Materials
Flashlight Discarded refrigerator box
Tree, silk or real String
Black paint Large paintbrushes
Bat stencils for tracing, different sizes Paper hole punch
Black construction paper Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Instructions
1. Read Stellaluna to the children. Talk about the habitats of bats, what bats eat and why bats hang upside down.
2. Children trace around bat stencils onto black construction paper, then cut out and punch a hole in the bottom of a bat. Attach string so the bats can hang upside down from your indoor or outdoor trees.
3. Make a cave. You and the children can set up the dramatic play area as a camping center with the cave as one of the props. Let the children paint the outside of a refrigerator box with black paint. Hang some of the stencil bats inside the cave. Children can look into the box with a flashlight, or carefully crawl into the box to look at the bats.More to doMore science: Compare bat habitats to those of other animals. Find pictures of animal habitats and make a mural. * Collect a live insect collection. * Make a chart graphing other animals that fly, hang upside down, hibernate and live in caves and trees.Snack: Children can make and eat a bat fruit salad.
