We always seem to have great animal encounters on our outings & vacations.
And not just ONE animal. Nope — we seem to see large groups of animals.
A few years ago, we saw moose and big horn sheep on a trip to the Rockies. Then we got an close-up look at bison & elk during our family travels to South Dakota.
And this summer, we swam with sea turtles – it was awesome!
I’m working on some cool sea turtle stuff that will be coming up this Spring because they are such beautiful animals.
During one of our sea turtle encounters, it was interesting to learn that a group of sea turtles is called a bale. And it seems the kids are always keeping me on my toes — “What do you call more than one…?”?
Like, what do you say when you see more than one moose?
“There’s a group of Meeses?”
Ah…, no.
Since inquisitive minds want to know, we did a little research and created some free printable activities featurning our favorite marine and woodland animals.
So if you do some across a group of moose, you’ll know to call them a herd.
I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t something cooler like ‘meeses’ 🙂 but it is nice to know their proper name.
I love this activity because adults can learn as much as kids – who knew that a group of porcupines were called a prickle?
And really – a prickle!
Kind of describes them to a tee if you ask me.
In addition to being fun to learn, understanding the idea of Animal Groups and their names is an introduction to scientific terminology for kids. So instead of saying “Look at that group of stingrays”, kids will know to refer to them as a ‘fever’.
Which opens up the door to discussing that one word can have many definitions.
Use the worksheets to generate some fun dinner conversations or have the kids cut along the dotted lines and match up the animal photo to both its individual and group name.
Groups of Marine Animals printable
Groups of Woodland Animals printable
And believe me when I say it should generate some great discussions!
For example, a group of bears can be called either a sloth or a sleuth. Does that mean we call them a sloth when they hibernate and a sleuth when we see them out hunting for food?
Or how about asking the kids what they think about the name for a group of sharks — it’s called a ‘shiver’.
Yep, in my head I’m thinking … “shark — Jaws — shiver” — makes sense to me!
I hope you enjoy the activity and be sure to swing by next week to see our “What Do You Call a Baby …?” names for baby animals printables too!
We are excited to be part of a SUPER great month-long science series this January! Each day this month, you can find some new science activities and adventures in the A to Z STEM series!
Today’s letter is G — we are hosting the Groups of Animals activity and my friend Natalie is featuring G is for Geeks: Raising Kids Who Love STEM.
Be sure to visit the main STEM activites page at Little Bins for Little Hands to see more than 50+ science, tech, engineering and math ideas for kids!
You might also like:
