This summer I’m teaching a series of Read Around the World lessons for a group of kids ages 2.5 years to 5.5 years old. You can read an explanation of how I do the lessons and some of the materials I use here.
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In our most recent lesson we visited Australia! We start every lesson by locating the country on our map and having one of the kids draw our flight path using a dry erase crayon. Then they glue the country’s stamp in their passport and I stamp the date on it.
The books we read throughout the lesson:
I left a couple of these books out of the lesson for time’s sake, but the ones not used in the lesson were still read multiple times over the week.
Australia in Colors by Nathan Olson
Great book to introduce the country.
An Austalian ABC of Animals by Bronwyn Bancroft
Great for exposing kids to Aboriginal art. The author has illustrated several other books that could be used as well.
Wombat Walkabout by Sophie Blackall
An engaging story that introduces wombats, a dingo, and several Australian plants
The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright
Sweet story about a koala who doesn’t want to let go. It includes several other Australian animals as well.
Pouch! by David Ezra Stein
Simple but fun story about a baby kangaroo who isn’t sure he’s ready to leave the pouch. My kids read it over and over again.
Diary of a Wombat and Diary of a Baby Wombat by Jackie French
Funny books about a wombat and her interactions with nearby humans.
The activities we did throughout the lesson:
-Listened to/watched Australia’s most famous folk song “Waltzing Matilda” along with pictures of Australia
-Talked about who the aboriginal people are, showed pictures, and listened to a didgeridoo being played
Made boomerangs to decorate with dot markers
Used our Australian animal TOOB figures to talk about the animals and play with them in kinetic sand along with some other TOOB animals we had. This always entertains the kids for quite a while!
Colored a kangaroo printable and put it together to be able to take the joeys in and out.
Did a kangaroo paper pouch activity where the kids hop around looking for baby kangaroos and letter Ks
Snack we ate:
Well that’s a farewell to Australia! Next stop is Russia!
