hands-on activities

If you’re studying pond life for kindergarten you’ll love this activity for your kindergartener to build a beaver dam. Grab my other craft ideas for kindergarten homeschool curriculum.

As the largest rodents in North America and the second largest rodent in the world, beavers are a fun subject to cover.

They go along perfectly with a pond life unit study. They are a vital part of life in rivers, ponds, and lakes.

I have a fun and inexpensive hands- on activity to share that your little one will love.

It’s a simple invitation to create and learn using items gathered from the yard and few items from the house.

Your child will probably spend the day playing in their little “pond” learning and growing their imagination.

Beaver Facts for Kids

• Beavers don’t actually live in the dams they build; they make them to create a deep pond of water for protection from predators. They live in similar structures called beaver lodges.
• Beavers build their dams out of trees, limbs, mud, moss, plants, grass, and rocks.
• When they feel threatened, beavers will slap the water with their tail making a loud noise to warn all creatures in the area.
• A long time ago beaver fur was commonly used to make hats and clothing. Some people still trap beavers for their fur today.
• Beaver dams don’t just benefit them, they also help with carbon storage, flood management and drought prevention. They are also helpful in keeping streams cool.
• Also they create wetlands that house many frogs, fish and invertebrates, and in turn these animals provide food for birds and bats.
• Beavers can swim underwater for 15 minutes.
• Some adult beavers can reach up to 55 pounds.
• Beavers eat the inner bark of trees and woody plants, but they also enjoy soft vegetation like apples, grasses, clover, water lilies, giant ragweed, and cattails.

Pond Life Activities

Before you begin your activity, read about beavers and ponds and choose a video or two to watch together.

If possible visit a local pond or lake that has beavers to observe them in the wild.

This will help give your child a good point of reference for beavers and how and why they build dams.

Also, grab letter tiles you have on hand,

Scrabble tiles are great because you can pick the games up inexpensively at yard sales and thrift stores.

Use them to practice beginning letter sounds or spell out words related to your theme.

For this one you could use:

• Pond
• Beaver
• Fish
• Turtle
• Dam
• Water
• Frog

Allow your child to build silly words and see if he can pronounce them as well.

Too, you’ll love adding some of these books to your activity.

Books About Pond Life

This is one in a little series of picture books that are gems with beautiful illustrations and they teach children about the ecology of the pond. Over and Under the Pond goes perfectly with this activity.

Nature Anatomy is another one. If you don’t know by now I just love this series, they are perfect to add to any nature study that you do.

This next resources if Natural and Earth Science Educational Flash Cards.

If you enjoy doing earth science with your child this is a great addition. Little cards with everything from beavers to minerals.

Safari LTD North American Wildlife toobs are a great resource for small world play like this, to give children a model to see for art or learning.

Also they can be used in dioramas, or to create an inviting setup for a new unit study.