Many people have seen wild animals in pictures or on the television.

If they are lucky, they have had the chance to hear their calls. For others, the sights and sounds of the wild are a mystery, contained only in the pages of books and the Internet.

In this lesson, students will help teach younger students about a few common wildlife species by using standard computer software to write a children’s book equipped with animal sounds.

This lesson was designed to accompany the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Bone Box Resource Trunk. The trunks contain tactile resources including the skulls and pelts of common Arizona mammals. The boxes are free for Arizona educators to check out and use. You should plan to reserve the boxes early, however, because they are popular and may book up.

The lesson is available as a downloadable PDF that includes ideas to extend and modify the lesson for different audiences.