Welcome to our “Extinct Animal Week” – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to learning about animals that once lived on this Earth! For this day, we learned all about the famous Dodo Bird! Read on to check out a fun filled day of learning, reading, crafts, and activities all on the amazing dodo birds!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 Our relaxed & learning fun day kicks off with an introduction to the day’s theme. Then, we move onto videos and themed activities (reading, writing – or story telling – time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments). Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
If you’ve seen some popular movies or books, there’s a chance that you’re little one has already seen of or is familiar with the Dodo bird. If not, these sites are great for quick facts or intros.
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- Wild Kratts S3E25: Back in Creature Time: Day of the Dodo
- Learn about the dodo and know the reasons behind its extinction by Britannica (2m)
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
For our snack of the day, we “ate like a dodo bird”, heavy emphasis on the quotes 🙂 While no one is certain what dodo birds ate, it’s likely they ate food they found on the ground – seeds, nuts, fruits, etc.. So, we snacked on some seeds & berries though they might not have been the actual ones dodo birds ate.
READING
It’s no secret that reading is an important part of learning, which is why we pick out a handful of books that are fun and filled with some learning tidbits. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned! These are a few we picked from for the day:
- Dodos are not Extinct by Paddy Donnelly. This is an adorable picture book with a mix of facts and fun fiction.
- The Magnificent Book of Extinct Animals by Barbara Taylor. This is a nice non-fiction book with 1-2 pages dedicated to a different extinct animal.
- Dodo: A Brief History by Errol Fuller. This one is for more advanced readers who are looking for a lot more facts.
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing is a great way to keep kids learning by both encouraging their creativity and thought process as well as helping them practice their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: EXTINCT, DODO BIRD
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- If you were an explorer in the 1600s and encountered a dodo bird for the first time, what would you name it?
- Do you think dodo birds could live in today’s world? Would they be common birds that you see all the time or ones you only saw in special places or zoos?
- What types of birds do you think dodo birds closely resemble?
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning!
For our crafts of the day, we gave them a few options that would help them enhance their pretend play or add in some of what they learned:
- Extinct Dodo Bird Unfinished Wood Shape
- How to Draw a Dodo Bird by Art for Kids Hub
- Dodo Bird Coloring Pages by Super Coloring
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for checking out our at home learning fun article! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our Learn and Play: Animal Activities, Nature Camps, as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
