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Learning about animals for children is not just about animals, but it's about learning itself. Children like to learn. Their brains were designed to absorb knowledge. Anything that stimulates that instinct is going to be an immediate attraction for the child.

Unlike rocks or trees, animals have much more information to observe and learn without doing too much work. Watching an animal, the child can learn how and what it eats. Just the different ways that animals gather up food to eat it can be fascinating. An elephant picks up bundles of hay with its trunk and then stuffs it into its mouth. Squirrels pick up their food with their front feet and hold like humans might while they gnaw into it with their long sharp front teeth.

Watching animals move from place to place can bring a strange fascination. Seeing a snake slither along or a worm wiggle its way over the ground shows the child how that physical movement is not dependent on legs and feet. Some animals leap and run while others seem to just lumber along plodding their way through life.

Some animals seem small and weak like insects and mice. Others like lions and hippos seem large and mighty. Many animals are readily available for human touch. In society, dogs, cats, and small rodents can play this role. In rural settings, it might be goats, cows, and horses. In a petting zoo, the child may encounter a wide variety of other creatures. In the Caribbean, they may even get to hold and pet a sea turtle.

The huge variety of life that exists gives the child a seemingly unending stream of learning experiences in the animal kingdom. At times, the child may even enjoy acting like the animals to better understand what they have seen. Nearly all children will flap their arms like bird wings or screech and make jungle noises like a monkey.

Children seem to realize that like the animals they are a part of life on this planet. In learning about animals, most children are also learning something about themselves.

Learn more about this author, Allen Teal.
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