A Walkthrough of Animal Study for Preschoolers

This coming spring, I will be introducing the zoology album of Montessori early childhood to Vito.  We did a couple of animal study last year but it was mainly for introduction and familiarization.  This year, our homeschool activities will be in line with the album I bought from Montessori Parent.  Of course, I will not follow the album word by word as I try not to replicate the Montessori classroom in our home and I don’t possess other classroom materials.  But it will still be spontaneous and hands-on.  In this post I will talk about the album, the materials I prepared, and my plans on how we are going to approach the “hands-on” aspect of the study.


In a Montessori environment, around 3-6 years old, the child is introduced to the world of animals via practical life and sensorial activities.  The main objective of “zoology” for early childhood is to help the child identify the basic and fundamental needs of animals, the role of humans as the carer of these animals, learn about the physical characteristics of each animal, and gain the knowledge of how each animal differs from the others through observation rather than through reading textbooks.

In the album, before introducing the five basic classes: fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal (dinosaurs and human beings are also included in the album but will not be part of this post), it is important that the child can:

• distinguish between living and non living things
• distinguish between a plant and an animal (Plants versus Animals Sorting Activity)

Once this is achieved, we can now safely introduce the five basic classes:

• fish
• amphibian (frog)
• reptile (turtle)
• bird
• mammal (horse)

Now you can choose whatever type of animals you feel like using, but I will stick to these traditional ones as they are more accessible and familiar to my child.

Seen in the previous picture are our animal zoology booklets from the shop and Schleich animal models.  You can get the Animal Zoology booklets and the 3 part cards bundle pack here.

Care and Observation of Animals

We don’t have pets at home, so it is quite difficult to observe and care for the animals mentioned in our study.  But you can do this indirectly by observing other animals of the same kind outdoors, like those in the zoo or petting farm.  In our case, I bought the boys some goldfish to have a first hand experience on taking care of animals.  From here, we did a lot of discussions on how we can take care of the fish:

• Provide them a home that is closest to their natural habitat.
• Feed them.  You have to strictly inform your kids that the pet’s food is NOT TO BE EATEN BY THEM.
• Clean their home regularly.

Most of the time, the kids love to watch their fish.  While watching and observing, I encouraged the kids to observe how the animal uses its body parts to move, eat, and breathe.  Here, Vito observed that the fish always opens it’s mouth, wiggles its tail, and doesn’t blink.  These observations led us to discussing the functions of the fish' body parts, how it breathes in the water, why it doesn’t sink, why its skin cover is different from humans etc.

Animal 3-Part Cards (Horse, Fish, Bird, Frog, Turtle)

Once you have observed the animal, the child gains some knowledge of its basic parts, so you can now introduce the 3 part cards. With the help of the 3-Part Cards the child can "visually" (sensorial) learn more about the parts of the animal.  I’m showing you an example of what I did when we worked with the turtle.  This is our typical setup when learning the parts of an animal, in this case the turtle.  For reference, I’m using the booklet that is included in our turtle learning pack to learn about the function of each body part.  We also used Turtles and Snails (First Discovery) book for looking at other types of turtles and tortoises.


Always start with the simple parts like head, body, feet, etc. and just keep on adding as the child progresses. The use of a Montessori zoology puzzle is also very helpful in identifying the parts of an animal.  Kids love to work with puzzles and with something concrete to keep them engaged.  We matched the pieces of the Montessori turtle puzzle to our cards for a more hands-on approach.


At times, we would place the labels on our puzzle, just like what we did when we worked with the frog (Montessori Inspired Frog Activity Trays for Preschoolers).



Finally, it helps when you have a realistic model or an anatomy puzzle to work on.  For example here, we have the Schleich turtle and tortoise.  I was showing Vito the difference between a turtle and a tortoise.


We also own a few anatomy puzzles like the ones for frog and shark. The kids love them and I used them as tools in learning about animals too.  But these are best for older children as most of the parts are tricky to assemble and are very delicate.

Below is a list of our past animal unit studies for (Preschoolers and Toddlers) for your reference:

• Montessori Inspired Frog Activity Trays for Preschoolers
• Montessori Inspired Bird Unit Activities for Preschoolers
• Fish Themed Activities for Toddlers
• Animal Classification Activity for Preschoolers

More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.

For FREE learning materials check out our FREE Downloads and FREE Learning Materials page

Pin this for later!

This post is part of the 12 Months Montessori Series which is hosted by Natural Beach Living and The Natural Homeschool.

The Best Butterfly Life Cycle Activities for Kids | Natural Beach Living

How to Plant a Garden Steps & Printable Montessori 3-Part Cards | The Natural Homeschool

Montessori Nature Tray with Bird-Themed Nest Building and Art Appreciation | Living Montessori Now

Spring Baby Bird Craft | Mama’s Happy Hive

| The Kavanaugh Report

A Walkthrough of Animal Study for Preschoolers | The Pinay Homeschooler

Botany for Kids: Egg Planting Experiment | Sugar, Spice & Glitter

5 Simple Butterfly Activities to Boost Fine Motor Skills - with Free Printables | Uno Zwei Tutu