Introduce nocturnal animals to your kids including owls, bats, and raccoons with these educational activities. Learning about nocturnal animals is fun because we don’t often get a chance to observe them like diurnal animals that are awake during the day. Using our free printable with 13 different animals (available to download at the end of this post) we put together three activities including a pretend game which will put the kids to sleep (*wink, wink*), a memory matching game, and a sorting activity for kids to learn more about animal classification.
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Nocturnal Animals Activities
Nocturnal vs. Diurnal Game
One at a time, hold up the night and day cards and have the kids sleep or wake up depending on which card is being held up and what type of animal they are. When we pretended to be nocturnal animals and I held up the sun they would sleep, when I held up the moon they would wake up. They thought it was so fun to use my desk as a cave, and of course they needed their favorite blankets to make their pretend bed nice and cozy.
Nocturnal Memory Matching Game
Print two sets of the animals and cut them out. Place them face down on the table and have child turn two cards over each turn to make a match. If the two cards don’t match return them to the board face down. If the cards do match remove them from the playing area and place them to the side.
Animal Sorting Activity
Have child sort the animals cards into two piles. Suggested ideas are insect vs. mammal, wings vs. no wings, fur vs. no fur…
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