World Otter Day on May 25
Otter’s sensory game, puppets, drawing & cucumber sandwiches!
This is a specially cute and fun weekend as we celebrate with the lovely otters. Otters are shy and less known about semi-aquatic animals.
Now, why are we celebrating otters? Otters are an essential keystone species.
A “keystone species” is a species that is critical to how an ecosystem functions because it has large-scale effects on the communities in which it lives. Thus similar to tigers, otters' presence shows a healthy environment.
India is home to 3 of the 13 species of otters found worldwide. These are - Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra); Smooth-coated Otter (Lutra perspicillata) and Small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus).
Now, as we celebrate them, we themed a craft activity to make otters for you. Next, you can chew on some simple sandwiches while you learn to draw an otter.
Sea otters have a special ability to "feel its way" through dark or murky water. So, we can try a similar game and tune up our senses to find out objects hidden in our cool summer bubble bath tub!
Paper Bag Sea Otter Craft
Otter’s sensory game, puppets, drawing & cucumber sandwiches!
This is a specially cute and fun weekend as we celebrate with the lovely otters. Otters are shy and less known about semi-aquatic animals.
Now, why are we celebrating otters? Otters are an essential keystone species.
A “keystone species” is a species that is critical to how an ecosystem functions because it has large-scale effects on the communities in which it lives. Thus similar to tigers, otters' presence shows a healthy environment.
India is home to 3 of the 13 species of otters found worldwide. These are - Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra); Smooth-coated Otter (Lutra perspicillata) and Small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus).
Now, as we celebrate them, we themed a craft activity to make otters for you. Next, you can chew on some simple sandwiches while you learn to draw an otter.
Sea otters have a special ability to "feel its way" through dark or murky water. So, we can try a similar game and tune up our senses to find out objects hidden in our cool summer bubble bath tub!
Paper Bag Sea Otter Craft
Materials required
Brown paper lunch bag
Newspaper or other material to stuff your lunch bag
Rubberband
White cardstock and brown crayon or colored pencil
Scissors
Glue
Sea Otter Template and baby otter template as provided in the newspaper
Directions
1. Stuff a brown paper lunch bag about 2/3 full with newspaper or other material (shredded paper, fiberfill etc.)
2. Gather the bag together below the stuffing and rubber band it together.
3. Cut the bottom of the paper bag (below the rubber band) into two, creating two sea otter feet.
4. Cut out the printed template from Free Press School Newspaper. You can add some brown details or leave it as is.
5. Cut out the head, two arms, and two feet.
6. Glue or staple them onto your stuffed paper bag.
7. Cut out the baby sea otter and glue him to his mother sea otter.
Connect the dots and learn to draw
While you connect the dots and find out what you end up drawing… here is a fun fact to add to your general knowledge:
“Sea otters spend a lot of time doing their hair! To keep their dense fur coat waterproof, an otter will spend many hours a day cleaning and grooming.”
Cucumber sandwiches
Ingredients
4 slices thin-sliced, white bread (or any other choice)
2 ounces, room temperature cream cheese (or good quality butter, less)
½ small cucumber, thinly sliced
Instructions
Peel the cucumber, and slice it thinly.
Spread soft/room temperature cream cheese or butter on two slices of bread.
Arrange the cucumber slices, overlapping slightly, on one slice of bread and top with the other.
Slice off the edges with a sharp serrated knife, wiping with a damp paper towel after each cut. Next, cut into fingers (or triangles). Whether you cut them into fingers or triangles, you'll end up with two finger sandwiches.
If you need to make cucumber sandwiches ahead of time, keep them in a sealed container with a paper towel inside for a few hours, and refrigerate them.
Otter senses game
Materials List
A bubble shampoo
Large tray or tub of water
Several objects that can be submerged in water, like plastic toys or seashells
Gaming like Otters
Prepare a tub with all the submerged objects.
Add a bubble bath shampoo so all the objects are hidden underneath.
Every player must be blindfolded, and what you’re going to do is dip your hand in the tub of water and grab a thing.
Now, the participant has to identify that object.
The participant can feel the object and the participant can go ahead and manipulate that with her fingers. And now, "What is it?"
See how many of those objects a participant can identify.
And then you could have the big reveal at the end and see how close they got to what items are actually inside that tub.
Brown paper lunch bag
Newspaper or other material to stuff your lunch bag
Rubberband
White cardstock and brown crayon or colored pencil
Scissors
Glue
Sea Otter Template and baby otter template as provided in the newspaper
Directions
1. Stuff a brown paper lunch bag about 2/3 full with newspaper or other material (shredded paper, fiberfill etc.)
2. Gather the bag together below the stuffing and rubber band it together.
3. Cut the bottom of the paper bag (below the rubber band) into two, creating two sea otter feet.
4. Cut out the printed template from Free Press School Newspaper. You can add some brown details or leave it as is.
5. Cut out the head, two arms, and two feet.
6. Glue or staple them onto your stuffed paper bag.
7. Cut out the baby sea otter and glue him to his mother sea otter.
Connect the dots and learn to draw
While you connect the dots and find out what you end up drawing… here is a fun fact to add to your general knowledge:
“Sea otters spend a lot of time doing their hair! To keep their dense fur coat waterproof, an otter will spend many hours a day cleaning and grooming.”
Cucumber sandwiches
Ingredients
4 slices thin-sliced, white bread (or any other choice)
2 ounces, room temperature cream cheese (or good quality butter, less)
½ small cucumber, thinly sliced
Instructions
Peel the cucumber, and slice it thinly.
Spread soft/room temperature cream cheese or butter on two slices of bread.
Arrange the cucumber slices, overlapping slightly, on one slice of bread and top with the other.
Slice off the edges with a sharp serrated knife, wiping with a damp paper towel after each cut. Next, cut into fingers (or triangles). Whether you cut them into fingers or triangles, you'll end up with two finger sandwiches.
If you need to make cucumber sandwiches ahead of time, keep them in a sealed container with a paper towel inside for a few hours, and refrigerate them.
Otter senses game
Materials List
A bubble shampoo
Large tray or tub of water
Several objects that can be submerged in water, like plastic toys or seashells
Gaming like Otters
Prepare a tub with all the submerged objects.
Add a bubble bath shampoo so all the objects are hidden underneath.
Every player must be blindfolded, and what you’re going to do is dip your hand in the tub of water and grab a thing.
Now, the participant has to identify that object.
The participant can feel the object and the participant can go ahead and manipulate that with her fingers. And now, "What is it?"
See how many of those objects a participant can identify.
And then you could have the big reveal at the end and see how close they got to what items are actually inside that tub.