Animals and their homes

Ages 3 to 5 Read and do together · about 15 minutes

Read together

A bird lives in a nest. A rabbit lives in a burrow.

A bee lives in a hive. A fish lives in water.

Do it

1. Look at pictures of animals and their homes: nest, burrow, hive, web, shell, pond.
2. Match each animal to its home. Say why it needs it: warm, safe, close to food.
3. Build a small “nest” from twigs, grass and cloth in a tray. Make it cosy for a toy bird.
4. Go outside and look for animal homes: ant hills, spider webs, bird nests in trees. Look, do not touch.

Talk about it

• Why does a bird need a nest?
• Where could a small animal hide near us?

For the grown-up

Animals live where they can find food, water and shelter. It is a good moment to talk about caring for creatures, as St Francis did.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• NGSS Lead States, Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (National Academies Press, 2013), performance expectation K-ESS3-1 (how plants and animals use their surroundings to meet their needs)
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds, pages on nests and nesting

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.