Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals

With daylight savings bringing more darkness to our days, the Mariposa children have been focusing on night creatures. We have a new batch of library books about nocturnal animals. They have been sorting photographs of nocturnal and diurnal animals. We have been coloring, cutting, and pasting to sort them as well. The children who enjoy writing have been practicing writing the names of the animals with dry erase markers. We have a doctor’s office on the patio with patients including a raccoon, owl, hamster, and hedgehog. They are well loved and taken care of! There are lots of play opportunities with miniature nighttime forest creatures for the children to manipulate prompt questions and conversations.

Election Day – Flying Fox Bat Project 

On election day, the children had an opportunity to practice voting! We read about four nocturnal animals and their special adaptations. Each child got to privately vote on which animal we should make for our classroom. We ended up with a tie and run off, finally settling on a bat. After voting, they got a cat sticker and wore it proudly.

We spent two weeks researching, planning, and gathering materials to make our bat. The children decided on the largest bat, a flying fox bat, with a wingspan of five feet! We made it true to size and anatomically correct with straws for bones. Come by and see our giant bat if you haven’t already. When we return from break, we will vote again on a name for it.

Red Fox

Another interesting focus this week, was learning about the places where nocturnal animals sleep and raise their young during the day time hours. We made a fox den on our patio which was warm, cozy, and filled with books and stuffed animals. The children even made red fox masks to wear in the den. We will continue to focus on nighttime creatures when we return before we dive into winter time traditions and celebrations.

VIP Day