WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.com

My favorite animal is

You might like to draw a picture of your favorite animal in the box below.

You might enjoy writing a poem

CAT

Every April, we celebrate National Poetry Month. Just like animals, there are lots of different types of poems. One type is an acrostic poem. Try writing an acrostic about your favorite animal. To start your poem, put the letters that spell out its name in the space below.

Then go back to each letter and think of a word, phrase, or sentence starting with that letter. To the left is an example using Eric Carle’s favorite animal, CAT. Remember that this type of poetry doesn’t need to rhyme. Be creative and share your poem!

ats like to curl up with me when I read books.

dorable.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.com Illustration © Eric Carle

oo cute for words.

about .

When Erin Stead wants to see her favorite animal, a penguin, she visits the penguinarium at the zoo. Most penguins live in Antarctica and spend half their time on land and the other half underwater.

Can you draw a picture of your favorite animal and its home? Think about what might be nearby (water, mountains, trees, fl owers) and what other animals might be there, too.

Where doeslive?

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.comIllustration © Erin Stead

Is funny?Lane Smith made a joke about his favorite animal, the elephant. Now it’s your turn to be funny! You can write a knock-knock joke about your favorite animal, write a funny story, ask a funny question and give a funny answer, draw a silly scene, or anything else you can think of. Be creative!

Here’s an example using an elephant:Q. What is the same size as an

elephant, yet weighs nothing?A. An elephant’s shadow!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.comIllustration © Lane Smith

Can you draw the food your favorite animal eats?

like to eat?Peter McCarty’s favorite animal is a bunny. His very favorite, Mr. Hopper, likes to eat

his food out of a ceramic bowl. What kind of food does your favorite animal like to eat?

What else does your favorite animal eat? Circle the food(s) your favorite animal eats:

carrots peas lettuce grass eggs spiders other stuff

string beans bees fl owers fi sh pet food

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.comIllustration © Peter McCarty

What does

My favorite animal is the _________________. This is my favorite animal because I like its

_____________________. It likes to _______________________ a lot, and it loves to eat

____________________. Sometimes the ____________________ can be ___________________,

________________________, or even ________________________. The coolest thing about the

___________________ is that it ______________________________________________________.

The funniest thing about the ____________________ is that it ________________________

_______________________. It lives in _________________ environments and hangs out with

other animals like the ____________________. My favorite thing about the ___________________

is that it ________________________________________________________________. If I ever

have this animal as a pet, I would want to name it ______________________________. noun

noun

noun

noun

noun animal noun

verb or other fact

animal noun adjective

adjectiveadjective

adjective

animal noun

animal noun

insert fact about the animal

insert fact about the animal

verb

Write a tale aboutWrite a tale about

The blue carp is Peter Sís’s favorite animal. In his picture, he drew his blue carp with wings. Can you imagine a fi sh having wings? Does your favorite animal have wings? Do you want your favorite animal to have wings? You get to decide!

You might enjoy writing a story about your favorite animal. Complete the story below by

fi lling in the blanks with the best word based on the part of speech indicated. Once completed, read your story to the class. For inspiration, use your classroom, school, or public library to read books about a variety of animals. Don’t forget to look back at the activities you already completed about your favorite animal, too.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.comIllustration © Peter Sís

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.com

Can you fi nd these animals in the jumble of letters below?

Word Search

Dog

Cow

Horse

Elephant

Bunny

Cat

Penguin

Snake

Giraffe

Snail

O M C Z B Q W E C N N H

X S B S G Y F T Y B I Z

C O W U Y F X M H L U E

G P Y C A Q O Z J O G C

T S C R L N I W T M N A

U P I F Y I A N A V E M

H G T S G N A B C E P R

A P H A V H N U T N Z U

S R O F P N B U L M W S

N Y Z E K E G Z B R F N

A M L J E P D X Q C Y A

I E M J R H O R S E O K

L G Q A C I G V H B I E

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.com

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.com

PENGUINS

CAT

DOG

SNAKE

BUNNY

HORSES

Matching Game

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? by Eric Carle and Friends • Henry Holt An imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group • mackids.comIllustration © Mo Willems, Susan Jeffers, Peter McCarty, Erin Stead, Eric Carle, and Rosemary Wells