Animal Tracks & Signs

Animal Tracks & Signs

With the recent snow, we put our detective hats on and discussed the many signs that animals have been around...most significant to our lesson this week, animal tracks and prints.

  We looked at many animal prints such as bears, moose, horse, birds, cats, dogs, deer, raccoons, beavers, etc. We compared how different each print looked - size, shape, paws vs hooves. 

We also discussed the many other signs animals have been around you:  scat (poop), fur/feathers, nests, webs, claw marks, holes, dens, remains of eaten food, teeth, bird songs, growls, etc.

We talked about how scientists can learn important information about animals from all the tracks and signs around them.  For example, they can learn what animals eat, where they eat, and the quality of their food from the scat the animal leaves behind.  The kids were surprised by this!

In Centers, we made our own animal track paths, we made tracks in "mud" and "snow", matched animals to tracks, and explored with animals in our insta-snow.

   

 

   

 

Some books we read and explored and others I enjoy: