Duplicate line drawings of an opossum that show the pouch area. Pass out the drawings and tell the students to color the picture gray with a pink tip on the nose. Give each child 13 light red dried kidney bean “babies” to glue to the pouch area. Staple a piece of gray construction paper to the drawing to make a pouch, leaving enough room for the children to open the pouch and look inside.
Locate rubber stamps of front and rear opossum footprints. Help the children stamp the outlines on an 11-inch by 17-inch piece of white paper. Position the footprints so you have room to trace the child’s bare feet and hand prints nearby for comparison. Have the students color the opossum tracks black.
Help your preschoolers make opossum masks to use during make-believe time. Precut eyes out of white paper plates. Give one plate to each child and have them color the bottom of the plate dark gray. Glue a 5-inch by 3/4-inch strip of pink paper across one side of a 5-inch square piece of light gray or white construction paper. Help the children roll the pink end of the paper square into a cone and tape the seam closed. Staple the nose on the paper plate. Help the students glue pieces of black yarn onto the plate for whiskers. Attach a paint stick for a handle or staple a thin piece of elastic to opposite sides of the mask to hold it on the head.
Duplicate outlines of an opossum and cut them out before class. Tell the children to color the opossums gray with a white face and pink nose. Staple the opossums to craft sticks or paint sticks, depending on the size of the outlines. Let the children play with the opossum puppets. If desired, you can put a small circle of the hook portion of a hook and loop fastener on the back side of the opossum. Make a branch of brown felt mounted on a stiff piece of cardboard to let the children hang their opossums upside down to sleep.