OVIPAROUS ANIMALS By Kristen Mason

About – Tearing pieces of paper into little bits can be very time consuming and therapeutic for moms and kids. This is a simple activity to explore one of your favorite oviparous animals.

Torn Paper Art

Supplies -

• Paper {construction paper or card stock work best}

• Glue or glue stick • {Optional} Crayons

Prep Work - Before your children join you set out the paper and glue.

Directions -

1. Demonstrate how to rip the paper into small pieces.

2. Tell your children to think about the shapes that make up the animal. For example, the bird has an oval body, round head, triangle feet, and two oval wings.

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Directions {cont.}

5. Have the kids rip pieces of paper and lay them out on the paper before gluing.

6. Glue the individual pieces down.

7. Add background

details with more paper or crayons.

3. Shake off any excess paper and fill in gaps.

4. Beautiful work!

 

Extensions – Add details of the animal's natural habitat, research the animal to match the colors, make the animal look like it is hatching from an egg or turn your child's artwork into a card for a friend or relative.   © Backyard Summer Camp 2014.  

About – We are learning that Oviparous Animals hatch from eggs. Did you know that eggs have yolks inside? Mom tip: In case your child asks, only fertilized eggs will hatch an animal. In this experiment, you'll be using an unfertilized chicken egg.

An EGGcellent EGGsperiment

Supplies -

• A glass jar • A raw white egg • White vinegar

Prep Work - Before the children join you, make sure you find a glass jar with a mouth big enough to get the egg in and out of. The egg does expand when it's in the jar. A Mason Jar or wide mouth spaghetti jar are perfect.

Directions -

1. Carefully place a raw egg in a glass jar. Pour vinegar into the jar to cover the egg. Let your child watch what happens as you add the vinegar. Small bubbles will cover the surface of the egg! Secure the lid.

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Directions {cont}

2. Let the egg sit for 24 hours.

3. Replace the vinegar after 24 hours and let it sit for 2 more days.

4. Let your child hold the egg and observe what they see. Since the vinegar has eroded the white shell, the egg yolk can be seen from the outside. It's very slippery!

5. Explore the egg outside (because it could break!), try bouncing it and

squeezing it.

Extensions - Compare and contrast a hard-boiled egg and a raw egg in vinegar. The hard-boiled egg in vinegar will actually bounce!

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Extensions {cont} Add food coloring to see if that changes the color of the egg. In a dark room, shine a flashlight to the egg to see if you can identify the parts of the egg. Why does the shell disappear? The shell of an egg is made of calcium carbonate. When the egg is in the vinegar and you see the tiny bubbles, it is the chemical reaction of the acid in the vinegar reacting with the calcium carbonate to produce carbon dioxide. Why does the egg get larger? This happens because some of the vinegar is absorbed in the egg through its semi-permeable membrane.

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About – Today we're measuring with my favorite kind of eggs, jelly bean eggs! Before children even start measuring with a ruler, it's important for them to understand "nonstandard units" of measuring.

Measuring with “Eggs”

Supplies -

• “Eggs” {jelly beans, plastic eggs, hard-boiled eggs, etc.}

• A blank piece of paper • A pencil

Directions -

1. Challenge your child to find 5 things to measure in your house.

2. Talk about the items and write down the name of each one.

3. Make a prediction about how many eggs long it is. Write down the guesses and write an asterisk * next to the longest item.

4. Now measure! Line up your eggs and your item. {We drew a line on our paper

to make sure that my kids had a clear starting point.}

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Directions {cont}

4. Record your data. How many eggs tall was each item?

5. Circle the tallest item. Extensions - Older children may enjoy measuring with the eggs and with a ruler or another type of nonstandard unit {Legos, paperclips, marshmallows}. Children can also use the eggs to create math story problems. For example, if you had 5 red eggs and 3 yellow eggs, how many eggs would you have all together?

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About – Oviparous animals are animals that hatch from eggs. Some walk, others swim, and many fly! This little turtle is sure to delight the animal lover in your home.

Turtle Craft Project

Supplies -

• Paper bowls • Green paper • Green paint {you can mix blue and

yellow together to make green}

• Green or black marker  • Scissors  • Glue or glue gun  

   

Prep Work - Before your children join you, trace the bowl onto the paper for the turtle body. To make sure the arms and legs are equal, make yourself a small template and trace it four times on the paper. Add a head and tail. If the lines are light, trace over them with marker so that your child will easily be able to cut it out.

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Directions –

1. Begin the activity by painting the shell of the turtle.

2. While the shell is drying, cut out the turtle body.

3. Add details to the body, including eyes, nose, mouth and toes.

4. Once the shell is dry, draw a pattern on the shell. It works well to draw it in pencil first and then trace over it in marker. For older children, see extension activities for symmetrical designs.

5. Attach the shell to the body. Have your child place a thin line of glue around

the rim of the bowl. Some children may be comfortable gluing with a low temp glue gun.

6. Admire your work. Well done!

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Extensions - To extend this activity, read a book about turtles. The shells come in many different colors, including brown, black, and olive green. Some shells have spots that are red, orange, yellow, or grey. Turtle shells are symmetrical. Challenge your older children to design a shell where both sides are a mirror image of one another. This project could easily be changed to a sea turtle or one of the 300 types of turtles.

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About – Did you know that butterflies are oviparous animals? They are also symmetrical, which means they're the same on either side.

Butterfly Cookies with Dried Fruit

Supplies -

• Sugar cookies • Icing of your choice • Dried fruit {cranberries, prunes,

apricots, raisins, etc.}

• Pretzel sticks  • Kitchen shears  

   

Prep Work - Before your children join you, set up your workspace with bowls of fruit. It may also be helpful to find some images of butterflies, so that your children can see how their wings are symmetrical.

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Directions -

1. Demonstrate how to cut the fruit in half {with shears} for symmetry.

2. Ice the cookies.

3. Let your child make his own butterfly.

4. Enjoy!

Extensions - See what else you have in your kitchen that could be used for a symmetrical design: shaped pretzels, chocolate chips, marshmallows, fresh fruit, and more. What other types of oviparous animals could you make with dried fruit?

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About – Have you been learning about oviparous animals? It's time to practice the way that they move! Today, you'll be jumping, crawling, and slithering like your favorite animals that

Act Like an Animal!

Supplies -

• {Optional} Plastic eggs • Slips of paper • Space to play

Prep Work - Before your children join you, write down the following phrases on slips of paper:

• Jump like a frog. • Slither like a snake. • Fly like a bird. • Waddle like a duck or penguin. • Low crawl like a platypus or alligator. • Swim like a fish.

Then hide the pieces of paper inside each egg. If you do not have eggs, just fold the slips of paper in half.

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Directions - Version One: Relay Race Put the eggs at one end of the yard and the kids at the other end. When you say, “GO!”, each child will run up, grab an egg, read the activity, and demonstrate it on the way back. Then the next child will go. Version Two: Egg Hunt Hide the eggs around your yard, gather them together, and everyone chooses an egg to perform. Version Three: Charades Open an egg and each kids guess what animal it is. This is perfect for small spaces.

Extensions - Let older children time how long it takes to do an activity. For example, try to set your group's "World Record" for the amount of time it takes to do the relay race. See if the kids can beat their own score. Everyone wins!

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Recommended Books

Flap Your Wings

By P.D. Eastman By the same author who wrote "Are You My Mother?" comes another classic tale of an oviparous animal. Mom and Dad bird decide to raise a baby alligator that hatches in their nest. It's fun to see him learn how to "fly".

The Ugly Duckling By Hans Christian Andersen This childhood favorite is over 100 years old! The journey of an awkward bird who blooms into a beautiful swan.

Platypus! {Step into Reading} By Ginjer L. Clarke and Paul Mirocha The platypus is a fun, uncommon animal to learn about! This non-fiction book is a great place to launch a study of one more oviparous animal, the platypus.

I Wanna Iguana By Karen Kaufman Orloff Has your child ever asked for a not-so-ordinary pet? This boy really wants an iguana. You'll find the negotiations he has with his mother humorous.

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Edward the Emu

By Sheena Knowles and Rod Clement Edward is tired of life as an emu and decides to try being something else. First a seal, then a lion, even a snake! Maybe he likes being an emu after all! There is also a sequel called Edwina the Emu. Edwina and Edward have 10 baby emus!

Pig’s Egg By Katherine Sully An adorable story, very sweet and amusing. Pig feels left out when his bird friends tend their hatchlings, then gets a surprise "egg" of his own.

Guess What is Growing Inside This Egg By Mia Posada This is a fabulous picture book with six animals that hatch from eggs: penguins, alligators, ducklings, sea turtles, spiders, and octopuses. The author engages the reader in a guessing game about each little animal and asks, "Can you guess what is growing inside this egg?"

From Egg to Chicken {How Living Things Grow} By Anita Ganeri This book clearly displays the life cycle of a chicken. It does include the rooster's role. Parent's should preview before reading to their children.

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National Geographic Readers: Sea Turtles

By Laura Marsh The sea turtle is a fascinating animal! They are long distance swimmers and spend their entire lives searching for food and a mate. You'll love the photographs of the turtles.

Owl Babies By Martin Waddell Owls also hatch from eggs! Owls are different from birds because they fly at night. Read to find out how three baby owls awake one night to find their mother gone. {Don’t worry! She's just out hunting.} A sweet book about how much these babies love their mother.

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Frog Pond Bath {Mama Papa Bubba} Walking on Eggs: A Science Experiment {Playdough to Plato} Duck Pond Sensory Bin {Mama Papa Bubba} Oviparous Animal Poem {Mrs. Williamson’s Kinders} Egg Carton Ten Frames {Playdough to Plato} Radish Top Egg Heads {Mama Papa Bubba} Animal Sorting with Easter Eggs {Apples and ABCs} Egg Shaped Yogurt Pops {Mama Papa Bubba}