Backyard Safari
And more wild animal activities for preschoolers.
— By Julie Hodos on March 21, 2025
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Animals in all their various shapes and sizes fascinate children. This backyard safari game is the perfect activity to kick start teaching your 3-5 year old about wild animals. More wild animal activities for preschoolers include games, sorting activities, dissection, and learning about life cycles.
Whatever your objective is, this list will have you covered. From books and online resources, to poetry and field trips your child is going to have fun while learning about wild animals.
Table of Contents
Enriching materials for wild animal activities.
Books to read aloud.
Stop by your local library and browse for animal books appropriate to your child’s age. There are so many! Staples we enjoy in our home are the DK Life Cycles book, The Animal Kingdom as You’ve Never Seen It Before! and Our Watery World as You’ve Never Seen It Before! All by DK.
Habitats
I have found many books that teach about different kinds of animals for kids succinctly are usually habitat books. They quickly round up a lot of different creatures and knowing the environment these animals live in is helpful for understanding them more.
A favorite for our family is a series by Kate Messner: Over and Under the Pond and many more are available including the Rainforest and Wetlands. Patricia Hegarty’s books Above and Below, as well as Above and Below: Sea and Seashore are excellent for highlighting more about various types of animals.
There are many, many more and your library will have a great selection without breaking the bank.
Recommended poetry books.
If I could only keep a few books in our house these two would make the cut. There is an entire section dedicated to animals in each book. The Illustrated Treasury of Poetry for Children edited by David Ross and Doubleday’s Favorite Poems: Old and New selected by Helen Ferris. Doubleday’s is easier to come by than the treasury so I recommend beginning there!
Online resources.
We allow limited screen time in our home. And when we do allow it we prefer to turn on educational shows. My sons love Wild Kratts on PBS Kids. Our entire family enjoys watching and learning from Animal Logic on YouTube. Both of these options are great for teaching kids about wild animals.
Field Trips.
There could be wild animal activities for preschoolers just down the road. Zoos aren’t the only place where wild animals are kept and are open to the public. Wild animal sanctuaries will usually have visiting days, aviaries, aquariums, and ocean sanctuaries. Look in your area and see if there are any hidden gems.
A list of wild animal activities for in the home.
Reading about and watching animals is all very important but to help your child retain the information they learn they need to engage with it. That is where field trips and the following in-home activities play a role.
Firstly, games.
Play based learning is the best in homeschool. The game Animal Charades is an excellent choice. You can find the printable and game instructions at the link. Are you learning about nocturnal animals? There is a memory matching game at Oo is for Owl for your child to practice learning which animals are awake at night.
When was the last time you played leapfrog? It’s probably been awhile since you leapt over others in a line. Check out Ff is for Frog for instructions on how to turn this silly childhood game into an educational opportunity in your homeschool.
Secondly, sorting activities.
There are many sorting printables here at Playing for Hours. Sort animals based on if they lay eggs or not. Sort animals based on whether they’re nocturnal or diurnal. Also, Ii is for Insect has a different sorting activity for learning about insects.
Sort animals based on what kind of watery habitat they have adapted to live in. Some wild animals prefer salt, some fresh, and others go back and forth between the two. Lastly, sort animals based on the habitat they live in here.
Dissection
There are many things to dissect and learn about. Check out this post on dissecting a fake frog. Or this post on what is an owl pellet, and how to dissect one in your homeschool.
Lastly, many animals in the animal kingdom lay eggs. Take time to learn about eggs in your homeschool to have a better understanding of not just these animals but what we eat.
Lastly, life cycles.
My boys love playing with life cycle toys and when paired with life cycle printables their play becomes a great learning opportunity. The printables include a frog, chicken, butterfly, and zebra all for free.
Don’t forget that insects are a part of the animal kingdom. Here is an awesome play based learning activity: how to play-act the life cycle of a butterfly with your preschooler.
The best of play based learning wild animal activities: A backyard safari.
Not able to go to the zoo? Your child can still have fun with other wild animal activities for preschoolers. Including creating a safari in the backyard. You can use animal toys your child already has or these are an excellent option. While they’re distracted, gather these wild animal toys together.
Now, place them throughout the yard or indoors. Prop them up and place them at different eye levels. You can place animals based on where their preferred home would be. In the grass, in a tree, in water, etc. But this is unnecessary.
Next bring your child outside to observe and then hunt for animals. I will usually give them one animal to specifically seek. Such as, whoever finds the zebra first wins! To make this even more fun consider making these craft binoculars.
Wild animal activities for nocturnal creatures.
My boys loved this so much that there is a nocturnal animal’s version. After dark I place their nocturnal animal toys or similar nocturnal animal toys throughout an area in our yard and they must seek them out with flashlights.
Wild animal activities for preschoolers.
Overall, read books, watch quality videos, create interesting and play based learning opportunities at home, and travel to see the animals in person. These are all great ways to encourage your child’s interest in God’s creatures.
In short, every activity allows a child to engage with a wild animal in one way or another. To clarify, this creates opportunities for questions and discussions. Have fun and play while learning. What are some wild animal activities for preschoolers that you enjoy doing? Share in the comments below!
Wild Animal Activities: The Backyard Safari
Activity Instructions
Materials needed
- Animal figures
- Stuffed animals
- *Hat
- *Binoculars from Bb is for Bird activity
Instructions
- While your child is distracted with a nap or safe activity, gather all their toy animals, stuffed animals, etc. and take them outside.
- Carefully place them throughout the yard (this can also be done indoors). Place them standing up, prop stuffed animals up (make sure these are on dry areas), and both high and low levels.
- These do not need to be accurate safari animals and do not worry about keeping birds higher than mammals or placing marine life on dry ground.
- Once you’ve placed the toys throughout the area, go inside and have your child get ready. A hat and binoculars will help your child get even more into this activity.
- If you still have your binoculars from Bb is for Bird, that would make a great addition here.
- If you don’t have binoculars or you don’t want to make it, then plan to show your child how to make their hands into binoculars.
- Once they’re ready, take them outside and tell them we are observing animals today. Look through your “binoculars” until you spot a toy animal. Have your child tell you which one they see and you share your discovery too.
- Have fun with this until your child has found them all. They may want to repeat this and have you hide them again. Go for it!
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