Teaching Children the Animal Kingdom

Learning
As a part of every education, kids learn about animals in a few ways. They read books and see pictures of animals from the time they are very young. Most infants and toddlers have picture books where they can see cows, chickens, and other animals they might see in stories or in real life as well. Almost everyone has taken their kids to the zoo.

Every Day
Now if someone is fortunate enough to learn about animals first-hand, that is probably the best. This usually happens if the family has a farm and has lots of animals. This way kids get used to animals and not be afraid of them. This experience can be similar if you have a child who loves to ride horses or loves to go to a petting or a regular zoo. These are great ways to find out about animals as well!

When
When kids talk about animals, they are talking about things that they have experienced before. Of course, if a child is of age when they can start to talk and imitate different sounds then the child can interact more with animals than they could before. This is a little harder at a regular zoo, but at a local petting zoo, the kids can talk to the animals.

Recognition
When we talk about animals, we repeat quite a bit in general. Kids develop recognition with animal names and sounds. The sounds are also repetitive and not easy to forget once you learn them. Sounds are very common so that if you meet an animal you have only sung about, you can recognize it easily.

Logic
Most kids 0-5 years old love logic. They know if something happens, something else needs to happen as well. If the milk doesn’t go in the cup, it goes on the floor instead. The same logic applies to animals. A cow can’t bark, and neither can a horse. They all have their own separate sounds. If something barks, it has to be a dog in the yard.

Motions
Especially for a kid’s rhyme or farmer in the dell song, there’s got to be a motion to it. Motion is repetitive and makes it hard to forget lyrics when they are tied to an action. Maybe the book or poem you are reading about is a dog and the child pretends to be on all fours like a dog. That jogs your memory, that’s for sure.

Lots
There are lots to teach kids 0-5 about the animal kingdom. You can look on TV about documentaries about animals that you can’t go see at your local zoo. Also, there are quite a few fun facts about animals that even parents don’t know. This way, the kid learns something and the adult learns something. The child’s knowledge is gained and you both share an interest. That’s a great thing, there. There’s nothing like strengthening a child-parent bond by learning something.