Animals: What They Need and Where They Live

Start with an animal your child knows. Point to a cat and say, "That’s a cat. Her family feeds her." A pet lives with a family that cares for it. Dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, goldfish, and parakeets (budgies) can be pets too. If your child says "woof," build on it: "Yes, a dog says woof."

Where animals usually live

Farm animals are raised on farms for food, wool, or work. Name cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, and horses in pictures. A wild animal is a kind that normally lives in nature. Squirrels, pigeons, robins, frogs, and foxes may live nearby. Lions, elephants, penguins, and whales live farther away.

Care alone does not decide the group. A lion at a zoo stays wild. A hurt robin at a rescue center is wild too. A lost dog is still a pet that needs its family. Rabbits and ducks have both tame and wild forms: talk about the particular animal you see.

Try a picture sort

Draw a house, a farm, and a patch of woods. Find pictures of a family’s cat, a pet parakeet, a pig, a horse, a fox, and a deer.

1. Name each animal together.
2. Place the cat and parakeet at the house.
3. Place the pig and horse at the farm.
4. Place the fox and deer in the woods.

Ask, "Why did you put the horse there?" A short answer works: "People raise it on a farm." If a picture could fit two places, add its story: "This rabbit lives with a family."

Look for a useful clue

Compare a duck and a chicken. The duck has a flat bill and webbed feet. The chicken has a pointed beak and toes with claws. A goat often has a beard and an upward tail. A sheep has thick wool and a tail that hangs down.

Animals help people in different ways. Cows and goats give milk; hens lay eggs; bees make honey. Sheep grow wool for yarn and sweaters. Careful shearing is like a haircut, and the wool grows back. Guide dogs help people who cannot see well. Sheepdogs help gather sheep, and pets give company. People provide care in return.

Animal babies often have special names. Start with a few familiar pairs, then add more as your child enjoys the game.

More family words

A young bear, lion, or fox is a cub. A young deer is a fawn. Kangaroos and koalas have joeys; owls have owlets. A young frog starts as a tadpole. Some names are shared: elephants and whales also have calves. "Baby snake" and "baby fish" are useful names too.

Adults sometimes have special names. A female chicken is a hen; a male is a rooster. A female sheep is a ewe; a male is a ram. A female horse is a mare; a male is a stallion. A cow is female, and a bull is male.

Match, then look closely

Place pictures of a pig, horse, and duck in a row. Hand your child a piglet picture. Say, "Find its grown-up." Put it beside the pig and name the pair. Match the foal and duckling next. Once matching is easy, turn the cards face down for a memory game.

Ask, "What looks the same? What is different?" A foal has the same sort of body as a horse, but it is smaller. A baby grows into its own kind: a duckling becomes a duck. A tadpole changes much more. It grows legs and loses its tail as it becomes a frog.

Eggs, birth, and first meals

Chicks, ducklings, and baby turtles hatch from eggs. Puppies, kittens, lambs, and calves are born and drink their mother’s milk. Chicks and ducklings never drink milk. They peck at food and sip water from the day they hatch.

Parents care in different ways. A cow licks and feeds her calf. A kangaroo carries her joey in a pouch. Many bird parents bring food to their chicks. Many baby fish manage on their own from the start. When farm babies appear in spring, watch how close they stay to their parents.

A body covering is the animal’s outer layer. It helps protect the body. Start with three words: fur, feathers, and scales.

Name what you see

Fur is hair. It covers cats, dogs, rabbits, bears, and horses. Sheep’s wool is thick, curly hair. Fur holds warmth close to the body, and many animals grow thicker coats for winter.

Feathers cover every bird. Only birds alive today have feathers. Feathers help birds stay warm and dry. Long wing and tail feathers help most birds fly.

Scales are small, hard plates, often overlapping like roof tiles. They protect most fish, snakes, and lizards. Look at a chicken’s legs in a close-up picture: it has scales there and feathers elsewhere.

Other animals have different coverings. A frog has smooth, damp skin. Snails, turtles, and crabs have hard shells. Hedgehogs and porcupines have sharp spines as well as fur. People have skin with some hair.

Make a texture tray

Use soft fleece, a clean craft feather, and a pine cone. These stand for coverings; the fleece and pine cone are not animal parts. Use craft feathers instead of outdoor feathers that may carry germs.

1. Let your child feel the fleece and describe it: "Soft and fluffy."
2. Find a picture of a furry animal, such as a horse.
3. Feel the craft feather and match it to a bird.
4. Look at the pine cone’s overlapping pieces beside a picture of scales.

Offer words such as smooth, rough, hard, bumpy, and curly. A snake’s scales are dry and smooth, not slimy. A frog’s skin is damp.

Connect the covering to its job

A polar bear’s thick fur helps it stay warm. A duck’s waterproof feathers help it stay dry. Shells and scales help protect against scrapes and bites. Color can help an animal hide: a brown rabbit is hard to spot in a brown field.

Movement can be misleading. A bat flies, but its body has fur and its wings are skin. A penguin swims and cannot fly, but it has feathers. Whales and dolphins have smooth skin, even though they live in water. Ask, "What covers its body?" and look closely at the picture.

Point to one part of an animal and ask, "What does it use that for?" Legs help with walking and running. Wings help many animals fly. Fins and tails help fish swim. Eyes and ears help animals notice food and danger.

Give familiar parts their names

Dogs and cats have paws. Horses, cows, goats, and pigs have hooves. Claws help with jobs such as scratching and gripping. A cat’s whiskers help it feel its way in the dark. An elephant uses its trunk to pick up food. It also sucks water into the trunk, then squirts it into its mouth.

Birds have beaks instead of teeth. A duck’s flat bill gathers food from water. A hen’s short, pointed beak pecks up seeds. Mouth shapes fit different feeding jobs.

Watch a duck cross a pond

First, look at its feet. Skin joins its toes to make broad, webbed feet. Next, watch it push those feet backward through the water. The push helps move the duck forward. Say, "Its feet work like paddles."

Compare a hen in a picture. Both animals have feathers, a beak, and 2 legs. The duck’s webbed feet help it swim. The hen’s toes and claws help it scratch the ground.

Move in more than one way

Name an animal and act out its movement together. Hop like a rabbit or kangaroo. Gallop like a horse, climb like a monkey, waddle like a duck, or crawl like a caterpillar. A snake slithers with no legs. A frog can hop and swim; a wild duck can walk, swim, and fly.

Not every bird flies. Penguins use their wings as flippers in water. Ostriches run on long legs; emus and kiwis cannot fly either. Bats, bees, and butterflies fly without being birds.

Count the legs

Use clear pictures or toy animals. A bird has 2 legs; a dog has 4. An insect has 6, and a spider has 8. A snake has none. Put a hen beside a cat. Count 2 hen legs, then 4 cat legs:

There are 6 legs altogether. Have your child touch each leg once while counting.

A cat and a toy cat may look alike. One is alive, and one is not. Help your child look beyond shape, sound, or movement.

Look at a whole life

Living animals eat, drink, breathe, and grow. As adults, they can have young of their own kind. A puppy is alive before it is old enough to have babies. You are looking at the pattern of its life, not asking it to do everything today.

People and plants are living things too. Plants grow and need water and air. They make their own food using sunlight; they do not eat meals like animals.

Rocks, water, cars, chairs, and plastic toys are not alive. A wind-up toy can move, but it does not grow or have babies. A sleeping cat is still alive: it breathes, and it will need food and water when it wakes.

Make three picture groups

Lay out a picture of a growing flower, a wooden spoon, and a stone. Make spaces labeled "Alive," "Came from something alive," and "Never alive."

1. The flower grows and needs water. Put it in "Alive."
2. The wooden spoon came from a tree. Put it in the middle group.
3. The stone has never been alive. Put it in "Never alive."

Now add a rabbit picture, a fallen leaf, and a plastic truck. The rabbit goes with the flower. The fallen leaf came from a living tree. The truck goes with the stone.

A feather, bone, or empty snail shell also came from a living animal. It is not a living animal now. "Once living" is a useful short label for this middle group, including things made from living material.

A real animal can feel

Living animals can feel hunger, cold, fear, and pain. Explain, "A real animal can get hurt." A stuffed toy can be squeezed during play; a living animal needs soft, gentle hands.

Use four words to explore an animal’s needs: food, water, air, and shelter. Animals also need room to move. People share these needs, so you can begin with your child’s own day: "You drink when you’re thirsty. Our cat needs water too."

What each need does

Food gives animals energy to move, grow, and keep warm. All animals need water. Most drink it; some desert animals get much of their water from food. For a pet, provide fresh, clean water every day.

Shelter is a safe place to rest, hide, and stay warm or cool. A pet’s bed, a leafy hiding place, or a space among rocks can provide shelter. Most animals need shelter as well as food, water, and air.

Breathing in different ways

Dogs, birds, and people breathe air into lungs. Insects take in air through tiny openings along their bodies. Fish use gills to take oxygen from the water. Oxygen is the part of air animals need for breathing, and some is mixed into water.

Whales and dolphins live in water but have lungs. They come to the surface to breathe air. A fish’s gills and a whale’s lungs meet the same need in different ways.

Follow a squirrel’s day

Use a picture of a squirrel in a leafy park. Ask one question at a time.

• "What could it eat?" Nuts and seeds are food.
• "Where could it get water?" It could drink from a puddle.
• "Where is the air?" Air surrounds it above the ground.
• "Where could it hide or rest?" A tree and its nest offer shelter.

Draw a line from the squirrel to each thing. The whole park supplies more than the nest alone. Ask, "What would happen if there were no food?" The squirrel would become hungry and weak.

Who meets a pet’s needs?

Wild animals usually find their own food, water, and shelter. A pet relies on its family. An empty water bottle is not enough just because it is attached to a cage. Someone must check that clean water is available every day. When your family goes away, another person must take over the care.

Start with familiar meals: grass for a cow, meat-based cat food for a cat. Animals need food, but the right food differs from animal to animal.

Three food groups

For an older child, add herbivore for a plant-eater, carnivore for a meat-eater, and omnivore for an animal that eats both. Insects are animals too, so a frog eating insects is eating animals.

Sort a meal step by step

Show a picture of a chicken eating grain and a worm. Ask, "Where does grain come from?" It comes from a plant. Next ask, "Is a worm a plant or an animal?" It is an animal. Put the chicken with the eat-both group because its meal has both kinds of food.

Try a deer next. Its leaves, twigs, and grass are plant foods, so it belongs with plant-eaters. You can sort pictures without feeding real animals.

Mouths help with meals

Pointed teeth help cats and lions bite meat. Broad, flat back teeth help cows and horses grind grass. A hen’s pointed beak picks up seeds. Ask, "How would flat teeth help with tough grass?" They press and grind it.

Check storybook meals

Rabbits need mostly hay or grass, with some leafy greens. Carrots and apples are small treats because they are sugary. Mice mostly eat seeds and grains, along with some fruit and insects; cheese is not their main food.

A grown cow eats grass and hay and drinks water. A calf drinks its mother’s milk. The milk people drink comes from cows that have had calves.

Pets need their own suitable food. Chocolate, grapes, raisins, and onions can harm dogs. Keep your child’s snacks for your child, and let the responsible adult choose the pet’s meal.

An animal home is a place for shelter, rest, or young. Animals build some homes themselves. People build others for pets and farm animals.

Match a home to its animal

A bird builds a nest. Many rabbits dig burrows; joined burrows make a warren. A fox raises cubs in a den, and many bears use dens in winter. Honeybees live together in a hive. A spider’s web catches food and can also give it a place to stay. A tree squirrel often builds a nest from twigs and leaves. A beaver builds a lodge from sticks and mud.

People provide dog beds or kennels, stables for horses, coops for hens, pens or sties for pigs, hutches for pet rabbits, and tanks for goldfish. A sleeping place is one part of an animal’s care; animals also need space to move.

A nest has a special job

A bird’s nest is mainly for eggs and chicks. It is not every bird’s nightly bed. Many birds sleep on branches or in hedges. Once chicks can fly, the family often leaves the nest.

Some animals have no fixed home. Cows and deer rest in sheltered spots. Fish may hide among rocks and water plants. A snail carries its shell.

Look at how animals build

Use a bowl, dry grass, twigs, and leaves to make a pretend nest. First arrange a ring of twigs. Add softer grass inside. Put a small ball in the middle as an egg. Ask, "What keeps the egg from rolling away?" The raised edge holds it in place. Birds do their building with beaks and bodies instead of hands.

Animals change their surroundings through these jobs. Moles and rabbits dig tunnels. Squirrels bury nuts for later. A beaver cuts trees with its teeth and builds a dam across a stream. The dam holds back water and makes a pond; the lodge is its home. People also change places by building houses, roads, and farms.

Take a looking walk

Watch for a nest high in a tree, a web on a fence, an anthill, or a ground hole. Ask, "Who might use this? How was it made?" Watch wild homes from a distance without touching them. Coming close to a nest can keep parent birds away from their eggs or chicks.

A habitat is the natural place where an animal lives and finds what it needs. It includes food, water, air, and safe places. A nest can be part of a habitat; the habitat is the wider place around it.

Start nearby

A yard or park can support worms, birds, and squirrels. A pond and its edge can support frogs, ducks, and fish. Deer, owls, and foxes live in woods. Rabbits, cows, and sheep use fields and farms. Pigeons, foxes, and raccoons can find food and shelter in cities as well as the countryside.

Visit other places in pictures

Polar bears and penguins do not meet in the wild. Polar bears live around the Arctic in the far north. Almost all wild penguins live in the southern half of the world, many around Antarctica.

Bodies suit places

A polar bear’s thick fur and layer of fat keep it warm. A camel’s wide, padded feet spread its weight on soft sand. Camels can go a long time without drinking, but the hump stores fat, not water. The fat supplies food when little is available.

Fish have gills for breathing underwater and fins for swimming. Ducks use webbed feet and waterproof feathers on ponds. At a pond’s edge, frogs, ducks, beavers, and turtles use both water and land. They do different jobs in each place; a turtle may climb out to warm up in the sun.

Build a place that meets needs

Make a frog’s habitat in a shoebox. Add blue paper for water, leaves for hiding, and insect pictures for food. Leave open space above the pond for air. Ask your child to explain each part: "The leaves give the frog somewhere to hide."

Now cover the insect pictures. Ask, "What would the frog be missing?" It would have water and shelter but no food in the model. A place must supply the right things for its animal. People caring for animals at home or in zoos must provide those conditions too.

A pet needs care every day. Food and clean water are the start. It also needs a clean home, exercise, play, quiet rest, and a vet for checkups or illness. An adult is responsible; your child helps while you watch.

Match the job to the pet

Dogs need daily walks. Rabbits need plenty of hay, room to hop, and ideally another rabbit for company. A goldfish needs a large tank with a filter and clean water. A small bowl is not a suitable home. Hamsters are mostly awake in the evening and at night, so leave them to sleep during the day.

Choose simple jobs your child can safely help with. They might put toys away, help refill a dog’s water, or brush a calm cat gently. Keep cleaning cages, tanks, and litter boxes as adult jobs. Follow the animal-contact rules when choosing who helps.

Make a picture chart

For a family cat, draw a food bowl, a water bowl, a play toy, and a bed. Use the food amounts and times chosen by the responsible adult.

1. In the morning, let your child help serve the measured meal. You check it and replace the water.
2. Later, help your child play with the cat using a wand toy.
3. In the evening, serve the next meal. An adult cleans the litter box.
4. Let your child mark the jobs they helped with.

If your child forgets a sticker, check what the cat actually received. The chart helps you remember; the animal’s care matters more than the marks.

Notice rest and changes

Let a pet eat or sleep in peace. When it walks away from stroking, let it go. A healthy, comfortable pet usually eats, drinks, moves around, and rests calmly. If it stops eating, hides, limps, or seems hurt, your child should tell you. You can arrange help from the vet.

Care continues on busy days and during vacations. Arrange another responsible person before you leave. A young child cannot take over the adult’s job.

You can practice without owning a pet. Make a daily routine for a toy animal: pretend food, water, play, and bedtime. With an owner’s permission, your child can help you care for a suitable family member’s or neighbor’s pet. You can also put out a shallow dish of water for birds and change it often.

Practice an animal greeting with a stuffed dog first. Say, "May I pet your dog?" Your child can rehearse waiting as well as stroking.

Ask, wait, then stroke

Your child asks you before touching any animal and asks the owner before touching someone else’s pet. If the owner agrees, wait for the dog to come over. Use slow, soft strokes on its shoulder or back, with a flat hand. Stroke in the direction the fur grows.

Do not squeeze, poke, pull tails or ears, or ride on an animal. Hugging and kissing a dog’s face can upset it. Leave animals alone while they eat, sleep, or care for babies. Never leave a young child alone with a dog, including a family dog. Any dog can bite when hurt, scared, or bothered.

Notice when to stop

A dog may turn away, become stiff, tuck its tail, growl, or show its teeth. A cat may hiss, flatten its ears, or swish its tail. Stop touching and give space. Stand still or step back slowly so the animal can leave.

If an unknown dog runs up, have your child stand like a tree. Keep arms by the sides and look at the feet. Running or screaming can make the situation worse.

For a small pet your child can safely handle, help them sit on the floor. Support the chest with one hand and the bottom with the other. You hand the animal over and take it back. Never lift it by its ears, legs, or tail. Many rabbits feel safer being stroked on the ground.

Wildlife and farm visits

Watch wild animals without touching or feeding them, even when they seem hurt. Tell an adult who can arrange help. Leave a baby bird on the ground alone and watch from far away; its parents are often nearby. Never touch a bat, alive or dead, or another dead animal.

At a farm, follow staff rules about touching and feeding. Use only the food staff provide. Hold permitted feed on a flat palm. The under-5 contact rule still applies: some animals are for watching.

If a bite or scratch happens

Wash the spot promptly with soap and water, and have your child tell you. For active bleeding, apply firm pressure first. Contact your child’s doctor if a bite breaks the skin, even when it looks small. Get urgent medical help for a deep wound, bleeding that will not stop, or a bite or scratch from a wild animal or bat.

Animals can carry germs even when they look clean and healthy. Germs are too small to see. Some, such as Salmonella, can cause stomach pain, diarrhea, and fever. Young children can get sick more easily.

When to wash

Help your child wash after touching an animal, pet food, bowls, toys, bedding, a cage, a tank, or poop. Wash after farm and zoo visits, including visits where you touched no animal. Always wash before eating or drinking.

At a petting farm, make the sink your next stop before snacks. Keep food and drinks in an eating area away from animals. Until hands are washed, keep fingers, toys, and pacifiers out of your child’s mouth. Keep animal kisses and face licking out of play.

Help with each step

1. Wet hands under clean running water. Add soap.
2. Rub palms, hand backs, between fingers, and under nails for at least 20 seconds.
3. Rinse well under running water.
4. Dry with a clean towel or let hands air-dry.

Singing "Happy Birthday" twice can help with the rubbing time. Stay to help your child reach every part. A quick rinse misses the soap and rubbing that remove germs.

Use soap and water when a sink is available. If you cannot wash yet, help your child use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. It works less well on dirty hands. Wash with soap and water as soon as you can.

Animals for under-5s to watch

Children under 5 should not touch these animals or anything in their living areas:

• Reptiles, such as turtles, lizards, and snakes.
• Amphibians, such as frogs, toads, and salamanders.
• Backyard poultry, such as chicks, ducklings, and hens.
• Rodents, such as hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, mice, and rats.

These animals are more likely to spread germs that can seriously sicken young children. Looking, naming, and drawing let your child enjoy them without contact.

Adults clean cages, tanks, and litter boxes away from kitchen food areas. Use a place other than the kitchen sink, and wash your hands afterward.