Making the connection: animals are real

To us adults, the connection between the illustrations of animals in books and the real thing – i.e. they really exist – is completely obvious. However, I ask you to put yourself in the shoes of a child who has never seen anything beyond a cat or dog in “real life.” This may be exactly where a 1-year-old child fits in. The next time you head to the zoo, petting farm, museum, or any other place you know you’re going to see animals beyond the domesticated ones you may have at home, bring along one of your child’s favorite animal books. Pretty much any of the Eric Carle books are great for this. I know a 1-year-old who is crazy about Eric Carle’s “From Head to Toe” book — the one with a gorilla on the cover.  This is a great book to take to the zoo so that your little one can make the connection between his colorful illustrations and the real animals in front of his or her eyes. I can only imagine the wonder a child might experience the first time he or she makes the connection between that gorilla, elephant, monkey, crocodile, or penguin. And, to make this approach work, you have to remember to put that book in your child’s hands and spend the time to show him or her the page that matches up with each of the “real life” animals you visit. Go ahead, make the “ooh! ooh!” sound for the gorilla as you thump your chest, point to the illustration in the book, and point to the real gorilla who is sitting eye-to-eye in front of you at the zoo… You know you want to!

Reading a map

The ability to read and understand a map is crucial to being confident when visiting a new place… and relying on GPS systems in cars is not the way kids will learn this important skill. The next time you go to the zoo, pick up a map and ask your kiddo to navigate for you. If your child is new to maps, have him or her hold on to the map and try to find where you are based on the animals that are around you. Zoo maps are great because they’re often full of illustrations, and not laden with words. We went to the zoo last week and my 3.5-yr-old held our map and found our ever-changing location all morning long. The map is now on the front of our refrigerator because he’s planning out everything he wants to see the next time we return!