Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Click Science and Discovery Magazine for Preschoolers and Young Children

What kinds of families do animals have? Let’s see! Some have only one baby. Others have twins. Or lots of sisters and brothers. Some animal babies are raised by Mom. Or by Dad. Or by both parents. In some families, aunts help watch over the young. Or Mom and Dad have a babysitter. Some babies do everything on their own. Other babies need help. Animal babies come from all kinds of families!…

Animals that feed their babies milk are called mammals. Humans are mammals. So are whales. A baby orca whale drinks milk as it swims alongside its mother. Orca babies need to grow a layer of thick blubber to stay warm, so an orca mother’s milk is rich and full of fat. This dog has lots more babies than an orca does, but she makes enough milk so no one goes hungry. Puppies start nursing just a few minutes after they’re born. These brown bear cubs are too big to nurse but still too young to find their own food. So Mom catches salmon to share. By watching her, the cubs will learn how to fish for themselves. Wood thrush nestlings are always hungry. Some baby birds eat more than 100…

Some babies hatch from eggs. The egg provides food and protection for the baby growing inside. When the babies hatch, some grow bigger as they get older. But others change completely as they grow. Can you guess who will hatch from these eggs and how they’ll grow? When an African spurred tortoise hatches, it must take care of itself. It starts by digging itself out of its nest, which can take several days. Hatchlings are only about 2 inches long and weigh less than an ounce. The baby tortoise eats grasses and other plants, and it grows—FAST! In just a few years, it can be 10 inches long. By the time the tortoise is 15 years old, it can be 30 inches long and weigh more than 100 pounds! A…

Crocodiles can go for weeks and weeks without eating. The bigger a crocodile’s meal, the longer it can go before the next one. A crocodile usually lays 40 to 60 eggs at one time, but a big one can lay up to 90. It takes 80 to 90 days for the eggs to be ready to hatch. It normally takes about two years for a baby crocodile to grow to three feet and another eight years or so for it to reach six feet. There are 16 different kinds of crocodiles. The ones in this story are saltwater crocodiles, the biggest kind—they can be 20 to 23 feet long.…

PFFFFF! Splash! A six-year-old male orca whale surfaces, shooting a big spray of stale air from the blowhole on top of his head. For several minutes he and his family slice slowly through the ocean waves, breathing deeply, filling their large lungs with air. Then, side by side, the orcas dive. The male is the youngest and swims close to his mom. To their left is his uncle and in front, leading them all, is his grandmother. A second uncle swims nearby. And just beyond him are two more families in the pod, which is the name for a group of whales. The 16 whales in this pod live together in Johnstone Strait, on the northwest coast of Canada. Most orcas stay with the pod they are born into for…

If there’s one thing you should know about crocodiles, it’s that they’re really scary—or at least the big ones are. They’ve got an awful lot of . . . And they’re not at all picky about what they eat, as long as it’s got a bit of meat on it. When it comes to hunting down their dinner, they’re very determined and very cunning. They know all the places along the sides of the rivers and lakes where animals come down to drink. When it’s time for a meal, a hungry crocodile will choose one of those places and hide there in the water, just under the surface, with only the top of its head sticking out. Sooner or later, something passing by, something with a bit of meat on…

The goal of this card game is to collect complete families of animals. Cut out all 36 cards along the dashed black lines. Mix them up and deal five cards to each player. Place the remaining cards facedown in a pile between the players. The first player asks one other player if he or she has a card from a certain animal family. For example, Perry asks, “Kate, do you have any deer?” The asking player (Perry) must already have at least one card from that family. If Kate has any deer cards, she gives them all to Perry, who then gets another turn to ask one player (it can be Kate again or a different player) for an animal family. If Kate does not have any deer cards, she…