Life Cycle: Panda Bears

After reading tons of books about pandas,

We decided to make our own.

To prepare we looked up videos on You Tube

Of a panda's life cycle

We loved this one!

I have been waiting to do salt paintings for a while,

I thought this was the perfect project.

I had her paint glue into the shape of a baby panda.

We used pink glitter and salt to sprinkle on it.

She painted on a "toddler" panda,

As well as a grown up panda.

After it dried, she painted the dry salt black.

We also made bamboo by using tissue paper

twisted around a pencil and dipped into glue.

I think my favorite part was when she was

 painting the letters on the cover.

She would say the letters she knew as she painted them.

She knew a few more than I realized!

So a perfect preschool activity would be for a teacher to make a huge letter and let the children paint it any color(s) they wished.

It is not a Newberry Award book,

But it really helped her collect what she knew about Pandas,

to something concrete and real.



Our Panda Bear Habitat

This week we are learning about

Panda Bears!

Miss S. has been obsessed with them for a while now.

So we decided to learn more about them!

We learned about their habitat

And decided to create our own.

We started with a shoe box.

Before we started I cut and hot glued some oasis in the bottom.

We studied where panda's like to live

and that they like to eat bamboo.

We went outside and gathered leaves and branches off of our tree.

And started putting them into the oasis.

She LOVED playing with the oasis.

She cut it with a butter knife and squished it into her own basket.

It was a little messy so it would have been better if her workspace would have been outside.

Next we had to make our own panda.

We used sugar cubes and markers.

I read her some books first and pointed out

the specific coloring of a panda.

I actually drew one so she could see the process.

Then she made her own.

I knew sugar cubes would come in handy!

Here's our habitat:

It  was easy, fun, and a good learning extension.


For our panda unit we also learned about the life cycle of a panda.

Here are the books we are reading this week:

Watch Me Grow: Panda

Don't you love the DK books?

This one follows the life of a panda born in the China panda refuge.

It is a great non fiction with tons of pictures.

Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?

By Eric Carle

This book is more about endangered species,

But it is good to learn how many well know animals are endangered.

Little Panda

By Joanne Ryder

This book is about how Hua Mei was

welcomed to the San Diego Zoo.

A Panda's World

By Caroline Arnold

This was a little too old for Miss S.,

But it tells a story and weaves in tons of facts.

It would be better for a child 5-10.

Panda in the Park

An Usborn Book

I had to get a board book for Baby H. to learn as well!

This one is super cute!

Leave a link in the comments if you have also done a panda theme!