Florida: Panther

The state mammal of Florida is the panther. This is an endangered (said to be less than 100 left) type of cougar.

Today we read:

S is for Sunshine: A Florida Alphabet by Carol Crane

Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle

Panther: Shadow of the Swamp by Jonathan London

Florida Panther: Struggle for Survival by William Caper

Lisa in the Jungle by Anne Gutman (this book has nothing to do with FL, other than it talks about panthers, but they happen to be black panthers. We incorporated it anyway).

I really wanted Arin to make a diorama, but we didn't have a shoe box, so we settled for a picture instead. First, I had her paint a piece of cardstock blue. She loves to paint, so this was great fun for her.

Next, we looked through magazines and gathered pictures of foliage. Arin cut these pictures into small pieces.

She used the pieces to glue to the bottom of the painted page as grass (mosiac). We let the picture finish drying overnight.

Today, we went outside together and gathered pine needles and small branches from trees. I also printed two panther pictures from enchantedlearning.com . Arin colored the panthers brown and I cut them out for her. She glued them onto her picture, along with the tree branches. For the sun, I painted her finger and helped her press it onto paper in a circular pattern. I cut that out and Arin glued it where she wanted it.

To find out more about the Florida Panther, you can visit:

http://www.floridapanthernet.org/

http://www.floridapanther.org/

http://www.fl-panther.com/

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/florida_panther.htm