How to Create a Lesson Plan to Help Your Students Learn to Identify Animal Tracks

Learning about animal tracks can be a lot of fun. It is a great way to break up the curriculum especially as we approach the winter season. During the winter months you can search through the snow to see what tracks you can find. During other times of your you can also learn to follow animal tracks but your search methods will need to change. So how can you get started with this lesson plan? Below you will find five tips to get your lesson plan started.

Find animals in your area

To get started you will need to make a list of animals that can be found in your area. For example in most areas, you can find birds, squirrels, and a variety of other animals that will be out during the winter months. This will take a little bit of time, to research but it will be well worth the effort. Once you have found all of the animals in your area, you can get started looking up information on the types of tracks that they make.

A trip to the library

Your lesson plan should also include a trip to the library. This way your child can do a bit of research on their own. Allow them to look for books that show pictures of the different types of animal tracks. During the winter months, you will want to find pictures that show the tracks in the snow and how to find them. Check out some of the books from the library. Or if it you just want the pictures use the library copy machine to get the photos to take home with you.

Plan a field trip

A field trip to your local zoo is another great way to learn all about the animals. The zoo staff should have no problem helping you to identify the animal tracks. Or showing your kids how to spot them. It may save you some time to call ahead and see if they can arrange a guided tour for you and your children catered to the particular topic you are studying. Some zoos are more than happy to do this, especially during the time of year when they have fewer visitors.

Create a track guide book

A small guide book with pictures of the animal tracks that your child can carry in their pocket will be a huge help. You can easily create this guide book using pieces of construction paper, and placing pictures inside of the pocket size book. Be sure to put the name of the animal that leaves the particular track.