animals

To celebrate National Wildlife Week, I have 6 world wildlife day activities to learn about African lions. Also, look at Easy Hands-on Science: Animal Camouflage Activity Hunt for more fun.

Lions are bold, beautiful, and powerful, making them fascinating subjects in books, movies, artwork, and in zoos.

Nearly all wild lions live in Africa.

They prefer the grassy plains and open woodlands.

Grassy plains and open woodlands make an excellent hunting are and easy defense of a territory.

Also, they spend 16 to 20 hours a day sleeping and resting.

More African Wildlife Activities

• The Genus Panthera includes four species- lions, tigers, jaguars, and leopards. Panther refers to different animals including leopards, mountain lions, puma, cougars, or jaguars.
• Young lions begin as cubs with spots and rosettes that fade as they mature.
• A pride of lions is most often made of females and their cubs, as well as a male or small group of males.
• Lions are listed as “vulnerable” on the threatened species list. Sadly, there are thought to be as few as 23,000 lions left in the wild.
• A lion’s roar can be heard up to 5 miles away.
• Lions live anywhere from 8-25 years in captivity, maybe only up to 10 in the wild.
• There is such a thing as a hybrid lion. The offspring of a lion and a tigress is a liger, and the offspring of a tiger and a lioness is called a tigon, and a leopon is the offspring of a lion and a leopard.
• Females do 90% of the hunting for the pride while males stay behind for protection.

If you want a wonderful book which covers lions and so much more wildlife the newest installment of Julia Rothmans anatomy series is a must-have addition to your bookshelf.

Wildlife Anatomy has so much to offer to wildlife studies that it can stand on its own as your spine.

Also, add some of these other books for fun literature reads or to learn facts about lions.

Fun Resources to Learn About Lions

Add some of these fun books to learn about African Lions and their habitat and geography.

Wildlife Anatomy: The Curious Lives & Features of Wild Animals around the World

In Wildlife Anatomy, Rothman captures the excitement and distinctive attributes of wild animals around the world. The book is packed with hundreds of her charming, original illustrations, detailing the unique features of animals of the rainforest, desert, grasslands, oceans, and much more. From lions, bears, and zebras to monkeys, mongoose, bats, elephants, giraffes, hippos, and much more, Rothman's visual guide covers all the key features, right down to the anatomy of a lion's claw and a wild horse's hoof. All the illustrations are accompanied by labels, intriguing facts, and identifying details, such as: When is a Panther Not a Panther? and What Makes Aardvarks So Odd? 

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Bravelands #1: Broken Pride

A lion cast out from his pride. An elephant who can read the bones of the dead. A baboon rebelling against his destiny.

For generations, the animals of the African plains have followed a single rule: only kill to survive. But when an unthinkable act of betrayal shatters the peace, the fragile balance between predators and prey will rest in the paws of three unlikely heroes.

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Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds

Joy Adamson's story of a lion cub in transition between the captivity in which she is raised and the fearsome wild to which she is returned captures the abilities of both humans and animals to cross the seemingly unbridgeable gap between their radically different worlds. Especially now, at a time when the sanctity of the wild and its inhabitants is increasingly threatened by human development and natural disaster, Adamson's remarkable tale is an idyll, and a model, to return to again and again

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Library Lion

 A lion starts visiting the local library but runs into trouble as he tries to both obey the rules and help his librarian friend.

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Lions at Lunchtime

"Where are the lions?" Jack wonders when the Magic Tree House whisks him and his sister to the vast plains of Africa. Before he can find out, Annie starts to help hundreds of wildebeests cross a rushing river. Next they follow a honey of a bird and meet an awesome Masai warrior. Jack hopes any lions will just stay away. Jack is about to be very disappointed…

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National Geographic Readers: Lions

Roar with lions in this exciting reader. Through beautiful and engaging photos, kids will learn all about these majestic big cats. This level 1 reader is carefully leveled for an early independent reading or read aloud experience, perfect to encourage the scientists and explorers of tomorrow!

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A Lion to Guard Us

Featuring a heroine with faith, courage, and a great deal of grit, this acclaimed historical fiction novel portrays the realities faced by three children hoping to find a new home in an unknown land.

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Next, look at some activities to celebrate learning about lions.

And if you’re studying about Africa, look at How to Make a Kids’ Fun Ceremonial African Tribal Mask to go with these hands-on lion activities.

World Wildlife Day Activities

• Visit a local zoo or wildlife sanctuary and check out these beautiful big cats firsthand. Bring binoculars to get a closer view.

• Pull out Wildlife Anatomy and flip through the amazing information and illustrations. Look at the topics your child can research or even trace these illustrations.
• 6 Facts About Mountain Lions and How to Make a Fun Mountain Lion Diorama

Pride of Place

Then the difference between an Asiatic and an African Lion is another slant.

And how fun is this Anatomy of a Claw.

Too, When is a Panther Not a Panther.

Finally, learn about the Predator versus Prey relationship.

As you can see this book covers lions well, but you will find a lot of animals and information in it including ecosystems, food webs, hunting, and animals from the adorable panda to hippos and many in between.

• Celebrate Lions all week by snuggling up with a read-aloud every day.
• Turn this little pride into a wonderful dramatic play addition, add it to a sensory bin, use them as drawing inspiration, or hide them around the house or outdoors, and play “hot and cold”.
• Open your atlas and find Africa, this DK First Atlas was a great resource for a large map with details and photos.
• 9 Grab some popcorn and settle down, and watch The Lion King together.

World Wildlife Day Activities Create LEGO Lion Portrait

Next, do this easy hands-on lion activity.

You can use whatever LEGO you have on hand at home, but we did this using only the bricks found in this Large Creative Brick Basic Box to make it easier to find the pieces we needed.

However, feel free to encourage your child to substitute and make it work for them.

 You will need:

• Small LEGO Baseplate
• Yellow and brown LEGO
• LEGO eyes
• Lion picture for inspiration.

Directions:

Build the basic face shape in the center of the baseplate by starting just below the centerline, creating a 4×6 rectangle with yellow bricks.

Place one 2×6 centered underneath and 2 single yellow bricks at the top on either side for ears.

Create the lion’s mane by filling in all the way around the yellow basic face shape with brown bricks.

Add two eyes.

Place one 2×2 yellow brick in the center for a muzzle, top with a single brown round stud for the nose.

Put a 2×6 brick under the center of the main.

That’s it, your fantastic lion is ready to be admired.

Encourage older children to build something more complex, either a more detailed portrait or even perhaps a 3D lion laying out surveying the grasslands like this one.