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10 Ways to Make it Fun

with Trish Corlew

Animal Adventure typography with a feather above
Animals have a way of capturing our children’s imagination. From the graceful leap of a white-tailed deer to the beautiful patterns of a butterfly’s wings, the animal kingdom is full of wonders just waiting to be explored.

But let’s be real—reading about animals in a textbook doesn’t always spark that same excitement. So, let’s turn learning about animals into a fun adventure!

1. Field Trips with Purpose
There’s nothing quite like seeing an animal up close and in its natural habitat! Head to the zoo, a local nature preserve, a local wildlife refuge, a nearby farm, or even just step outside and start observing. Encourage your children to take field notes, sketch what they see, and record behaviors like real wildlife biologists. Nature journals are a great way to help them slow down and notice the little details they might otherwise miss.
A pair of beige and dark grey binoculars with a modern design.
2. Wildlife Watching at Home
You don’t have to travel far to find incredible wildlife! Set up a bird feeder, plant a butterfly garden, or stack some logs to attract bugs and small creatures. Keep binoculars by the window and let your kiddos track what they see. Which birds visit most often? Do squirrels act differently in the rain versus the sun?

Want to go a little more high-tech? Set up a trail cam and, each morning, study what passed through last night. Have your children log their observations and turn the data into a graph!

3. Adopt an Animal (Symbolically!)
Want to make learning more personal? Many conservation organizations let you “adopt” an endangered animal. Many will assign a specific animal and send you updates, fun facts, and photos regularly. Whether it’s a panda, a sea turtle, a manatee, or a snow leopard, having a connection to a real animal makes studying its habits and habitat even more meaningful—and you are helping them survive by supporting the conservation organization.
4. Animal Role-Play & Storytelling
Time for a little PE with a twist! Challenge your children to move like their favorite animals. They can slither like a snake, hop like a frog, or stalk like a tiger. Then, take it a step further: Have them create a short story from their animal’s perspective. What challenges does it face? What’s its daily routine? What adventures might it have? This is a fun way to mix movement, creativity, and science all in one! They don’t have to write their stories down—just let their creativity flow! Embrace the spontaneity of the moment and watch their imaginations take off.
5. Hands-On Science: Tracks & Scat!
Okay, boy mom moment here—yes, scat (aka poop!) can be super fascinating! 😆 Take a nature walk and look for tracks, feathers, or other signs of wildlife. Make plaster casts of footprints, identify droppings (gross but educational), and use an animal tracks guide to determine which creatures have been roaming nearby. Science is everywhere; sometimes, you just have to look down (and try not to step in it)!
People observing camels in an enclosure at a park or zoo.
6. Animal-Themed Art & Craft Projects
Get creative and bring animal habitats to life! Build a diorama of an ecosystem, make a collage of different fur patterns, or try crafting a bird’s nest out of twigs and grass. Hands-on projects help our children process and retain information in a whole new way and let’s be honest, they’re fun!
7. Watch Live Animal Cams
Want to see a bald eagle feeding its chicks? Or a giraffe roaming the savanna? Thanks to live animal cams, you can watch wildlife from around the world in real-time. These cams are a fantastic way to see animal behaviors in their natural environment without ever leaving your house!
8. Read Engaging Animal Books
Skip the dry textbooks and grab an animal story that pulls your kiddos right into the wild! Books like Owls in the Family, The One and Only Ivan, or beautifully illustrated non-fiction books bring the animal world to life in a way that’s both educational and immersive.
9. Create a ‘Who Would Win?’ Challenge
What happens when a shark meets an octopus? Who wins in a showdown between a cheetah and a gazelle? Have your children pick two animals, research their strengths and weaknesses, and predict the outcome of a theoretical face-off. This is a fun way to dig into animal adaptations, strengths and weaknesses, survival strategies, and the balance of predator and prey.
10. Become Wildlife Detectives
Turn your children into animal investigators! Give them a wildlife mystery to solve:

  • Why do flamingos stand on one leg?
  • How do bats “see” in the dark?
  • Why do some animals change colors?

Let them research, form theories, and present their findings like real scientists. This strengthens critical thinking skills while making learning more engaging and fun.

When we let curiosity lead, learning becomes a fun adventure. The animal kingdom is full of endless opportunities to wonder, question, and discover. So have your kiddos grab the binoculars, put on their detective hat, and get ready for some wild learning!
- Trish
headshot of Trish Corlew
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rish Corlew loves to teach and mentor homeschool moms in how to adopt the hands-on, fun, and active learning style she fell in love with when she was involved with her kids’ Montessori school before homeschooling. As the owner of Hip Homeschool Moms, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Only Passionate Curiosity, and Love These Recipes—Trish has been equipping homeschool moms to spark their children’s interests in order to become life-long learners. One of her favorite ways to do this is through travel! With her popular community, Homeschool Travel Adventures, she has taken homeschooling families on incredible educational adventures for nine years.

She’s married to David, her best friend and husband of 26 years, and they have three adult sons. Originally from the coast of North Carolina, she now lives in rural West Tennessee on a forty-acre farm. In her spare time—her very spare time—Trish loves to travel, write, and work in the garden. You’ll often find her trying to learn something new, modeling that learning is indeed a life-long endeavor!

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