Learning about Endangered Species with Kids

On one of our visits to the library, I found this book, 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth by John, Sophie & Jesse Javna. This is a nice little book that is an easy, quick read.

One of the things I liked most about the book is the website associated with the book. The website, http://www.50simplethings.com/ , has links to articles, resources and organizations.

One of the issues in the book is about protecting endangered species. My son is really interested in all kinds of animals so we did a little surfing on the web and found some neat sites, like the Endangered Species Coalition.

We also did a search for endangered species in our own state. He was excited to learn about an endangered LARGE salamander called a Hellbender. Here's a link to a picture so you can get an idea of the size of these monsters.

We also found some really cool resources produced by Penn State. I downloaded some lesson plans and worksheets and booklets from the Penn State Sustainable Forestry website.

There are lots of neat things there that are fun summer projects for kids interested in the environment, outdoors and/or animals. This is a really great site for ideas of things to do with your kids to help them learn about the environment.

My son is working on "trading cards" we found on another website. He looks up the animal's habitat, predators and its diet, why it's endangered, and draws a picture of it. He's having a lot of fun making his own trading cards while learning important information. Cool!

So that's what we've been up to today.

Tomorrow's post will be about...raspberries!