Welcome to Animals & Nature Week at Camp Khan Kids! This week, help kids discover the creatures and habitats in our natural world. From the largest elephant to the littlest hedgehog, we’ve got animal facts covered.
[Click here to download this week’s printable packet]
[Click here to download Khan Academy Kids]
See the schedule below for this week’s activities. Scroll down the page to find details and links. Feel free to mix and match activities to fit your family's needs.
- Monday: Forests & trees
- Tuesday: Mighty mammals
- Wednesday: Little critters
- Thursday: Garden party
- Friday: Science: Weather
Having fun during Camp Khan Kids? Share your photos and stories with us on social media. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, and include #campkhankids in your posts. You’re also welcome to submit your child’s artwork to be featured in our art show!
MONDAY: Forests & trees
Watch: Walk in the Woods with Caitie’s Classroom
Let’s start Animals & Nature Week with a walk in the woods. Follow Caitie from Caitie’s Classroom on a virtual field trip into the forest. Walk the trails, look up into the trees, find a pinecone, count tree rings, and listen to the birds along the way. Ah, so peaceful!
Ready for more? Try this nature-inspired podcast from Super Simple called “And the Green Grass Grew,” ideal for downtime after a long summer afternoon.
Read: Forest
Read Life in a Forest from our friends at Bellwether Media. Campers can learn about different types of forests around the globe. Find this title in the Books section of the Khan Kids Library which features Camp Khan Kids summer reading in the month of July. Children who are just beginning to read can choose Read to Me, and readers who would like to practice reading independently can try Read by Myself.
Write: Leaf study
Let’s look at nature up close! Find a leaf on a walk or in your yard. Then, bring it inside to take a closer look. What color is the leaf? What is it shaped like? For today’s writing activity, record the leaf’s color, texture, and shape on the Leaf Study printable.
Learn: Nature Moves Yoga
Get ready for your own walk in the woods by warming up with a kids' yoga session called Nature Moves by Alo Yoga. Watch this video on YouTube, or find it in the Videos tab of the Khan Kids Library under Yoga & Movement (1st and 2nd-grade levels). Don’t forget to show us your cactus pose!
Play: Mini terrariums
Build a tiny plant world! Save an old food jar and wash it out. Fill it partially with some soil, pebbles, sticks, plants, moss, or figurines to make a mini terrarium. We love this example from Marin Mommies. Share your terrariums with us using the #campkhankids hashtag or submit them to our camp art show. We'd love to celebrate these eco-friendly projects!
💚 Note: When we play at Camp Khan Kids, we can be as flexible or creative as necessary. Do what works best for you. To simplify, try collecting any type of natural objects in a jar.
Tuesday: Mighty mammals
Watch: Elephant Animal Facts on Circle Time
Read two books about elephants during Circle Time with Khan Academy Kids. Caroline and Sophie start with Baby Elephants by Bellwether Media and show real-life pictures of elephants in nature. Next, they read a story about Ollo the elephant called Starting to Worry by Cynthia Platt.
Read: Mammals
Read Mammals by Bellwether Media in the Khan Kids app. Find this title in the Books section of the Khan Kids Library which features Camp Khan Kids summer reading in the month of July. Learn about how all mammals share certain characteristics like fur, backbones, and lungs for breathing air.
Write: Color nature scenes
Use the Create tab in the Khan Kids app to color nature scenes. Kids can identify mammals like a bear, a ram, and a mountain goat! Try using the pencil icon to open special features like changing the art tool, adding stickers, or recording a voice.
Learn: Compare numbers
It’s time for math practice in the Khan Kids app. Numbers can be large or small—just like animals. Go to the Math tab in the Khan Kids app to do lessons that compare numbers. We have lessons for greater than and less than, more or less, and grouping (depending on age level).
Play: Create an animal collage
Search around the house for old magazines, newspapers, or junk mail. Let children sift through the papers to choose colors or images they’d like to use. Tear or cut the paper, and glue it onto a cardboard backing. Tearing paper into small bits can be a fun way to strengthen hand muscles and build fine motor skills. We love these examples of newspaper animal collages from the Austin Artist Market.
Image from Austin Artist Market
Wednesday: Little critters
Watch: Amazing Armadillos on Circle Time
Join Caroline and Sophie as they read stories about armadillos on Circle Time. Start with the book On A Roll by Cynthia Platt. Then read Armadillos Bellwether Media to see photos of these amazing animals in nature.
Read: Hedgehogs
What little critter is cuter than a hedgehog? Open the Hedgehogs book in the Khan Kids app to learn all about them. Look at their pointy snout and the quills on their back. Burrow into a nest for reading time like a little baby hoglet, and choose another book about little critters like Lemurs, Raccoons, or Skunks!
Write: Looking for wildlife
Look for wildlife with today’s printable. Take a nature walk to see what kids can find. Can they spot a bird, dog, cat, or frog? Track them on our printable. If they see something new, add it to the sheet. While you’re out, pick up sticks for our playtime craft today.
Learn: Verbs
Exploring in nature is action-oriented, just like verbs! Learn about verbs in the Khan Academy Kids app by going to the language section of the Reading tab in the 1st and 2nd-grade learning levels. Get ready to walk, run, and jump into learning!
Play: Make your own little critters
For playtime today, let’s make our own little critters. We love this cute and simple porcupine craft from Little Pine Learners. All you need is a recycled cardboard cutout in a porcupine shape, some string, and sticks to weave through.
Or, if you have extra seashells around the house, look at what our friends at Crayola did! They colored them, added googly eyes and legs, and made animals. What types of animals can your campers make with some seashells?
Thursday: Garden party
Watch: How to plant a seed on Circle time
Today on Circle Time, Caroline and Sophie talk about what can be grown from seeds. Learn the long “e” sound with the words “bean” and “seeds” in the book Plant a Seed by Cynthia Platt. Join special guest Teacher Sarah as she shows us how to start a garden by planting a sunflower seed. Learn how to grow a seed with soil, water, and sunlight.
Read: Spring
Witness the wonders of the seasons by reading the Spring book in the Khan Kids app. Watch as the sun climbs high in the sky to help snow melt, flowers bloom, and seeds grow. Find this title in the Books section of the Khan Kids Library which features Camp Khan Kids summer reading in the month of July.
Write: Make your nature name
Write a list of nature names your family loves. If your child could choose a nature name, what would it be? Some fun nature names we’ve heard of are Mist, Sunshine, Comet, and Tadpole. Too cute!
Then, put creative skills to work by making that name with objects in nature like sand, sticks, leaves, or rocks. Share your creations with us by submitting them here—we’d love to see the final product!
Image featured on Circle Time
Learn: Sight words
Continue looking for details by spotting new words in the Khan Kids app. Head to the Sight Words sections in the Videos tab (Kinder & PreK + 1st Grade levels) or on our YouTube playlist. What new words can you learn? Reya, Ollo, Sandy, Kodi, and Peck will be there to help the kids out.
Play: Weed the garden
Weeds can take over a garden, fast. Let kids thrive as little helpers by taking some time outside to weed the garden today. Go barefoot on the grass. Pull the weeds with hands, little garden gloves, or a spade. Some weeds even have flowers, like dandelions. Blow them and make a wish!
Creative Commons image
Friday: Science Day: Weather
Watch: Weather Science with Sci Show Kids
A big part of enjoying nature involves observing and enjoying the weather. So for science day at Camp Khan Kids, we’ll learn about different types of weather, and how to observe it, from our friends at Sci Show Kids. They even suggest keeping track of the weather with a journal - which is great for writing practice!
Read: Precipitation
Continue learning about the water cycle in the book Precipitation in the Khan Kids app. Find this title in the Books section of the Khan Kids Library which features Camp Khan Kids summer reading in the month of July. Think about the types of precipitation that happen in different regions. Have your kids ever felt rain, sleet, or snow?
Write: Fill in your certificate for completing the week!
Time to celebrate! Invite campers to fill out their certificates for completing the week. Find the certificate in the printable packet. During the month of July, you can also find a digital version inside the app that campers can export and save. Consider sharing your certificate with a friend so they can join Camp Khan Kids too. All of our programs are available for free—for anyone, anywhere!
Learn: Telling time
Weather changes over time. Help kids learn about telling time by turning the hands on Kodi's cute clock. You'll find lessons on hours and half hours in the 1st Grade level of the Math tab. Turn this lesson into a real-life activity by letting kids set the time on a clock in your home.
Play: Make rain in a jar
Let’s try some water science for kids by making it rain in a jar. When kids ask why it rains, we can show them this simple experiment. You’ll need a glass jar, a paper plate, ice, and warm water. Pour water into the jar, then top the jar with a paper plate with ice in it. In this photo from Learn Play Imagine, you can see droplets form from the condensation caused by the temperature differentials.
For something colorful, try a rain cloud in a jar. Top a jar of water with shaving cream, and then pour drops of blue food coloring onto the cream. Soon you'll see blue swirls in the water under the cloud.
Share your artwork
Having fun during Camp Khan Kids? Share your photos and stories with us on social media. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, and include #campkhankids in your posts. You’re also welcome to submit your child’s artwork to be featured in our art show!
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