As a Montessori teacher, I loved to introduce oviparous animals with fillable eggs in the spring. My 4-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, has been totally in love with plastic Easter eggs since she was a toddler. So I decided to introduce oviparous animals with the eggs this year.
Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Materials Used for Oviparous Animals Book and Easter Egg Work
Oviparous Animals Book Pages and Basket of Eggs with Oviparous Animals
- Montessori Services Basket
- Free Oviparous Animals Emergent Reader by Deedee Wills at Teachers Pay Teachers
- Small Plastic Easter Eggs
- Safari Ltd. Good Luck Minis – Backyard (frog, snake, and cardinal), Wild American (alligator), and Sea Life (sea turtle) to go with the types of animals in the Oviparous Animals book
Introducing Oviparous and Viviparous Animals
Stapling Oviparous Animals Book
There’s a variety of ways to introduce oviparous animals, but I simply used the printable book. It’s an emergent reader, which Zoey loved. Its explanation of oviparous and viviparous is very clear. For example, the page with the alligator says: “Is an alligator oviparous? Yes, it lays eggs.” It continues in the same way with a snake, frog, and turtle. Then it shows a mother and baby giraffe with the words: “Is a giraffe oviparous? No, giraffes are viviparous. They give birth to living offspring.”
Zoey stapled the book right away so that we could read it. She couldn’t wait to open the eggs after reading the book, so she completed the book later. Then Zoey wrote her name on the book cover and colored all the animals. She colored them in rainbow colors, which was very cool!
Having Fun Finding Oviparous Animals in Fillable Easter Eggs
Zoey was so excited to open all the eggs to see the animals in them! She repeated the activity a number of times.
Materials Used with the Book Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones
Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones Book with Animals That Lay Eggs
- Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones by Ruth Heller
- Variety of Safari Ltd. Animals that Lay Eggs (I’ve linked to my post with lots of free TOOB keys that make it easy to see which animals are included)
- Update: If you don’t have miniature oviparous animals available, you could place individual pictures from my free oviparous animal cutting strips in each egg or small versions of the free oviparous animal sorting cards from Teachers Pay Teachers.
- Large Plastic Easter Eggs (many of the Safari Ltd. animals need large eggs)
I love Ruth Heller books for their information and rhyming verses. Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones is perfect for introducing a wide variety of oviparous animals.
I kept both baskets on our shelves after Zoey worked with them. I’m sure they’ll continue to be a super-fun spring activity for her.
Extended Work with Oviparous and Viviparous Animals
Outdoor Oviparous and Viviparous Animals Activity Using Easter Eggs and Safari Ltd Animal Figures
Update: Zoey, wanted to do more Easter egg activities the day before Easter, so we did another extension of our oviparous animals/viviparous animals activities. I had some plastic Easter eggs that change colors outdoors, so I placed a Safari Ltd. oviparous animal in each one. Then I hid a variety of viviparous animals in the Easter grass in an Easter basket underneath the plastic eggs. We took the eggs outdoors to observe the color change. Then we sat under a tree with almost-4-month-old Sophia on a topponcino on the grass. In this photo, Zoey just opened the egg with the duck-billed platypus. It was a fun activity and a great way to enjoy the outdoors!
More Oviparous Animal Resources
- Free Oviparous Animal Printables and Montessori-Inspired Oviparous Animal Activities
- Free Oviparous Animal Songs and Educational Videos
- Free Egg Do-a-Dot Phonics Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Oviparous Animal Cutting Strips
- Montessori-Inspired Life Cycle Activities
- Free Easter Egg Printables and Montessori-Inspired Easter Egg Activities
- Check out my monthly themed posts for oviparous animals as the main theme. Many of them have been about oviparous animals.
Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!
If this is your first time visiting Living Montessori Now, welcome! If you haven’t already, please join us on our Living Montessori Now Facebook page where you’ll find a Free Printable of the Day and lots of inspiration and ideas for parenting and teaching! And please follow me on Instagram, Pinterest (lots of Montessori-, holiday-, and theme-related boards), and YouTube. While you’re here, please check out the Living Montessori Now shop.
And don’t forget one of the best ways to follow me by signing up for my weekly newsletter. You’ll receive some awesome freebies in the process!
Leave a Reply