Farm Animal Care Curriculum Resource (Page 21 of 42) in pdf

Lesson #4: Animal Needs

Grades K-5: Post-trip Lesson

Objectives: The student will examine the needs of pets and other animals and compare them with

their own needs.

Background:

Animals need many of the same things we need – food, shelter, water, cleanliness and love. Farm

animals are no different, but the people who raise them do not keep them for the same reason you keep

your pets. They raise them to help provide food and other products for you and many other people. That

doesn’t mean they don’t care for them, though. Farmers must care for their animals to keep them

healthy and consequently productive.

Many animal owners are boys and girls not much older than you who raise and show animals as

projects for 4-H or FFA (Agricultural Education). All kinds of animals are on display at the fair—from

rabbits and chickens to dairy cows and even llamas. The best animals are the ones that win the largest

premiums, or cash prizes, for their owners. In our country, the first fairs were started so animal owners

would have a place to show off new breeds of animals and find buyers for their animals. The livestock

show at the fair serves the same purpose today.

Materials:

• poster board

• magazines

• scissors

• glue

Procedures:

1. Invite students to bring photos of their pets from home. Lead a discussion about what their

pets need to be healthy. Invite students who don’t have pets to share their observations of

animals in other situations—in the homes of friends or relatives, at the zoo, etc.

2. Ask students if they have ever visited an animal barn at a farm, the county or state fair. What

kinds of animals did they see? What were the animals doing? Why were they there? Ask students

if they have older brothers or sisters who show animals at the fair.

3. Share background information.

4. Draw a line down the middle of a poster boards to make two columns. Label one column

“What I Need” and the other column “What Animals Need.” Cut out pictures from magazines

that students can recognize as depicting their own needs. Cut out another set of pictures

depicting the needs of a variety of animals—pets, farm animals, wildlife and exotic animals.

Place all the pictures in a box and mix them together. Have students take the pictures from the

box one at a time and place them on the board under the proper heading.

5. Discuss how many of the needs for animals are the same as those for people. Have students

complete the Animal Needs worksheet.

Animal Chores

Compiled by Busy Barns Adventure Farm LLC

Page 21

Farm Animal Care Curriculum Resource Page 21