Animal habitats

​Animal Habitat Week

As your child snuggles into his/her cozy place it is fun to show your child that animals do the same thing.  We had so much fun making little homes for animals, gnomes, leprechauns out in the garden and designing homes for playmobil, fisher price and hand-made creatures inside.  Both of the boys liked to create cozy places for their toys to live.  Joel especially loved designing and remodelling his large, wooden doll house.  He would add carpet, flooring, wallpaper then build furniture, draw pictures for wall hangings and make small food/plates/books/toys for the inhabitants to use while residing in the house.  They would play with their little people and animals for hours.
One day they were in their bedroom, busy building a world for their plastic animals in the cozy place between their bed and the wall under the built in bookshelf (Curt had made just the right size secret place for them to read and play),  when Joel came out and asked if he could have one of the plants in a pot and a pie pan.  It was an odd request so I asked him why he wanted a pie pan and a plant.  "The plant is for the rainforest and the pie pan for the pool beneath the waterfall."  I smiled at his creativity.  "Oh, and be sure it's the big pie pan because it is a lot of water coming down from the mountain!".  My smile turned to a very quizzical look.  A lot of water?  Real water?  "Yes! It's a cool waterfall!"
So maybe they weren't as imaginative as I had thought! Upon investigating the fun rainforest world they were creating I found a real waterfall coming from the leak in their waterbed!  Nice warm water cascading down the waterfall to the floor.  The downfall of a cozy bed made of water.

Outside they would also build water worlds for their animals in the sandbox.  But outside it was with the garden hose!  They would create the best worlds for their dinosaurs, their wild animals and for the little people that lived in the garden.  We would dig in the dirt and with  sticks, rocks, leaves, flowers build homes for the gnomes and leprechauns.  The leprechauns would visit all year long and bring their cousins the gnomes with them.

Water, dirt, sand, rocks are great fun for children (although I prefer that the water not be from some kind of leak).  Give your child a pan with dirt (real or some cleaner material) and some water (again real or pretend) to build a cozy world for their plastic animals or stuffies.  Outside you can build these worlds in the sandbox or garden.  If you don't have a yard you can build the world when you visit the beach or sand area at a park.  It is fun to see what they create for their little friends.
On a walk talk about places that living animals find to build their nest, snuggle in the woods or cozy under a rock.  Look for animals that are building their spring homes, animals that are busy in the garden and the pets in your home that are snuggling under a blanket or in their bed. Talk to them about how living creatures like to be treated gently and loved.
Nothing is better than some cozy, snuggle time.  Enjoy!