryan
Play Where’s My Mom? concentration game.
Use pictures or puppets to match baby to adult.
Outdoors: Animal Search Hike
Go for a hike and encourage children to look for wild animals and their homes.
Craft: Heart Mice
Make a Mom and baby mouse. Cut 2 hearts, 1 larger than the other. Cut the smaller heart along the fold line. These will become the ears. Fold the larger heart. The point of this heart becomes the nose. Glue on the ears, eyes, tail, and whiskers. Use yarn for tail and whiskers.
KinderNature Note
See “Art Experiences in Early Childhood” for current information on Early Childhood Best Practices. Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children encourages the early childhood best practice of providing open ended art instead of crafts. It should be about the process not the product. Therefore, a modification to this craft would be to avoid a pattern and just provide art and craft materials (yarn, colored paper, wiggly eyes, etc.). This results in each project being different and unique.
Snack
Mouse Cookies
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1⁄2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1⁄2 cup peanut halves
- 4 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
- 60-66 pieces red shoestring licorice (2 inches each)
- 1⁄2 cup butter, softened
- 1⁄2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons M&M mini baking bits
In a large mixing bowl, cream peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
Roll into 1-inch ball. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Pinch each ball at one end to taper. Insert 2 peanut halves in center of each ball for ears. Add one M&M baking bits for nose and 2 chocolate chips for eyes.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Gently insert one licorice piece into each warm cookie for tail. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: about 5 dozen.
Activities provided by:
Woodbury County Conservation Board
Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center
Theresa Kruid
4500 Sioux River Road
Sioux City, IA 51109
www.woodburyparks.com

_ 0-1
_ 1-2
_ 2-3
✓ 3-4
✓ 4-5
✓ 5-6
Category: Adult-Child
Iowa Early Learning Standards:
8.2, 8.3, 9.3, 9.4, 10.3, 10.4, 11.1, 11.2, 12.2, 12.4, 12.5, 13.1, 14.3
Other Resources: