Crafts are a useful medium for students to demonstrate what they know about an animal without words. Have your students make a zebra craft by tracing around one of their feet on white paper. Ask them to draw the nostrils and mouth of a zebra on the heel end of the foot and the eye near the middle. On the toes end, have them add an ear and give them black construction paper to make stripes to glue on. Shred black paper into thin strips for the mane.
Study the family structure of zebras and talk about students' own families. Be sensitive to students whose families may be nontraditional, but discuss the ways in which a zebra herd is different from human families. Find similarities between the two as well, such as the young need food and protection in both types of family. Make family trees of zebra families and the students' families; this can be as simple as a few lines on a piece of paper connecting individuals, or it can be as elaborate as a large construction paper tree with real photos.
Talk with your students about what a folktale is and explain that some animals have stories about prominent attributes. Read the story "How the Zebra Got His Stripes" to the students, or have them read it to each other. Assign them to make up alternative endings to the story. Use the story as a springboard to discuss why zebras really have stripes and show them pictures of zebras using their stripes to blend in on the savannas. As a class, make a savanna on a bulletin board using tall construction paper grasses and plants and "hide" construction paper zebras in it.
After discussions of the main things all animals need to survive, such as food, water, shelter and space, assign students to create a 3-dimensional project that shows a zebra in a habitat with everything it needs. Allow students to choose their own medium, such as clay or paper mache, or assign the project as a shoebox diorama. Remind students that zebras need a herd to belong to as well.