Manual Main Page | Toddlers

Texas Animals: We Are Texans, Too!

Books to Share

• Counting Cows by Woody Jackson.
• Don't Laugh, Joe! by Keiko Kasza.
• Hide and Snake by Keith Baker.
• Let's Be Animals by Ann Turner.
• Listen to The Desert/Oye el desierto by Pat Mora.
• Mockingbird Morning by Joanne Ryder.

Books to Display and Booktalk

• About Birds by Cathryn Sills.
• Alejandro's Gift by Richard Albent.
• La cancion del lagarto / Lizard's Song by George Shannon.
• Mis amigos los animales by David Le Jars.
• "T" is for Texas by Mary D. Wade.

Bulletin Board

Texas Animals: We are Texans, TOO!

Place a Texas map on you bulletin board and place die-cuts or pictures of various Texas animals on it. Write book titles, authors, and call numbers of non-fiction, picture books, and folk tales about Texas animals on or around the die cuts.

Displays

Create a 10" x 10" cross-stitch pillow of Rodeo Armadillo using the pattern on Jan Brett's web site at www.janbrett.com.

Nametag and Stamp

As the children enter the storytime room, give them a nametag made from a die-cut of a Texas animal such as an armadillo, a coyote, a lizard, a longhorn cow, or a snake, and stamp their hands with the Kidstamps' "Snake" by Leo and Diane Dillon.

Counting Rhyme

The Armadillo

(Adapted by Leila Raven Parrish from Mother Goose) (Use the armadillo puppet from Folkmanis to introduce this rhyme.)

One, two, three, four, five,
I caught an armadillo alive;
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
I let him go again.

Story

Read "W: Whooping Crane" from "T" is for Texas by Mary D. Wade.

Crafts

Animals of Texas

(Adapted from Little Hand Big Fun Craft Book by Judy Press)

Materials

• Various colors of poster board
• Texas animal die-cuts
• Scissors
• Markers

Directions

Prepare patterns of various Texas animals on poster board. They may be made from die-cuts. The children choose three animals and the parent or caregiver traces them onto a poster board and cuts them out with ½" tabs extending from the legs. Children decorate the animals with markers. Their caregiver writes the names on each animal and cuts a strip of poster board with small slits that match the tabs on the animals' legs. When the tabs are inserted into the slits, the animals stand upright.

Games and Activities

Animal Sounds

Reread Let's Be Animals and have children make animal sounds and actions.

Armadillo Crafts by Jan Brett

Make a milk carton armadillo, a pie plate armadillo, or learn to draw an armadillo from Jan Brett's web site at www.janbrett.com/activities_pages.htm.

Armadillo Puzzle: A Take Home Activity

Photocopy the armadillo pattern onto 8" x 11" piece of paper, cut it apart and have the toddlers put this simple puzzle together. Option: Enlarge the pattern and color and laminate it for repeated use as a library activity. (This puzzle was adapted from Texas Fun Facts and Games by Mary D. Wade.)

Alphabet Coloring Sheets: A Take Home Activity

Copy the Armadillo Rodeo coloring sheet on Jan Brett's web site at www.janbrett.com/armadillo_coloring_page.htm.

Guest Speakers

Invite a local pet store or nature group to bring an animal native to Texas to toddler time.

Web Site

Free coloring pages
www.freecoloringpages.com

Professional Resources

• The Little Hands Big Fun Craft Book by Judy Press.
• Texas Fun Facts and Games by Mary D. Wade.

Table of Contents | Where is Texas?

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