Activities for Preschoolers About Kangaroos

Kangaroos are fascinating animals to preschoolers. Their strong legs and pouches are unlike anything many children have ever seen. If you are working through the alphabet, kangaroos are a perfect way to teach the letter "K." You can come up with nearly limitless games and activities for preschoolers because kangaroos hop. You know who else likes to jump -- preschoolers. A day of learning about kangaroos is a busy and exhausting day for everyone.

Preschoolers love to sing songs. Even better, are action songs that let them jump around. Kangaroo songs are just begging for some hopping action. There aren't a lot of kangaroo songs out there, but you can make up your own or sing Adam Sandler's "The Kangaroo Song." This child-friendly song has plenty of action with verses like "Come on, kids, sing along with the kangaroo! I like to hop and I like to sing, Hop, hop, hop, hop, ring-a-ding-ding! Hop, hop, hop, hop, ring-a-ding-ding!" If you don't want to learn a new song, add kangaroos to your usual songs, like Old MacDonald had a farm.

Mix up your usual games by including kangaroos. Instead of playing leap frog, have your preschoolers jump over each other like kangaroos. Or, they love playing Sleeping Bunnies, do a verse with bunnies and then with kangaroos. They will probably hop even more enthusiastically. Five Little Monkeys is another jumping game that converts easily to kangaroos.

Pouches make kangaroos different from many other animals. Kids love the idea of having a baby in a pouch. Let them make their own pouches to store their babies. Cut a piece of construction paper into a large, half-moon shape. Let your child decorate it however she desires. She can color it or embellish it with yarn to look like kangaroo hair. Punch holes along the edge every 2 inches for weaving yarn. Cut enough yarn to wrap around your child's stomach twice. Have her weave the yarn in and out of the holes in the construction paper. Make sure the yarn finishes on the same side as it started. Wrap the yarn around your little one's waist, and tie it in the back for her own little pouch. You can finish the look by printing a kangaroo mask template from the Internet. Let your preschooler color it and cut it out. Then tie it on and let her hop around with her new costume.

Paper bags are so universal. They can be made into almost any puppet, including kangaroos. For a paper bag puppet, you can download a kangaroo face template, or, if you are artsy, cut out eyes, ears, a mouth and nose. Glue the pieces to the front of the paper bag and let your child color them in. Make several kangaroo puppets and have a puppet show behind the couch.