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We are back with another fun summer themed week….ZOO! From zoo handprint animals to a tasty dessert, we have all the tips and tricks to keep your summer wild and roaring with a speech and language twist. Keep reading to see all 7 zoo themed activities you can do at home!
Looking for more themed activities? Check out our entire week dedicated to all things farm!
Fun Summer Schedule
Each summer I pick nine different themes. Each theme is broken down by day of the week. Then every day has a focused activity to encourage vocabulary development, language in natural contexts, and create hands-on experiences. Here is the daily schedule we will follow for the entire summer regardless of the theme!
- Monday It Monday
- Take A Trip Tuesday
- Water Wednesday
- Thinking Thursday
- Foodie Friday
- Cinema Saturday
- Sensory Sunday
Too many other things going on this summer? Don’t stress! Pick only a couple of activities or do it all. Incorporating vocabulary and language into even just one activity can help increase your child’s retention and application of concepts. Most importantly, just have fun together!
Make It Monday
Nothing says fun like letting your child paint themselves from elbow to fingertip! But we promise it wasn’t that bad! For Make It Monday we made the cutest handprint giraffes. Here is what you need!
- Paintbrush
- White paper
- Yellow paint
- Brown paint dauber
- Black marker
Mandy helped both of her girls paint their fingers, palms and forearms with yellow paint. They gently pressed down on the white paper to make the giraffe’s long neck, body, tail, and four legs. She then painted their thumbs to make the giraffe’s thumbprint head. Once it dried, her girls were able to use the brown paint daubers to make the brown spots. After that, all that was needed was the drawn on eyes and mouth with the black marker.
Be sure to have your kid sign their masterpiece along with the date. We love a good keepsake handprint craft!
Take A Trip Tuesday
Since it was zoo week, we had to visit a zoo! We are very lucky to live relatively close to a very large and well known zoo in the Chicago suburbs; however, any type of zoo visit would be a perfect experience to introduce all kinds of new vocabulary. We visited Brookfield Zoo and had a great time!
It rained the morning we went, but that worked in our favor as the crowds seemed smaller. If you are able to visit this particular zoo, I recommend you pre-purchase tickets as well as any add ons such as the carousel ride and dolphin show. Also, food on site can be a bit pricey so pack a picnic lunch and snacks.
My son’s favorite areas were the butterfly building and Living Coast. Directly outside the Living Coast building is a splash pad. It is the perfect place to cool off after a long day of walking. Just be sure to pack either a swimsuit or a change of clothes! We also loved the Great Bear Wilderness area which is relatively new to the zoo.
On the ride home, there was lots of discussion on favorite animals, the best exhibit, and a return visit soon. We jammed a lot into the day, but wouldn’t have had it any other way!
Water Wednesday
With heat advisories in the Midwest much of the week, we kept Water Wednesday super simple. I busted out a good old fashion sprinkler which happened to be an elephant. I know…perfect, right? Check out which one we used here!
Thinking Thursday
We read a very cute book for our zoo themed Thinking Thursday called Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. Not only did this wordless book fit beautifully with the theme, it provided lots of opportunities for answering WH questions, labeling and identifying zoo vocabulary, and simple narrative retell.
Love this wordless book? We do too! Click here for more wordless books and all the reasons we love them!
For the Thinking Thursday paper activity, my son practiced cutting (which he would literally do all day if I let him!). He cut out different mystery puzzle pieces to make a zoo animal picture. This was the perfect freebie find on TeachersPayTeachers to go along with our zoo theme. Click here to grab a copy of your own from Dream Big Little One Preschool Activities!
Foodie Friday
Homemade elephant ears. Enough said. So. Unbelievable. Delicious. And even easier to make with only four ingredients. See below the list and how we made a great Foodie Friday treat!
Homemade Elephant Ears
- Frozen dinner roll dough
- Cinnamon
- Sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Flour (optional)
I found this recipe on Pinterest via Kristin Sterk’s blog. We did essentially the same thing as her description, but added to flour to our cutting board when rolling out the dinner rolls to avoid them sticking to the rolling pin.
I set the dinner rolls out before lunch and they were ready to be rolled out after for a mid-afternoon snack. I put a little flour on the cutting board as well as a little sprinkle on top of the dinner roll.
After rolling them out, I started to heat the vegetable oil. I filled my pan with about an inch of oil. While it was heating, my son helped me mix the cinnamon and sugar. (I just eyeballed the amounts of each, but didn’t skimp on the sugar!)
Once the oil was ready, I dropped two dinner rolls in at a time and left them in until they started to turn golden brown. When I took them out, I placed them on a plate and my son sprinkled the cinnamon and sugar mixture on top. We let them cool for a moment and then each proceeded to eat two! Seriously sooooooo yummy!
Cinema Saturday
Since the weather was terribly hot this week, it wasn’t a tough decision to relax in the air condition and watch a movie this weekend for Cinema Saturday! We decided on Zootopia. Lots of laughs and many recognizable zoo animals to identify! (We even popped some of our leftover popcorn kernels from last week’s farm theme to enjoy during the movie!)
Sensory Sunday
Ah, I just love a quiet Sunday. How you are wondering!? A zoo themed sensory bin! So many reasons to love a good sensory bin…occupied children being the number one reason, but keep reading for more sensory bin love.
For our fun summer zoo theme, I combined small wild animal figurines, large and small palm leaves, and a bag of colorful poms poms. Eventually some Lego® people acting as zookeepers joined the fun, but that’s why we love sensory bins. There is so much imaginary play and language opportunities in addition to the kinesthetic input.
And that is how we had a wild and roaring good time for our zoo themed week! If you liked this week’s themed activities, be sure to check out our farm themed post too. Stayed tuned for Human Body week for more fun summer ideas!
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Happy Zoo Week, fellow SLPs and mamas!
Talking Mama Bears