Welcome to our “Amazing Ice Age Animals Week” – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to learning about animals that once lived during the Ice Age! Some of these creatures may be somewhat familiar to your little ones: they may even have some stuffed animal versions in their rooms 🙂 So, we thought this would be a great week to test out some actual facts vs. what they knew from books and movies!
For this week, we picked a few of our favorite animals AND sprinkled a few lesser known ones that were definitely worth an introduction! It was definitely a memorable week!
Read through to check out our ideas on ways to decorate your camp area, find links to fun & educational videos, books – fiction and non-fiction, writing prompts or story telling ideas, science experiments, food crafts & snacks, and kid-friendly crafts all themed for the week!
DAY ONE: Wooly Mammoth Day
Our week kicked off with arguably the most popular and well known animal from the Ice Age, the wooly mammoth! The wooly mammoth has been featured in many movies, books, and TV shows! So it’s very possible that your little ones already know quite a few facts about these amazing creatures! For this day, we learned all about the wooly mammoths and compared them to what we knew from cartoons and books! Click here to check out full details of the day!
DAY TWO: Ground Sloth Day
Giant ground sloths may not be the most popular ice age animal but you may have seen them in museums or in pictures of other Ice Age animals. These massive creatures were much larger than their modern day counterparts and even left some massive underground caves in some areas! For this day, we learned all about these gentle, giant creatures, caves they left behind, and crafted a few of our own (non-giant) sloths! Click here to check out full details of the day!
DAY THREE: Dire Wolves Day
If you’re a fan of the dragons and fantasy worlds, chances are you’ve heard of the words “dire wolf” before; however, did you know that dire wolves actually existed many many years ago OR that they’re not actually related to wolves? For this day, we learned all about the actual dire wolves that roamed the earth and created a few of our own! Click here to check out full details of the day!
DAY FOUR: Smilodon Day
If your little one has happened to watch some well known movies about the Ice Age, they may already be familiar with the saber tooth cat and/or the term saber tooth tiger. But they may not know that the saber tooth tiger was not actually a tiger at all or that thousands of their fossils were found in a tar pit in California! Fair warning, this day is so full of fun that you’re kids may ask you to take them to California just to see the tar pit! Click here to check out full details of the day!
DAY FIVE: Irish Elk Day
Irish elks may not be featured in many cartoons or movies, but these majestic creatures are definitely worth a close look! They’re mostly known for their massive antlers which can span as much as 3.5 meters! Unfortunately, they no longer roam the earth but they can be found in some museums! For this we day, we learned all about Irish Elks, where they roamed, how large their antlers actually were! Click here to check out full details of the day!
FINISH OFF THE WEEK
If you’re fortunate enough to live close to a museum, they may just have some fossils or exhibits of some of the animals above! If not, there are some very cool cameras or museum videos that you can check out!
Otherwise, there are TONS of family friendly movies featuring some of these amazing ice age creatures! Grab some popcorn, curl up on the couch and test your knowledge 😉
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 Digging Up Dinosaur Discoveries, Prehistoric Sea Creature Week, as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
