DUCKS

DUCK QUICK STARTS
Quack like ducks.
Waddle like ducks.
Make hand print ducks.
Let your children use swim flippers to pretend they are duck feet.
Give your children plastic duck beaks to wear.
Use spatula dipped in paint to make duck feet prints.
Sing about ducks on Old Mac Donald’s Farm.
 
DUCK ART
 
FOOT PRINT DUCKS
Have your child place his bare foot on a piece of heavy yellow paper and draw around his foot.

Cut out the foot shape and have your child glue it onto a piece of blue construction paper, with the heel end up.

Give your child an orange triangle beak to glue to one side.
Then set out some small yellow feathers for your child to glue onto the ducks body.
 
WALKING DUCK PUPPET
Cut out a simple duck shape facing front, circle head and circle body (Kind of like a snowman shape)
Fold the bottom of the duck shape up and then cut out two half-circles along the bottom of the fold.
Unfold the paper, and you should have two finger holes, where your child can stick two fingers, thus adding legs to your puppet and allowing it to “walk”.
Add a folded diamond shaped orange paper beak and two round paper eyes.
Using a yellow crayon or marker, have your child color the body and head of the walking duck.
Have your child use the “walking duck” when she sings duck songs, or wants to tell a simple duck story.
 
DUCK SHAPES
Cut out duck shapes and have your child glue one on a piece of paper and then draw or glue grass under the duck shape to create a duck nest.
Use duck shapes on which to glue small brown or yellow feathers.
Cut duck shapes out of various brown materials, for a duck collage.
 
CLAY DUCKS
You will need soft brown clay for this activity.
Show your child how to take a small amount of clay and roll it into a ball.
Then show him how to make a small pinch at the top side of the ball to create a beak and a large pinch at the bottom to create tail feathers.
Finally, have your child set the shape down on the table and press to flatten the bottom of the circle and create a sitting or swimming duck.
These are easy to make and children usually like to make a number of them.
You may want to let your children place these on a mirror laid flat, to simulate a pond of water.
 
DUCK GAMES
 
DUCK MATH RHYME
Here is a counting rhyme for your children to figure out. The purpose of the game is to count the number of feet coming out of the eggs.
One nest, one egg – how many feet walked away?
One nest, two eggs – how many feet walked away?
One nest, three eggs – how many feet walked away?
For older children you could make it harder by adding more eggs or more nests.
 
ADDITIONAL DUCK GAMES – Go to the Game Station and look for Duck Games under Spring Games.
 
EGG GAMES – can also be found under Spring Games at the Game Station.

 
 
DUCK LANGUAGE
 

WHAT A BIT OF LUCK

What a bit of luck, I was born a duck.
I can go where ever I please,
I can fly above the trees.
I can swim across the pond.
I can waddle over the lawn.
What a bit of luck, I was born a duck.
                                                Jean Warren
 

DOWN BY THE LAKE
Here is a rhyme, your children may want to act out.

Down by the lake
What did I see?
A mother duck
And her babies, three.

Quack, said the mother.
Quack, quack, said the three.
And off they swam
Away from me.
                        Author Unknown

   
DUCK STORIES
You can find three duck stories at the Story Station, under Spring Stories.
            The Baby Ducklings
            Mother Duck’s Pride
            Over In The Meadow
 
DUCK SCIENCE
 
LIFE OF A DUCK
Make sequence cards showing the life of a duck.
Egg, Duckling, Duck Swimming, Duck Flying.
 
DUCK FEATHERS
You will need one or more actual duck feathers for this activity.
Show your child the duck feathers.
Discuss how ducks like to swim in the water.
Then, have your child pour some water over the duck feathers.
Have him notice how the duck feathers repel the water.
Notice how the water beads up on the feathers and does not soak in.
Discuss how lucky the duck is to have such a water proof coat.
You may want to continue this discussion into the ways that we use to water proof ourselves when we go out in the rain.

 
DUCK NESTS
Discuss with your children how ducks make their nests.
If you can see an actually duck nest, that would be great. However, if you are unable to do that, have your child look at pictures of ducks and their nest.
Have your child notice what the nests are made from. Such as, grass, twigs, leaves, mud, small bird fuzz (or feathers)
 
EGGS
You may want to expand your Duck unit into a unit on animals that come from eggs.
Such as, snakes, birds, dinosaurs, reptiles, fish.
 
DUCK SNACKS
 
PEAR DUCK SALAD
Lay a piece of lettuce on a plate.
Then place half of a pear on top of the lettuce, outside up.
Then cut a piece of cheese into a triangle beak and place it on the side of the top of the pear.
And finally, cut out two large triangle cheese feet to make a pear duck salad.
 
DUCK SONGS AND RHYMES
 

TEN LITTLE DUCKLINGS
Here is a movement rhyme that your children will enjoy acting out.

Little baby ducklings  (Ducklings move back and forth in a waddling motion)
Dash, dash, dash!   (Ducklings run in place)
Jump in the pond.  (Ducklings make jumping motion)
Splash, splash, splash!  (Ducklings use hands to make splashing motions)

When their mother ,
“Quack, quack, quacks.”  (Mother duck quacks)
Little baby ducklings
Swam right back.  (Ducklings make swimming motions)
                                     Adapted Traditional
 

THE LITTLE WHITE DUCK
Tune:  “The Little White Duck”

There’s a little white duck,
Sitting in the water.
A little white duck,
Doing what he oughta!

He took a bite of a lily pad,
Flapped his wings and said, “I’m glad”.
I’m a little white duck,
Swimming in the water,
Quack, quack, quack!
                        Traditional

 
OLD MAC DONALD HAD A FARM
Tune:  “Old Mac Donald”

Old Mac Donald had a farm,
E,I,E,I,O.
And on this farm he had some ducks,
E,I,E,I, O.

With a quack, quack, here
And a quack, quack, there.
Here a quack, there a quack.
Everywhere a quack, quack.

Old Mac Donald had a farm
E,I,E,I,O.
                        Traditional
 

DOWN AT THE POND
Tune:  “Down At The Station”

Down at the pond
Early in the morning.
See the little ducklings
Swimming in a row.

See the mother duck
Dive for her breakfast.
Up, down, up, down
Watch her head go!

Down at the pond
Early in the morning.
See the little ducklings
Swimming in a row.

See the mother duck
Flap her wings just so.
Up she flys
Her ducklings in tow!
                        Jean Warren

 
FIVE LITTLE DUCKS

Five little ducks, that I once knew,
Fat were three and skinny were two.
But the big mother duck with feathers on her back,
She ruled the ducklings with a quack, quack, quack.

Down to the water, they would go,
Waddle, waddle, waddle, to and fro.
But the big mother duck with feathers on her back,
She ruled the ducklings with a quack, quack, quack.

They swam around, here and there.
They bobbed for food, everywhere.
But the big mother duck with feathers on her back,
She ruled the ducklings with a quack, quack, quack.
                                    Adapted Traditional