Talking about different kinds of pets is a way to promote observation skills. Read stories about different types of pets, such as, dogs, cats, mice, birds and fish. Use the stories to talk about what different kinds of pets can do, for example, some pets can hide in pockets, others can climb trees. Compare different body shapes. Let children draw their favorite pet and ask them to place the drawings into different groups, such as, pets with tails, claws or wings.
Baby pet animals often mesmerize preschoolers. Learning what baby pet animal parents look like is a fun way to promote understanding about life cycles. Use magazines and let children cut out baby pets and their parents. Glue different baby animals and their parents on a large tag board. Use the pictures to talk about how different baby animals can look from their parents. Teaching preschoolers to care about pets is a way to increase their understanding that other living animals and humans have different needs. Talk about how you care for a baby pet and what they eat.
Preschool maths activities should encourage children to count and explore numbers in everyday situations. Counting the number of legs or spots on pets is a fun way to learn about differences and similarities among pets and to promote the development of number skills. Use postcards or pictures from the Internet. Look for pictures of pets with features that are easy to count, such as, spots or stripes. Ask children to make two dogs and bog bones out of play dough or clay. Tell them to share the bones and give the dogs an equal number of bones or give one dog more bones than the other dog.
Have a pet toy week where children are invited to bring their stuffed teddy bears, dogs and dragons. Let children show their pet toy and talk about their toys, for example, say their pets' name and describe the pet. Use the pet toys to talk about how you could care for different pets. Make up a care story where you write a line about each pet toy and include ideas about how to care for the pet. Use rhymes to help children remember the story.