Show students several pictures of animals, plants and non-living objects such as rocks. Ask students to tell you whether a picture contains an animal or not. Most children can find the correct answer easily, but they cannot answer your next question question on why an organism is regarded an animal. Hold the picture of an animal on one hand and the picture of a plant on the other. Explain to children that animals, unlike plants, can move when they want to, respond to sounds and dangers and need other animals or plants to feed themselves.
People have managed to make several animal species become accustomed to their control. These animals live either in farms or at home and are commonly known as livestock -- or farm animals -- and pets, respectively. Bring two cardboard boxes to the classroom. Draw a triangle on one box and a circle on the other. Scatter pictures of wild animals, such as lions, bears and leopards, and domesticated animals, such as cows and dogs, on your desk. Give children thee minutes to place all wild animals on the triangle box and the domesticated ones on the circle box.
During this activity, you must reproduce the distinctive sounds of specific animals. You can either imitate them yourself or use a CD for this task. Children can listen to the sound twice and then use their crayons to draw the animal they believe makes that specific sound. Afterward, reverse the roles and draw a picture of an animal on a sheet of paper. Show students the picture and ask them to imitate the animal's sound.
Preschoolers and kindergartners can't read yet, but you can introduce them to the sounds of certain letters. Make a row of all 26 letters of the alphabet on the board. Also, prepare flashcards of 26 animals -- the name of each animal must begin with a different letter of the alphabet. For example, make flashcards for the ape, buffalo, cow, dog and so forth. Each time you want to introduce the sound of the letter, point at it on the board, lift the corresponding flashcard and ask children to say the beginning of the animal's name aloud.