Animals

Young children love to explore all types of living things. Animals are especially exciting because of the ways they move, communicate and interact. And of course, people are also members of the animal kingdom. That means children can investigate themselves as they explore animals! The types of wild animals you and your eight-year-old observe will depend partly on your geographical location and whether you live in a rural, suburban or urban area, but animals are everywhere! What deer, squirrels, birds, turtles, frogs, fish or small critters — such as worms, snails, spiders and insects — will you find in your corner of the world? As you and your child explore animals outdoors, you will observe them interacting with the environment as they move about, look for food and make shelters. You may also investigate pets or farm animals. These explorations lay the foundation for your child’s growing understanding of animals — including people — as living things that grow and develop, that have characteristics, needs and life cycles, depend on an environment that meets their needs and exhibit diversity and variation. Eight-year-olds are increasingly aware that the body parts of different animals perform different functions in survival, growth and reproduction, and that animals and plants depend on one another for their survival. They increasingly understand that animals are adapted to specific habitats — where they can find food and hide from predators, for example — and that their bodies have features, like camouflage, that support their survival in that habitat. They are increasingly aware of diversity — the many different types of animals on earth — and variation — differences among individual animals of the same type — and are increasingly able to generalize about animals. Young children are very sensitive to how their parents and other role models respond to animals. If your child observes that you are scared of dogs or disgusted by worms, for example, they are likely to respond the same way. Of course, you will want to teach your eight-year-old to be safe around wild and unfamiliar animals, but most of the animals your child will investigate — with the exception of biting dogs and stinging insects — pose no threat. You are the best person to help your child become a self-confident and safety-conscious animal explorer.