Materials
Tan construction paper or large brown grocery bags White drawing or construction paper
Pattern of sitting snowshoe hare Pink, brown and black markers
Pencil Scotch tape or small amount of white glue
Scissors White crayon12 mm wiggle eyes
Instructions
1. Find the area on a globe where the snowshoe hare lives. It can be found in Alaska, Canada and the Northern United States and also southward to the Great Lakes, the Rockies and the Appalachians.
2. Compare the summer food and winter food of the snowshoe hare.
3. Use the word "camouflage" in reference to the snowshoe hare. How are other animals camouflaged with their environment?4. Engage the children's creativity and bring the snowshoe hare to life by making puppets.
5. Trace hare pattern on brown paper. Trace the same pattern on white paper. Cut out the brown and white hares. Cut a brown tab 2" (5 cm) long by 1" (2.
5 cm) wide.
6. Color tips of ears black on both hares.
7. Trace legs and ear line between ears. Use brown marker on brown hare, black on white hare.
8. Color nose, mouth and one ear pink on both brown and white hare.
9. Draw eye with brown marker, color inside with pink marker then glue on wiggle eye in center on both brown hare and white hare.
10. Color with white crayon on brown hare only. Color around pink on ear, edge of other ear, around marker line of eye and paws.
11. Color brown fur lines on brown hare; pencil fur lines on white hare.
12. Add pencil whiskers on both brown and white hares.
13. Glue tab at face area, under brown hare, on top of white hare on reverse side. Fold and cut notch if desired.
14. Fold bottom flaps under so they overlap, the brown hare faces forward.
15. Then when brown hare grows longer white fur and changes to all white for winter, flip white hare forward. Now bottom flap will face outward on both hares. White flap will depict snow and the ground and hare will still stand up. When it is spring again, flip brown hare forward. The change of color of snowshoe hare is the surprise.More to doArt: Let children form a flat or three-dimensional snowshoe hare out of clay (modeling clay) or gray clay that can be glazed and fired, or out of playdough.Dramatic play: Dramatize the zigzag hopping, the freezing like a statue and other traits of the snowshoe hare. Other children could be a fox, lynx, mountain goat, owl, golden eagle, plover and other arctic animals or birds. The snowshoe hare should have different reactions to each depending on whether the animal or bird is friendly or a predator.More science: Using pictures from books or magazines, compare the shape and size and color of cottontail rabbits, jackrabbits, lop-eared rabbits, European rabbits,Arctic hares, jumping hares, pygmy rabbits, Vienna blue rabbits and snowshoe hares. What kind of rabbit do you have in your area? * Discuss animals that hibernate. Which animals sleep part of the winter? The snowshoe hare does not hibernate at all. * Compare the feet of animals and their tracks left in the snow. You can play a matching game to match tracks with pictures of animals, perhaps using a flannel board. The large wide feet of the snowshoe hare give it its name.
