Bat Theme Day

Bats

Are your kids batty for animals? If so, then this Theme Day will allow them to explore the nocturnal world of bats! This could also be done around Halloween since those flying mammals are often part of Halloween’s spooky décor. So whether your focus is on animals or Halloween we hope you’ll enjoy this Theme Day!

Print out the Family Theme Day Planner and decide which activities you’d like to do and in what order.

SONGS:

For a fun song watch the Count from Sesame Street sing “The Batty Bat” on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeG2fgqxqs

RHYMES:

Read Lewis Carroll’s parody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (from chapter seven of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, recited by the Mad Hatter of course) for something truly batty!

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!

How I wonder what you're at!

Up above the world you fly,

Like a tea tray in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!

How I wonder what you're at!

NOTE: If you have a budding author in the family encourage him/her to make up his/her own parody using different animals or things in place of the “bat” or the original “Star.”

SCRAPBOOK ACTIVITIES:

COLOURING PAGES:

You can find many free coloring pages online by using your favourite search engine and typing in “Bat Coloring Pages” or print out my Gone Batty Coloring Page.

JOURNALING QUESTION PROMPT:

Write out one or more of the following questions in your Family Theme Day Scrapbook or on a piece of paper to glue in your scrapbook: What do you know about bats? Where do bats live? What did you learn about bats from our bat library books?

Choose the level of your child:

¨ Toddler – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and have your child draw a picture of the answer

¨ Preschooler/Kindergartener – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and write the answer down for him/her leaving one word for him/her to write out himself/herself with your help. You could also encourage him/her to draw a picture as well.

¨ Early Grade School – have your child either write out the answer himself/herself (encourage phonetic spelling) without your help, or offer to help with spelling each word out loud one word at a time.

¨ Grade School – have your child write a sentence or two on his/her own and then read over and discuss the response. (You decide whether to correct the spelling or not)

¨ Older Child – have your child write a longer response (paragraph).

¨ As A Challenge – instead of a question ask your older child to write a story or poem about bats.

PUZZLES:

Print out my Bats Word Search: Easy Bats Word Search or Difficult Bats Word Search.

Check here for the answer keys: Easy Bats Word Search Key or Difficult Bats Word Search Key.

BOOKS:

Raid your child’s bookshelves to find any books with bats in them.

Go to the library with your child to find some books about bats.

Go to the library on your own to find books about bats from both fiction and nonfiction to have already on hand for your Theme Day. Many libraries allow you to go online and search for titles based on subject (Search for “bats” under “Children’s Books”). Reserve them if you can to save time.

Try to find some of these nonfiction/learning titles:

· Bats, by Sophie Lockwood, The Child’s World, 2008 – This book would be better for older kids as it offers more text and facts than the others listed below.

· Bats: The Amazing Upside-downers, by Phyllis J. Perry, Franklin watts, 1998 – this is another good book for older kids as again it has more text.

· The Bat’s Cave: A Dark City, by Joyce Markovics, Bearport Publishing, 2010 – Lots of facts and photos make this a good learning book for kids interested in bats.

· Bats! Strange and Wonderful, by Laurence Pringle and illustrated by Meryl Henderson, Boyds Mills Press, 2000 – This looks like a picture book with its watercolour illustrations but is a thorough overview of bats.

· Endangered Bats, by Bobbie Kalman & Kristina Lundblad, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2006 – A thorough but easy to read book about bats that includes ways to save the bats.

· Let’s Look at Bats, by Ruth Berman, Lerner Publications Company, 2010 – Part of the Lightning Bolt Books Animal Close-Ups series, this has very large and easy text and many photographs making this a good nonfiction book for the youngest in your family.

· National Geographic Readers: Bats, by Elizabeth Carney, National Geographic, 2010 – This easy reader offers a good overview of bat facts and has some great photographs.

· Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats, by Ann Earle and illustrated by Henry Cole, HarperCollinsPublishers, 1995 – Part of the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science Book series (stage 2) this one looks like a picture book with its illustrations but offers a lot of information about bats.

Here are some picture books about bats:

· Bats at the Beach, written and illustrated by Brian Lies, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 – This rhyming picture book offers fun illustrations and a cute story of bats frolicking at the beach. Brian Lies has two other similar bat stories: Bats at the Library and Bats at the Ballgame.

· Baby Bat’s Lullaby, by Jacquelyn Mitchard and illustrated by Julia Noonan, Harper CollinsPublishers, 2004 – This is a sweet little bedtime book with rhyming text and acrylic paintings.

· Belfry Bat the Scaredy Cat, by Gayle McGuire Tremblay and illustrated by Chum McLeod, second Story press, 1997 – Belfry the bat is afraid of many things including flying but one day Mildred the fastest witch who ever lived chooses her to sit on the front of her broom to use her bat radar to aid the witch in a race against a roller coaster!

· Daft Bat, by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross, Andersen Press, 2006 – all the wild young animals think bat is a little bit daft because she says silly things like she needs an umbrella to keep her feet dry, but when the wise owl tells them to look at things from the bat’s point of view they begin to understand what’s going on. We loved how the words turned upside-down in this book when the animals did!

· Little Bat’s Halloween Story, written by Diane Mayr and illustrated by Gideon Kendall, Alberta Whitman & Company, 2001 – This is a sweet story of a young bat that lives in a library. He wants to see the pictures in the books when the librarian reads to the children but his mother warns him that it is dangerous to get too close but she tells him if he waits long enough there will be a time when he can see the pictures: Halloween!

· The Magic School Bus: Going Batty, written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce degen, scholastic Inc., 1996 – when Ms. Frizzle leads parent’s night in a spooky castle her students begin to worry about vampires and when they try to escape on the magic bus they are soon transformed into bats themselves! Fun and full of facts, like the other Magic School Bus books.

· A Promise to the Sun: An African Story, by Tololwa M. Mollel and illustrated by Beatriz Vidal, Little Brown and Company, 1992 – This tale explains why bats fly only at night and why the sun pauses for a few moments before sinking below the horizon.

· Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon, Harcourt, Inc., 1993 – When Stellaluna and her mother are attacked by an owl she gets lost and is adopted by a mama bird who tries to teach her to be a good little bird.

CRAFTS:

COFFEE FILTER BAT:

Materials: Clothespins, black and brown paint, black or white or silver glitter (Optional), white glue, child safe scissors, newspaper to cover work area, paint brushes and paint pallet (or wax paper), art smock or old clothes to wear when painting.

Step 1: Cut a circular coffee filter in half and then scallop the edges to make them more bat like.

Step 2: Have your child paint the coffee filters the colour of a bat (My eldest choose brown, my youngest choose black and brown) and then have your child paint the clothespin as well.

Step 3: (Optional) Sprinkle black or silver or white glitter onto the wet paint so it sticks.

Step 4: When the coffee filter and clothespin are dry open the clothes pin to slide the coffee filter wings in and then close to keep firm. Your child can now paint white eyes or glue googly eyes to the bats.

NOTE: You can add a string to hang these from the ceiling as a cool Halloween decoration.

POM-POM BAT:

Materials: A copy of my Bat Craft Templates Printable, pencil, child safe scissors, black paper, black or brown or tawny pom-poms, googly eyes, white glue, wax paper.

Step 1: Cut out the smallest bat on my Bat Craft Template and then have your child trace around it on black paper using a pencil. Your child can make as many as he/she likes.

Step 2: Have your child cut out the bat shape form the black paper (or help smaller children).

Step 3: Lay the black bat shapes on wax paper and then using white glue attach a big pom-pom to the middle as the bat’s belly and then glue on two googly eyes.

Step 4: Let the glue dry and then display. You can tape string on the back to have them hang from the ceiling.

BAT GARLAND:

Materials: Black or brown paper, child safe scissors, a copy of my Bat Craft Templates Printable, pencil, child safe scissors, clear tape.

Step 1: Cut out the smallest bat on my Bat Craft Template and then have your child trace around it on black paper using a pencil.

Step 2: Cut the black or brown paper into many long strips approximately the height of the bat template and then fold the strips according style to make bat paper dolls.

Step 3: Have your child trace the bat on the top fold of each strip and then help him/her to cut the bat out but make sure to leave the tips of the wings still attached. If the bats come apart don’t worry about it because you can always reattach them with the tape.

Step 4: Carefully open the paper folds to reveal a line of bats attached by wings.

Step 5: Arrange the bats on a table or on the floor in a curve to make the garland and then attach each strip with clear tape. Carefully lift from the ground and tape or pin to the wall or a window for a batty decoration.

NOTE: you could also just attach individual paper bats to black yarn with either tape or by using a hole punch to the bats.

BOOKMARK:

Materials: A copy of my Bat Craft Templates Printable, pencil, child safe scissors, black construction paper (you need firm paper for this craft to last), googly eyes, white glue.

Step 1: Cut out the medium bat shape from the Bat Craft Template and then have your child trace around it onto black paper using a pencil.

Step 2: Help your child to cut the shape out.

Step 3: Have your child glue googly eyes to the bat and let it dry.

Step 4: Now you can use the bat’s winds as a bookmark!

NOTE: You could also attach a string and hang from the ceiling or tape to walls or windows for decoration!

MASK:

Materials: A copy of my Bat Craft Templates Printable, pencil, child safe scissors, black foam or black construction paper (I couldn’t find black foam when we made this so we used paper—basically the foam or construction paper will make the mask last longer), whole punch, black yarn.

Step 1: Cut out the largest bat shape (wings) from the Bat Craft Template and then have your child trace around it onto black craft foam or black construction paper.

Step 2: Help your child cut out the shape.

Step 3: Wrap gently around your child’s head and mark with your finger where your child’s eyes are (you could also use a pair of sunglasses as a guide and lay them on the black wings). Draw two eye holes and then cut them out for your child.

Step 4: Use a hold punch to cut out two holes near the tops of the bat wings to string the yarn through.

Step 5: Tie two pieces of black yarn to the mask and then your child can wear it once you’ve tied it to his/her head.

TOILET ROLL BATS:

Materials: Empty paper rolls, brown or black paint and paint brushes, brown or black paper, child safe scissors, pencil, a copy of my Bat Craft Templates Printable, googly eyes, white glue and glue stick, wax paper, newspaper to cover your work area, art smock or old clothes to wear when painting.

Step 1: Have your child paint the paper roll the colour of his/her choice (black or brown).

Step 2: While the paint dries, cut out the largest bat shape (wings) from the Bat Craft Template and then have your child trace around it onto black or brown paper.

Step 3: Help your child cut the bat wings out.

Step 4: Help your child cut bat ears from the scraps of paper.

Step 5: Once the paint is dry lay the wings on a sheet of wax paper and apply some white glue to the middle of the wings. Lay the painted toilet roll onto the wings.

Step 6: Glue the eyes to the paper roll using white glue.

Step 7: Glue the paper ears to the paper roll by using a glue stick and then pinch and hold to the count of 10 to attach.

OTHER:

What other fun crafts can you make using our Bat Craft Templates Printable! Send us a note and a photo to share your ideas to info@familythemedays.ca.

STICKER COLLAGE:

Materials: Orange or yellow paper, black paper, bat stickers.

Step 1: Cut out a moon shape from the orange or yellow paper or have your child do so.

Step 2: Have your child glue the moon to black paper.

Step 3: Now let your child arrange the bat stickers on the moon!

FOOD:

INTERESTING FACT: 70% of bats feed on insects and small animals, while the rest feed on fruits (those are called frugivores).

SNACK:

Batty for Fruit:

Note: bats like to eat fruit so why not serve some up for a healthy snack.

Ingredients: Grapes, strawberries, melon, banana, mango, apple, mandarin orange, or any other fruit your child may like, toothpicks for mini kabobs or bamboo stick skewers for large ones (and for children who are older).

Step 1: Cut the melon, banana, mango, apple etc. into bite sized pieces

Step 2: Thread the washed fruit (like strawberries and grapes) onto the toothpicks or skewers and thread the cut fruit pieces as well. If you don’t want your little ones to have toothpicks or skewers then just serve this as a fruit salad.

Cinnamon Bat Crisps:

Ingredients: Whole wheat tortillas, bat cookie cutter (around Halloween time you can find these in the dollar store), cinnamon and sugar (white or brown will work).

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375F.

Step 2: Use the cookie cutter to cut out bat shapes from the tortilla.

Step 3: Lay the bat shapes on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Step 4: Bake until crispy. I forgot to time how long ours took to crisp up. Sorry! Just keep an eye on them and flip them when they are the golden colour you want.

Step 5: Serve alone, or with yogurt to dip into or along with the fruit skewers or fruit salad (above).

Cheesy Bats:

I adapted this recipe from here: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/bat-bites-10000001875211/

Instead of using black pepper on the outside I used poppy seeds only. Instead of a red pepper corn in the middle of the olive eye I used small pieces of red pepper. I also used less goat’s cheese and pesto for the picky pallets in my family. Lastly, I made the bat wings out of left over tortillas from the crisp recipes—I just left them in the oven longer to give them that dark brown colour!

LUNCH:

Batty sandwiches : use a bat cookie cutter (around Halloween time you can find these in the dollar store) to cut out the bread (and cheese to fit the bread). Assemble the cheese and bread to make a sandwich or top the bat bread with your child’s favourite spreads (like jam, peanut butter, cream cheese…).

Tomato Soup with Savoury Bat Crisps: Follow the recipe for Cinnamon Bat Crisps above but instead of adding cinnamon and sugar sprinkle with chili power or paprika and parmesan cheese for a more savoury bite. Add your crisps to some red tomato soup. Check out our Facebook More Goodies Page for a photo of this lunch: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.510290308998454.127299.194379807256174&type=3

DESSERT:

Bat Cupcakes: Make some cupcakes using your favourite recipe (try a Pumpkin Spice recipe for something a littler different but perfect for Halloween) and then decorate. I used chocolate icing to cover the cupcakes and carefully split circular chocolate wafer cookies (with a wet knife) to use as wings. I added a brown M&M nose and two yellow M&Ms for eyes and dabbed a bit of black Scribbler icing on top as pupils. I broke little pieces of chocolate wafer cookies for the ears.

Bat Cookies: Use a Halloween bat cookie cutter and make your favourite sugar cookie recipe to create some batty treats.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

BRAINSTORM:

For an easy learning activity to work on together as a family Print out my Bats: Fun Facts Worksheet and as you read about bats take turns writing interesting facts about bats on the sheet.

CHART:

Print out my All About Bats Worksheet and together as a family as you read about bats from your library books fill in the spaces about the various species of bats.

ECHOLOCATION:

NOTE: Echolocation is what bats use to locate and identify objects in the dark. It is a type of sonar. Check here for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_echolocation

ECHO GAME:

Step 1: Explain to your child what an echo is – a sound that bounces off an object and returns to you. The closer you are to the object the faster the echo. The farther away you are from the object the slower the sound returns.

Step 2: Blindfold your child (you know whether or note your child will like this. If you have a small child who does not want to be blindfolded simply use this as a science experiment and not a game). Have your child sit in a chair and hum.

Step 3: Place a cookie sheet in front of your child while he/she hums. Can he/she hear the echo?

Step 4: Now comes the game. Place the cookie sheet further away from your child and have him/her raise his/her hand when they think the cookie sheet is near his/her face.

WEBSITES:

Here is a link to some quick answers kids may have about bats: http://www.bats4kids.org/

For more facts about bats check here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/vampire-bat/

For a video about bats check this link: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/kids/animals-pets-kids/wild-detectives-kids/wd-ep9-bats/

For more bat ideas and facts try this page: http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/batsforkids.html

For bat varieties check here: http://www.about-bats.com/types-of-bats.html

If you’re really batty for bats you can donate to help conserve them: http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/donate.html or you can adopt a bat: http://www.bats.org.uk/pages/adopt_a_bat.html

FOR FUN:

PLAY:

Make a bat cave—basically make a fort with blankets and chairs and call it a cave! Have fun!

JOKES:

Q: Why don't bats live alone?
A: They like to hang around with their friends

KNOCK KNOCK

Who’s there?

Bat.

Bat who?

Bat you’ll never guess

Q: Why did the baby vampire bat wake up crying in the night.

A: because he had “bite-mares”.

EXTENDED ACTIVITIES:

AUDIO VISUAL:

Search through your child’s DVD/ video collection (or visit your local library before hand or the Video Store) to find your child’s favourite shows with bats in them.

For a movie with a funny bat character in it watch:

· Ferngully

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES:

Build a bat house for your backyard and help these useful mammals. Try here for some plans: http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_protection/wildlife_facts/bats/bat_house.asp

FIELD TRIP:

Go to the zoo and visit the bats. If you are lucky enough to live near a zoo with a bat house then go on a family field trip to visit them. If you live in an area that has bats in the wild you may just need to go for a walk. We saw lots of bats when visiting family in Australia just by walking in the botanical gardens.

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Are you batty for bats?

(Bats in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Australia)

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