Pets is a required Eager Beavers award for Investiture in the My Family category. This fun award features cute animals and introduces young Adventurers some of the most popular pets and a few of the responsibilities of pet ownership. I found this to be a shorter award and I expect that most clubs can finish this award in a single meeting.
Story: Pets
Pets by Libby Romero is a pre-level reader. It has a full color photographs of common pets with one or two sentences on each two-age spread. It’s a wonderful introduction to our topic of pets.
Activity: My Pet Needs..
Fulfills Requirements # 2 & 3
Bucky the Beaver: I have a pet.
Teacher: Really?
Bucky: Yep, Lambi* is my pet! I make sure she has a cozy place to sleep, good food to eat and lots of hugs! Did you know different kinds of pets need different kinds of food?
Teacher: That’s right, Bucky. They do. And they have different needs for their places to sleep too.
(*Lambi is our lamb puppet from Little Lambs. Insert the name of whatever puppet/ stuffed animals fits your club.)
I put out one picture of each of the seven pets on a table. I (lightly) hid pictures of the pet supplies (food and a place to sleep) around the room and in the hall outside the classroom. Each beaver could find one set of supplies for each pet and match them to the correct animal. Each card has a colored border so that the kids will be successful in their matches as they learn which food/”bed” goes with each pet.
Craft: Pets
Fulfills Requirement # 1
I used the worksheet from the Eager Beavers Activity book. You can find this food at AdventSource or download the free pdf from Club Ministries. The assignment is to color your favorite pet. My Eager Beavers are super into coloring this year, so I think most of them colored ALL the animals!
Game: Doggy, Doggy, Where’s Your Bone?
This game is in the Eager Beavers Leader’s Guide. I admit I had my doubts about this game. However, it got rave reviews. This kids loved it! I photocopied the bone from the Leader’s Guide and cut it out. The guide recommends you show the kids some dog chew toys. As I don’t have any dog toys, I chose to show them a picture of some dog toys. The picture is in the printable pack for you.
At Home: Help care for your pet for one week.
Fulfills Requirement # 4 & 5
I used the care chart from AdventSource (it’s with the award requirements pdf). This is a simple requirement for families with pets. However, the alternate activity for families without pets can be..onerous. Especially for younger Eager Beavers or busy families. I never want to send home an activity that is going to be a burden. Instead of doing a huge project involving a trip to the pet store and making a budget, we encouraged our families without pets to use their imagination instead. Pick a favorite stuffed animal and pretend to feed it and care for it for the week. I sent home stickers with the charts because stickers make everything more fun!
Story: Dear Zoo
Fulfills Requirement # 6
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell has been a favorite of young kids for over forty years for a reason. Although this book is unlikely to teach your Eager Beavers very much about pets, they will enjoy this silly book about a boy who writes to the zoo to ask them to send him a pet. It’s a fun way to wrap up the award and your meeting.
Extra Story: See How They Grow Pets
If your Eager Beavers are obsessed with babies, they are going to enjoy See How They Grow Pets by DK Books. Photographs follow each of the five pets from birth through adolescence. The text describes what is happening at the various stages of growth. The text to picture ratio is great for pre-k and kindergarten age.
Printables
Do you have a pet? What is your favorite activity to do with your Eager Beavers while learning about pets? Please leave a comment, and tell me about it.