Leaping Lizards Week

It’s week two of “Zebee’s Summer Zoo Camp” and we are going to play with lizards!

All pictures in this slide show are courtesy of Free Lizard Pictures.

Lizards, lizards everywhere! Did you know there are nearly 5,000 species of lizards? They can be found on all continents except Antarctica. They’ve been around since the dinosaur age.

What kind of lizards live where you are? Have your mom or dad go on a lizard hunt with you. Look for lizards in your back yard or park down the street. Take a picture or draw a picture of one.

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What’s your favorite? This week we’re going to learn about chameleons and iguanas. But first, let’s look as some

Basic Lizard Facts
* The scientific name for the lizard family is Lacertilia, this is part of the squamate reptile family. Each sub species of lizards has their own scientific name also.
* Some lizards can shed their tail as a defense. They do this so they can get away from animals that are trying to eat them.
* Most lizards are very good climbers and like to climb trees.
* Most lizards lay eggs.
Fun Facts about Lizards
* Some lizards can even climb up glass, like geckos.
* Some lizards can change the color of their scales to either communicate with other lizards or to control their temperature, like chameleons.
* Sometimes color change is used for camouflage or to hide from a would be enemy.
Now let’s check out C h a m e l e o n s.

Watch this super cool video from National Geographic.


Chameleon Basic Facts
* They are all in the family Chamaeleonidae and there are 135 different species.
* They have prehensile tails which means it can grab onto things, kind of like another hand.
* Chameleons live in trees and are insectivores. This means they eat insects.
* They are found in Africa, Madagascar, Southern Europe, the Middle East, India and Sri Lanka.


Chameleon Fun Facts
* Their eyes can move in different directions from each other, this helps them hunt.
* Chameleons have long tongues, sometimes longer than their body. They can hit an insect in about 30 thousandths of a second. That’s really fast.
* They can change color to show other chameleons how they feel or to hide. What colors can they change to? pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, yellow and turquoise. Cool, huh?
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Help our baby chameleon get out of the maze. maze.

Another type of lizard is the iguana.

Watch this video with lots of iguana facts.

Did you learn a lot about iguanas from the video? I sure did.

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Here are some pictures of iguanas I took in Puerto Rico.

He looks like he’s about to jump in the water.
This one shed his tail. I wonder what was after him?
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Have fun with this easy jigsaw puzzle.

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Over at National Geographic Kids you can print out and color this pictue of marine iguanas from the Galapagos Islands.
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Did you know there are pink iguanas ? Read about them and where they live.

Fun With Words

Okay, let’s get creative! Write an 8 sentence story about lizards. What’s that? Here’s an example:

Danny loved sailing on the ocean with dad.
Loved the feel of the wind on his face.
Sailing was something Danny wanted to do all the time.
On the sailboat, Danny was the First mate.
The First Mate got to help the Captain sail the boat.
Ocean trips were always fun.
With dad’s help, the first thing he did was put up the sails.
Dad was a good Captain.

The first sentence has eight words. Each of the next seven sentences starts with the next word in the sentence. See how you can read the first sentence both across and down?
Have fun and remember to send it it for points towards the prizes we’ll be giving away. We will share them with the other campers over at Zebee’s blog.

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Try your hand at the Lenny the Lizard game.

Wednesday is arts and crafts day. Today we have several projects for you to do.

Let's start by learning how to draw a lizard. Watch this video. Give it a try.

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Now let's make a foam and pipe cleaner lizard. Get your foam, pipe cleaners and wiggle eyes together. Sit down and watch this video and have some fun!

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Next up, bubble wrap lizard with scales. This idea came from Preschool education. Print out this pattern by clicking on the picture.


Now cut it out and place over bubble wrap. Cut the bubble wrap out in the shape of your pattern. Using bright green paint and a mini roller, roll paint on bubble wrap.
Press a piece of paper over the bubbles to make your scaly lizard picture.
When it's dry, draw in the eyes and hang on the fridge.

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Do you have an older brother or sister that likes lizards? How about a parent? Here's a cool 3-D lizard you can make with their help.

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Our exhibit this week for our mural is the Chameleon habitat.


Print out, color and save this for your mural.
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