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Before You Visit the Garden...

Activity #1: Parents and Kids

Lesson Objective:
Students will be able to describe the sequence of steps in the life cycle of a koi fish. Students will also understand that koi offspring resemble their parents

• Parent and offspring cards, cut out and placed in bag (Cards A (PDF), Cards B (PDF))
• Fish life cycle (PDF)

Introduction
Read a story on animals and their offspring (e.g. Verdi by Janell Cannon)

Exploration:

1. At the rug, show students the bag with parent and offspring cards inside.  Explain to students that they are going to come up one at a time and draw a card from the bag, then sit back down on the rug. 

Activity:

1. When all students have drawn a card and are seated, explain to them that they have in their hand a picture of either a baby or a parent.  It is their task now to find their matching card: parent to offspring/offspring to parent.  Explain that they are to walk around the area until they find their “match,” and then will sit down next to the student with their matching card.
2. When all students have found their “match,” have each pair stand up one at a time and share what animal is represented on their card.

Discussion:

1. After everyone has shared, ask students to explain how they were able to find their match (ex. Why did the kitten choose the Cat and not the dog?).
2. Conclude by summing up: “all offspring (children) look like their parents.”

You may want to discuss that some babies may look different at first (e.g. caterpillars, tadpoles) but they will eventually transform to look like their parents.