I promised in my October curriculum roundup that I'd share my animal card master file (in Google Slides format, at end of post) with you. These little cards have been a hit with the kids in the program. These are part of the "creature of the week" at Forest Friends and we use them to create personal, local field guides. Now you can download my file and quickly create your own!

Each card has a line drawing of the animal. The kids can look up the tracks for that animal and color the cards at home before adding them to their binder ring.
I typically hand out the cards at the end of the week, after we've read and talked (and looked for) the animal or creature that we've been learning about - this gets the kids pumped and primed to carry their interest through the weekend! The binder ring of cards is their very own local field guide that they can look through and take along on any adventure. The kids really like having the special cards to take home.
Young children (especially age 4-6) enjoy learning that each animal has a special name for its young and a special name for its group. In Montessori, this is covered in the primary curriculum because many children find it interesting and enjoy matching up the special names.

If you have older children or follow a classical education model, Latin names might also be a nice item to add to the cards.
I hope you find these cards helpful and have fun creating your own local field guide!
So, to create your very own cards :
First, you'll need a Google Docs account if you don't already have one. Then download the Master file (it is in Google Slides format):
It should open in Google Slides. Click "Create a Copy" to start editing it for yourself. In your new, editable copy, you can replace the <animal name> text with the animal you're using. Each cell is independent of the others, so you could do 4 of the same animal, 2 and 2 (like mine) or 4 unique cards. Add your images on the first page and size them using the guides I added on the master.
For the second slide, you could add an image of the animal's track if you like, or hand-draw them in after printing (what I did). For the name of the animal's group, this site was a good resource and to find the name of the young you can try this one.
Once you've added images and changed the text, you're ready to print. The file is sized to 8.5 by 11 paper. I used double-sided printing and they should line up if the guides are used.
The free guide is meant for personal use only, sale or commercial use is prohibited.
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