If you’ve been following my continent/country series, you know I enjoy using both Little Passports and Safari Ltd. TOOBS to add interest to the study of geography. Today, I’m sharing some ideas for using Safari Ltd. animal figures for the study of Australia.
Disclosure: Safari Ltd. gave me the TOOB used to prepare these activities. This post contains Montessori Services affiliate links. My opinions are honest and my own.
For this post, I used the Safari Ltd. Land Down Under TOOB. I’m sharing two simple-to-prepare Australia activities that work well for preschoolers.
The activities in this post would fit in with a Montessori Australia continent box. (Note: I made the background of the collage brown because of the brown Australia on the Montessori world map.) These activities could also be used for a study of Australia before (and after) the Little Passports Australia package arrives.
Printable Keys: Thanks to Kateva from Safari Ltd. for the educational key for the TOOB! Safari Ltd. TOOB keys are very useful not only for simple matching activities, but also as a way for you to keep your TOOBS organized and for older children to use as keys for research or for organizing the replicas in the proper TOOB. If you click on the link, you can save and print out the educational key. In this post, I used The Land Down Under TOOB Key. Note: If you’re looking for more Safari Ltd. TOOB Keys, I have them in these posts: Safari Ltd. TOOB Keys.
Land Down Under Matching Using Safari Ltd. TOOB Key
In the pictured activity, I used The Land Down Under TOOB and TOOB key. This activity is extremely easy to prepare. I just printed out and laminated the page. I used an inexpensive wooden tray from Michaels hobby store and a clear acrylic tray from Montessori Services to organize the animals. Standing the animals on the tray is also a good fine-motor activity for young preschoolers.
If you go over the names of the replicas with your child or students, this is a wonderful language activity as well.
Animals of Australia Map Activity
Again, I used animals from The Land Down Under TOOB, an inexpensive wooden tray, and a clear acrylic tray from Montessori Services to organize the animals. I printed out a satellite map of Australia from Wikimedia Commons.
A young preschooler could just learn the names of the animals and arrange them on the Australia map however he or she chooses. I would probably introduce the animals by naming each one as I placed them in their appropriate place on the map.
Young preschoolers could place the animals on the map without focusing on their exact location. Even if the animals aren’t in the place where they would live in Australia, it’s still a good hands-on activity for identifying the names of animals and the shape of the continent. For older preschoolers, you could mention facts as you place them, such as that the Tasmanian devil is found in the wild only on the Australian island of Tasmania.
If you aren’t already, be sure to follow the continent series at Imagine Our Life for additional continent ideas and free printables. Also, check out Montessori Print Shop’s continent series for lots of helpful extensions for any continent box or study of continents.
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