Animal Matchmakers

What pets do you feed, walk, or groom? Izak, who lives in Lapland, takes care of a reindeer! Match animals with owners and their responsibilities while you make and play this game!

• 1.

  Who cares for pets or raises animals? Read books such as<U> Izak of Lapland</U> by Maya Angelou to learn more about people who care for animals. Imagine you are interviewing the characters in each book, or conduct interviews with people you know. Use Crayola® Colored Pencils to record information about animals and their caregivers: where they live, what they do all day, how much space and time the animal needs and the caregiver has. If you make a mistake, just erase!

• 2.

  <STRONG>Create matchmaker cards and envelopes</STRONG>. With Crayola Scissors, cut a card for each animal. Fold the paper into a card. Use Crayola Colored Pencils and Multicultural Colored Pencils to draw the animal on the front. Write a colorful list of responsibilities for caring for this animal on the inside.

• 3.

  <STRONG>Design an envelope for each caregiver</STRONG>. Draw the character on the back of the envelope. On the front write information about a caregiver that could help match an animal with that person.

• 4.

  <STRONG>Build a colored-pencil easel</STRONG>. Gather six same-length colored pencils (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet) and four rubber bands. Ask a partner to help. Hold the red, orange, and yellow pencils together with the erasers lined up. Wrap a rubber band around them near the eraser. Hold the green, blue, and yellow pencils so the tips line up. Wrap a rubber band near the tips. Hold the violet pencil with the blue pencil. Pull the red pencil tip down to meet the violet and blue pencil erasers. Wrap a rubber band around these three pencils. Pull the orange, green, and violet pencils together. Wrap a rubber band around them to complete your pyramid pencil easel.

• 5.

  <STRONG> Display the cards on easels.</STRONG> Shuffle all of the envelopes. Each classmate takes one envelope. Match the caregivers on the envelopes with the animals profiled on the cards. If you wish, join together as a team to make the best matches.

• 6.

  Take the game home to play with your family. Talk about responsibility and the benefits of sharing tasks with others. Discuss pet adoption and why it's important to match animals with suitable owners.

Benefits

• Children research and read about animals and their caregivers.
• Children gather and synthesize information about the responsibilities of caring for different types of animals.
• Children create their own animal matchmaking game, including fact cards and display easels, and then work both independently and cooperatively to match them.

Adaptations

• Emerging readers and writers can work in groups with a teacher or student reader/writer. Use picture clues to show what each animal needs and what each caregiver has to offer.
• Learn more about pet adoption, caring for animals, and the role the community plays in caring for animals. Invite a representative from a local animal shelter, zoo, animal hospital, or agricultural service to visit the classroom. Prepare for the visit by
• Assessment: Evaluate how detailed and accurate children’s drawings are. Determine how well the caregiver characteristics match what is needed for each animal.