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 on this Earth! For this day, we learned all about the oh-so-cool dire wolves! Read on to check out a fun filled day of learning, reading, crafts, and activities all on the ferocious dire wolf!
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’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? These sites have some great quick facts 🙂
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:
- Dire Wolf – The Prehistoric Hypercarnivore with a Powerful Bite – What Was Lost Ep.9 by Ancient Life (5m)
- Were Dire Wolves Actually Real? by SciShow (6m)
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 went with some ‘wolf claw pretzels’. We did plan to make some ‘wolf claw cookies’ but ran out of time. Another day 🙂
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:
- X-Book Ice Age Creatures – Dire Wolves by Ashley Gish
- Dire Wolf by Marc Zabludoff
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, ICE AGE, DIRE WOLF
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 alien from another planet and traveled to Earth during the Ice Age, what would you think would be the purpose of a Wooly Mammoth’s tusks?
- Do you think it would be comfortable having such large tusks as part of your body? Why do you think it works for wooly mammoths but might be uncomfortable for humans?
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!
- How to Make Easy Origami Wolf – A Step by Step Tutorial by The Pink Craft Box
- Coloring Pages (Wolf Coloring Page by iHeartCraftyThings, Dire Wolf Coloring Page by kidadl)
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!
- Eugy 3D Wolf Puzzle
- Compare & Contrast Worksheet
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!
