Sensory activities that encourage children to combine the sense of touch, sight, sound, taste and smell, help to build children’s cognitive skills.
They have long been utilized in early childhood education as a vital activity for learning.
The activity below is a fun way to teach young children the important aspects of feeding a dog.
What you’ll need:
- A medium sized container (plastic is best)
- Chocolate puff cereal*
- Small bowl
- Scoops of various sizes
- Large Spoon
Directions
- Discuss with your children about the types of food they eat and why healthy eating is important. Ask questions about the differences between human food and dog food.
- You can watch a video about feeding a puppy here: Feeding a Puppy and learn more about human vs dog foods here: Human Foods Dogs Can (and Cannot) Eat
- Lay out the container filled with puff cereal and place the bowl and scoops nearby.
- Encourage them to use the scoop or spoon to fill the “dog bowl.” They can consider how much to give a small dog and a large dog and how often to feed a puppy versus an older dog.
- Allow them to explore the bin however they would like.
- Follow up this activity with these fun coloring pages about being a responsible dog owner, which includes the importance of feeding: Responsible Dog Ownership Coloring Pages
References
Human Foods Dogs Can and Can’t Eat. (2015, December 03). Retrieved fromhttps://www.akc.org/content/health/articles/human-foods-dogs-can-and-cant-eat/
Mansourian, E. (2016, June 15). Puppy Feeding Fundamentals. Retrieved fromhttps://www.akc.org/content/health/articles/puppy-feeding-fundamentals/
Eminens. (n.d.) Untitled [photo]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/dog-eat-fressnapf-dog-food-2210717/.