In winter, bundle the preschool children into their coats, hats, mittens and snow boots and take them outside to an area where animals make tracks over the property. After a rain, take them out to view animal tracks in mud. Show them the line of tracks and guess what animal made them. From the tracks, guess the size of the animal. If feasible, have someone walk a cat or dog over snow or mud to show how tracks are made. Back in the classroom, show pictures of animals of different sizes, two at a time, and ask the preschool children, "Are the tracks of this animal larger or smaller than this other animal's tracks?" Explain that track size corresponds to animal size.
Show a slide or video presentation of animals and their tracks. Put together a worksheet. Down the left side, show pictures of various animals. Down the right side, show pictures of animal tracks, but not in the correct order. Ask the children to match the animals with their tracks. Or, instead of a worksheet, create sets of cards. One set of cards shows pictures of various animals. The other set of cards shows the tracks the animals make. Make individual sets and pair up children to match animals with their tracks or create large cards and do the matches as a class.
Show how tracks make fun art. Download pictures of a variety of animal tracks. Under each track, add text to identify the animal who made the track. Print out tracks in outline form if possible, with plenty for the preschool children. Let the children use the track images to create pictures by gluing them on construction paper. You can direct the art project by asking them to make connecting circles or other shapes as they color the tracks. You can also have the children draw pictures of a pet or animal. Use the track images to create a frame around the picture.
Ask the children to bring a picture of their pets. For children without pets at home, have them choose a pet they'd like to have. Download a picture of that animal for them from the Internet. Talk about animals and how different animals leave distinct prints when they walk. Show pictures of animals and the tracks they make. Download the tracks of the children's pets, whether these are dogs, cats, horses or a bird. On a piece of construction paper, let the children glue pictures of their pets and an illustration of the type of tracks they make. The heading could read, "My Special Pet." Add the names of both the children and the pets as well as the date. Around the edges of the paper, have the preschool children color in a frame.