KET's Everyday Science is funded in part by Kentucky Power and the American Electric Power Foundation and PNC Bank.
National K -12 Subject:
Families are our introduction to society. By living and growing within a small connected group, we are prepared for encounters with larger groups within society. Animal families provide a great example of similarities and differences within various family groups.
This resource is part of the KET Everyday Science collection.
Download and ShareFrom the time we are born, we all start the lifelong process of becoming bigger or “growing up.” For human children, the process takes around 18 years. That’s the amount of time we need before we are ready to be on our own. We have a lot of life lessons to learn.
For many animal families, it is a much different experience. A lot of learning is packed into a short amount of time. Mama ducks, for example, teach their young all the lessons they have to learn in just two months. Then they are ready to fend for themselves. A young elephant will stay with her mother for an average of 16 years. That is almost as long as human children. Growing up in the animal world varies greatly from species to species, but one thing is constant: babies need parents to guide and teach them.
In this video, children learn about the ways in which animal families are similar to human families, with parents to care for their young and teach them things they will need to know. They also learn to appreciate the ways in which animal families are different from each other as well as their human counterparts.
Using images from books, magazines, or original drawings from the children, have each child create a family portrait to share with the class before taking home.
Vocabularyfamily, young, children, animal, learn, picture, portrait
1. After the video, talk to the children about families. Ask them to think about their own family and what makes them unique. Tell the children you would like them to create a picture of their own family and share it with the class.
2. Seat the children at tables. Leave them plenty of room to work.
3. Pass out the crayons or the books, or magazines, depending on whether you are doing original drawings, or allowing the children to use scissors to cut out images from books.
4. Have the children create a family portrait with all the members of their family. Encourage them to include pets.
5. After the children have completed their portraits, bring them to a circle time with their portraits. Have each of them tell the rest of the class about their picture and the members of their family.
6. After each child tells the group about their picture, help them hang the picture on a wall in the class.
Loading Standards
Teachers' Domain is proud to be a Pathways portal to the National Science Digital Library.
Background Essay
Print Background Essay
