Who’s Hiding?
In this lesson, children will analyze the book's illustrations to determine which animal is hiding. The children will use the partial data in a guessing/thinking format to figure out which animal is hiding.
Lesson for:
Toddlers/Preschoolers
(See Step 5: Adapt lesson for toddlers or preschoolers.)
Content Area:
Algebra
Data Analysis and Probability
Learning Goals:
This lesson will help toddlers and preschoolers meet the following educational standards:
- Understand patterns, relations and functions
- Analyze change in various contexts
- Select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data
- Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on data
- Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize and display relevant data to answer these questions
Learning Targets:
After this lesson, toddlers and preschoolers should be more proficient at:
- Sorting, classifying and ordering objects by size, number and other properties
- Recognizing, describing and extending patterns such as sequences of sounds and shapes or simple numeric patterns and translating from one representation to another
- Sorting and classifying objects according to their attributes and organizing data about the objects
- Describing parts of the data and the set of data as a whole to determine what the data will show
- Discussing events related to the children’s experiences as likely or unlikely
Who’s Hiding?
Lesson plan for toddlers/preschoolers
Step 1: Gather materials.
- The book Who’s Hiding by Satoru Onishi
- Learning Resources Jungle Animals (set of 60)
- Plastic tub (Make sure the children cannot see through the tub)
Note: Small parts pose a choking hazard and are not appropriate for children age five or under. Be sure to choose lesson materials that meet safety requirements.
Step 2: Introduce activity.
- Pre-read the book to familiarize yourself with the animals in the story, so that you will know what questions to ask the children.
- Read the book to the children. Follow the prompts and ask: “Who’s hiding? Who’s crying?” When the children identify the missing animal or the animal that is crying, ask them how they came to that conclusion. Ask: “What clues in the picture helped you come up with your answer?”
Step 3: Engage children in lesson activities.
- After you have read the book, create some scenarios with the plastic animals and the tub. Show three or four different animals, then hide one or two in the cave (the plastic tub). Ask: “Which animals are hiding?” You can ask for the names of the animals that are hiding or you can ask: “How many animals are hiding?”
- Using all of the animals, you can have the children sort the animals by similar attributes. Ask: “Which animals have stripes? Which animals swim?”
Additional Extensions
- Create a pattern using the animals: two monkeys, one tiger, two elephants. Show the children the animals all lined up in their pattern. Then “hide” the animals in their cave (put the plastic tub over the animals) and have the children recreate the pattern.
Step 4: Vocabulary.
- Identify: Establish or indicate who or what (someone or something) is (e.g., When the children identify the missing animal or the animal that is crying, ask them how they came to that conclusion.)
- Conclusion: The end or close; the final decision (e.g., When the children identify the missing animal or the animal that is crying, ask them how they came to that conclusion.)
- Clue: A piece of evidence or information used to solve a problem (e.g.,”What clues in the picture helped you come up with your answer?”)
- Attribute: A characteristic like size, shape or color (e.g., “Many times, before people do laundry, they need to sort their laundry into specific piles according to specific attributes.”)
- How many: The total or sum (e.g.,”How many animals are in the cave?”)
Step 5: Adapt lesson for toddlers or preschoolers.
Adapt Lesson for Toddlers
Toddlers may:
- Be still working on object permanence
Child care providers may:
- Talk as you take the objects out of the children’s sight. Say: “We have four jungle animals here: a lion, a monkey, a zebra and an elephant. Two of the animals—the zebra and the elephant—are going to hide in the cave. Which two animals are hiding in the cave? How many animals are hiding in the cave?”
Adapt Lesson for Preschoolers
Preschoolers may:
- Be thinking conceptually and intuitively, in the conservation stage
Child care providers may:
- Create a pattern using the animals: two monkeys, one tiger, two elephants. Show the children the animals all lined up in their pattern. Then “hide” the animals in their cave (put the plastic tub over the animals) and have the children recreate the pattern.
Suggested Books
- Who’s Hiding by Satoru Onishi (New York: Kane/Miller Book Pub, 2007)
Music and Movement
- Play Hide-n-Seek with objects around the room. Show the children an object, hide it somewhere in the room and let the children find it. This is a fun activity if you have several stuffed animals (in keeping with the jungle animal theme of this lesson). Hide several of the stuffed animals around the room and give each child an animal to find. If a child’s animal is a tiger and the child finds an elephant, he/she needs to leave the elephant where it is and keeping looking for the tiger.
Outdoor Connections
- Play Hide-n-Seek. Use words like “hot” when the child is getting close to what he/she is seeking and “cold” when the seeker stays too far away from the target.
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