The words "Lion and Lamb" can be associated with various adjectives. For example, the month of March starts out fierce, cold, bitter and stormy like a lion and ends up mild, calm and delicate like a lamb. Children can make a calendar for the month of March. Give them printouts of a calendar page for the month of March, along with lion and lamb templates that they can decorate using crayons, markers, pencils, glitter or tissue paper. By making their own calendars, children learn about dates, weeks and months.
Give children printouts of lions and lambs that they can decorate however they like. Hang the lions and lambs up on the wall, with the lions bunched up together on one side and the lambs on the other side. Hang a large calendar up in the middle and cross off the days as the month progresses. As an alternative, have the children make lions and lambs out of paper plates, construction paper, plastic eyes and tissue paper.
Help the children make finger puppets using craft sticks and lion and lamb cutouts. Have them decorate the cutouts, and then glue them to the craft sticks. Teach them the following poem by Lorie Hill:
March roars in like a lion
So fierce, the wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.
The month rolls on
And spring draws near
And March goes out
Like a lamb so dear.
Have the children act out the poem by holding up their lions, making cold gestures and roaring. Next, have them hold up their lamb puppets and make spring sounds such as birds chirping. Have them smile while holding their lambs up to the sun. Children can act out the poem together or take turns acting it out. Instead of using puppets, the children themselves can be the lions and lambs, or they can use lions and lambs made from paper plates. Be sure to choose an even number of lions and lambs. Have the children chosen as lions come out at the beginning of the poem, roar, and then hide, as the lambs gently come out to replace them.
Use paper plates and tongue depressors to make masks for the children. Cut out the center of each paper plate and have the children decorate the rim by gluing on either lion ears and a mane, or lamb ears. For the lion, use felt, tissue paper, pipe cleaners or yarn in orange, brown and yellow colors. For the lamb, use cotton balls. Have the children sit in a circle holding their masks up in front of their faces. Discuss characteristics of lions and lambs, how they relate to the expression, what the expression means and how it relates to the weather.