Koala Activities for the Classroom

Koalas tend to interest students due to their cuddly appearance and their unusual habits. The fact that they sleep up to 20 hours a day is interesting, as is their practice of eating only eucalyptus leaves and their extremely small size at birth. Incorporating koala games in your classroom can help round out a study on koala bears, Australia or animals in general.

Koalas are approximately the same size as a gummy bear when they are born. After explaining this fact to the classroom, get ready to play the baby koala game.

Physical Education: Koala Game

Divide the class up into two teams. One team gets to be the predators and the other will be the koalas.

Place the koala team in charge of guarding a plate of gummy bears. Each koala also has a small ping pong ball. On "Go," the predators run over and try to steal a gummy bear from the plate. If they get tagged by a ping pong ball, they have to freeze in place. If they managed to get the gummy bear and return to their side, they can eat it. The play continues until all the gummy bears are gone, or all the predators are frozen, then switch sides.


Math: Koala Counters

Bring hundreds of koalas into the classroom with koala counters. These colored plastic animals are helpful in teaching patterns, spatial reasoning and problem-solving skills. There are sets available that include little koala buses that hold 10 koalas at a time. Sudoku koala games are also available that teach logic skills while playing with little koala bears.


Nocturnal Koala Game

Play this active game in a classroom or gym. Choose one player to be the predator, and the rest will line up on one side of the room. The predator has a flashlight. Turn off the lights so that it is semi-dark in the room. Explain that koalas are nocturnal animals and tend to only move at night.

Have the predator turn his back to the koalas. When his back is turned, the koalas can sneak across the room as quickly as possible. The predator can spin around at any moment with his flashlight. If a koala gets caught moving with the flashlight, she has to go back to the wall. The first person to make it across becomes the next predator.

Koala Printables

Print off koala coloring pages, mazes or koala crafts. Use these to help reinforce your lesson on koalas or Australia.


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