Would it make a good pet?

Kindergarten Preschool Toddler PrintablesMathScience

Every morning I go outside and hear the birds chirping and dogs barking. Animals are all around us sharing this planet with us.

Children love to learn and talk about animals. Just going for a walk can spark a conversation about different birds, lizards, bugs and more creatures and if your kiddo is like mine, it’s challenging to explain why we can have a dog, but a wild cheetah will not be joining our family as a pet.

This concept leads us to explore the question, “Would it make a good pet?” with this adorable printable animal sorting activity.

Preschoolers will have a blast sorting out which animals are suitable pets, and which are best to left to the zoo or the wild.

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Animal Sorting and Matching

This printable sorting and matching activity is super easy to assemble!

Simply laminate and cut out the sorting and label cards and you are all set.

Included in the printable is two labels: Pet and Not a Pet and seven corresponding animals for each category (14 total) including:

• Bird
• Cat
• Turtle
• Bunny
• Hamster
• Fish
• Puppy
• Crocodile
• Monkey
• Lion
• Elephant
• Giraffe
• Rhinoceros
• Zebra

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Using the Animal Sorting Activity

Kids will love the adorable animals and will have fun problem-solving as they decide whether the monkey or the hamster are fit to be a pet or not.

This printable animal sorting activity is an awesome opportunity to focus on classification skills.

Does the animal belong living among people in their homes or is the animal found places like the jungle or a swamp? A good pet versus a wild animal discussion can include many comparisons which is an important skill to develop for early math skills.

While making their comparisons, they may notice the similarities and differences of a house cat compared to a lion.

You could then explain that while both animals are felines, they are very different animals and are not both able to be suitable pets. To further the conversation, you could explore what would happen if an elephant was kept as a pet. Can you imagine the mess? You might get some silly answers that will add to the fun.

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Strengthen Fine and Gross Motor Skills

Part of the power of allowing children the opportunity to learn by play is developing their fine motor skills naturally.

This printable learning activity encourages fine motor skills development as each animal sorting card is picked up by using their grasp and their hand-eye coordination helps them place the card in the correctly labeled area. They of course have no clue they are fine tuning their small motor muscles and visual perception; they just know they are playing with animal cards.

Playing is the best part of being a kid, right?  So… be sure to let them stomp their elephant feet (strengthen gross motor skills) or let out some “ruffs,” “roars,” or “ooh ooh ahh ahhs.”

Animal sounds and actions are a fantastic way to keep the kiddos engaged with this activity.