We’ve been reading a lot of bat books lately in my kindergarten class.  Some books are fiction and others are non-fiction.  Obviously, the non-fiction books have a lot of great information about bats, but the fiction books are not without their important details about bats.  The kids have been very interested in learning about the claws and light weight bones of bats.  They found it interesting that bats hang by their feet and can use their wings to catch bugs at night. 

We watched a few videos about bats, which really helped us see the parts of the bat’s body.  Then, I gave the kids small pieces of Model Magic.  Model Magic is like a soft clay that dries hard.  I gave the kids time to explore with their Model Magic for a while and then we started to create our bats.

I kept the pieces small, to help kids with their fine motor development.

We worked to have a small head and body, large ears, thin wings, claws, and even the little hook on top of the wings. It was challenging for some kids to work with a small amount of Model Magic.

I’m always trying to find a variety of ways for my students to show their learning.  Using Model Magic was a great way to demonstrate with something they are creating, rather than just writing about their learning.  While they were working, I wandered around and talked to kids about the different parts of the bats they were making.  We talked about the thin wings as they flattened out their Model Magic, and big ears as they sculpted away.  The full activity didn’t take long, but kids really got a lot out of it.

Happy learning!