First-hand experiences of live animals will greatly enhance children's understanding of living creatures and provide ideas and experiences that can be acted out later in role play, so organise as many visits as you can during the course of the project.
Zoos
You could visit a zoo, safari park or one of the numerous wildlife centres around the country. Many cater specially for early years.
London and Whipsnade Zoos do educational programmes for Foundation Stage children, including storytime. www.zsl.org/discovery-and-learning/schools/ Bristol Zoo offers themed educational visits on topics such as colour and pattern, minibeasts, animal care and welfare.
www.bristolzoo.org.uk/learning/visits Dudley Zoo organises educational sessions, including: a hands-on introduction to animals; a look at teeth and bones; and rainforest animals.
www.dudleyzoo.org.uk/education.htm
Edinburgh Zoo runs an educational programme including five nursery topics.
www.edinburghzoo.org.uk
At Marwell Zoo, in Hampshire, sessions include: close encounters with small animals; hands-on with skin and tusks; looking at animal movement; colours and markings. www.marwell.org.uk/pages/education/schools.html
Paignton Zoo offers special programmes for under-fives, including a focus on elephants, collecting and examining minibeasts in woodland, and looking at colour and camouflage. www.paigntonzoo.org.uk/ Farms
Visit a real farm or a city farm. There are 59 city farms in the UK (see www.farmgarden.org.uk/) which include:
Hackney City Farm, London, which has poultry, sheep, pigs, calves, donkeys, rabbits and guinea pigs. www.hackneycityfarm.co.uk/ Spitalfields City Farm, London, which will bring small animals into schools, and has an egg incubation project. www.spitalfieldscityfarm.org/ Heeley City Farm, Sheffield, which has sheep, goats, pigs, a pony and a cow. www.heeleyfarm.org.uk
Wythenshawe Community Farm, Manchester, which has a pot-bellied pig and other farm animals. In spring you can see the orphan lambs being bottle fed.
Tel: 0161 9460726
Animal sanctuaries
Find out about animal sanctuaries in your area. You may be able to visit, and many run schemes where members of the public can adopt one of the abandoned animals. There are sanctuaries for a wide range of animals, including abandoned pets, farm animals and wildlife such as hedgehogs.
Pets
Arrange for people to bring in their pets to show the children. You may find that parents or their friends have some exotic pets.
Always make sure that the animal will not be distressed by the unfamiliar setting and many faces (see 'Pet pals', page 17).
Museums
Try to visit a natural history museum so that the children can see what the animals look like close-up and also observe skeletons.
The Natural History Museum in London organises visits for groups from age three. It also has excellent children's reference books about animals and minibeasts, with photographs.
www.nhm.ac.uk/education
Oxford University Museum of Natural History offers three hands-on sessions for early years, on animal movement, dinosaurs, and animal skeletons.
www.oum.ox.ac.uk/educate/kstageey.htm
Portsmouth Natural History Museum has a butterfly house and an aquarium, as well as information about local fauna.
www.portsmouthnaturalhistory.co.uk/
Nottingham Natural History Museum has a fine collection of stuffed animals and a further collection of insects.
www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/sitemap/leisure_and_culture/nottingham_museums_and _galleries/wollaton_hall_park/the_natural_history_museum
The Clore Natural History Centre, Liverpool, has collections including skulls, a mammoth tooth, and quantities of tropical butterflies.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/naturalworld/nhc/
Ask the experts
You may be able to pre-arrange a time for the children to talk to one of the experts during your visit - for example, a zoo vet.
Invite other local experts into your setting to talk about their work. Even in the centre of a large city, you are likely to be able to find animal experts and enthusiasts. For example, invite to your setting:
* a vet, a member of the RSPCA, someone who works in a zoo, safari park or wildlife centre, a pet shop owner, a dog breeder
* a beekeeper, a farmer, a policeman with their police dog, a pigeon fancier.
Care and respect
When you visit animal centres or animals are brought to your setting:
* ask the children to remain quiet and still
* remind them that animals don't like loud, unexpected noises or sudden movements
* explain they should never chase any of the animals
* talk to the children about the animals' needs and how they are cared for
* ask them to wash their hands after handling the animals.
Observations
The ability to observe is an essential part of children's scientific learning, so during any visit encourage the children to look closely at the animals. Ask questions that will encourage them to observe the animals and draw their attention to particular features of the animals such as their eyes, hooves and claws, feathers and fine fur.
Take digital photographs of the visit, both of the whole animal, and close-ups of their features, for example, a buffalo's horns and an elephant's trunk, for the children to re-examine when they return to the setting.
FACTS AND FIGURES
* Before a visit, encourage the children to find out about the animals that they will see on the visit. n Borrow some good reference books from your local library and check out some useful websites.
* The BBC's Science and Nature website includes information, webcams, bird sounds and picture galleries. www.bbc.co.uk/sn
* Learning and Teaching Scotland Online Service has downloadable images of minibeasts.
www.ltscotland.org.uk/earlyyears/features/outdoor/minibeasts/index.asp PCET Publishing has a poster for identifying minibeasts.
www.pcet.co.uk/system/index.html
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds site includes a wealth of useful information about birds. www.rspb.org.uk
EXTENDING THE LEARNING
* Where possible, keep in touch with places and people that you have visited - for example, adopt an animal from a place you have visited or ask to receive their newsletters.
* Set up role-play areas, such as a pet shop or a small-world farm.
* Display photographs of a visit at children's level alongside a noticeboard with, for example, entry tickets, signs and information sheets.
* Create related books and displays, such as 'the working life of a vet' or 'a day at the zoo'. Include photographs, facts and figures about the animals that the children saw and the people who work with them, and comments from the children.
* Make a counting book using a range of animals, such as, 1 mouse, 2 tigers, 3 bears and so on.
* Record visits through paintings, drawings or friezes and display them with captions and comments.
* Create related animal games, such as a giant snakes and ladders board with numbered carpet squares, and matching games using photographs of whole animals and their particular features (see Nursery Topics poster).
* Make pictures and posters illustrating how to look after animals.
* Pin up information sheets about how young animals develop.
* Write messages to the children asking a question that will require them to observe an animal and respond. For example, ask, 'Can anybody help? I think one of the animals is missing.'
* Set up interest tables that invite them to record information or give an opinion by voting 'yes' or 'no'. For example, ask, 'Do you think the spiders in the tank would prefer to be outside?'
* Set up a fish tank in the setting.
* Provide a good range of non-fiction books, both in the book corner and in other areas, such as the creative area.
* Create a display of animal storybooks and share as many as possible with the children. Encourage them to relate the stories to their experiences and give their views on characters and storylines. Hold a vote to find the children's favourite animal story. Stories are a good way for children to begin to explore moral issues such as how we look after animals.
