Daily Animal Safari

Objectives:
1.01 Observe and describe the similarities and differences among animals including:
Structure.
Growth.
Changes.
Movement.
1.02 Observe how animals interact with their surroundings.
1.03 Observe the behaviors of several common animals.
1.04 Demonstrate how to care for a variety of animals.

Materials:
Computer with Internet access (Video Data Projector and Screen or Interactive whiteboard can
be used with this activity if available in classroom)
Pencils
Crayons
Paper

Overview:
This lesson will introduce young students to various types of animals and their habitats. Students
will observe the animals via online webcams and record what they see.

Procedures:
1. Go to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park AnimalCam website:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/WebCams/
( My Favorites: GorillaCam (currently offline), TigerCam, GiraffeCam, ElephantCam (best
around 10:00am EST), Naked Mole Rat Cam, Amazon River Cam)

2. Select one of the animalcams to view. The live video feeds for this are generally located at
the bottom of the new screen. (Hint: The best time to view the animals is generally in the
morning. If an animal has several cams, check each to see which gives you the best view.)

3. Depending upon your computer and your connection, you may have to click in the black box
to activate the controls for the video. Underneath this same box, you can view the buffering
process. This tells you what percentage of the video has been loaded. When it reaches 100% the
video will appear.

4. Right click on the video and select Zoom Full Screen. (To close full screen mode, press the
ESC key found in the top left corner of your keyboard.) ** Note: For videos with smaller
animals, it may be best to leave the video at the normal size. Enlarging the video makes the
details a little fuzzier.

5. Leave the video up on your screen as part of a center time activity or as a morning job for one
of the students. Place paper, crayons, pencils, etc. next to the computer.

6. Have the student(s) observe the animal and draw a picture of what they see. Enhance their
writing skills by having them write at least one sentence about what they saw. Have them repeat
the sentence to an adult to be written correctly somewhere on the page.



Other Animal Web Cam Sites

San Diego Zoo (love the polar bear cam) http://www.sandiegozoo.org/videos/index.html

Monteray Bay Aquarium (shark and penguin are my favorites)
http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/cam_menu.asp

A Birds Eye View of Webcams good list from around the world
http://www.abirdseyeviewof.com/J unglerock.html

Shamu Cam click on Watch the Shamu Cam at the bottom http://www.shamu.com