====== Amazing Animals ======

//Many Otters love animals! If you can get a vet tech or trainer to come to a meeting for the pet care portion and bring a well behaved animal or two to share with the kids, it's generally a huge hit.//

  * Opening Ceremony
  * Steam Off Game
  * Pets
    * Do you have any pets? What kinds?
    * What kinds of pets can you think of?
    * What do you do to help care for your pets (or what would you do if you had one?)
    * Touch on safe interactions with pets: paying attention to their body language
    * What kind of games can you play with pets?
    * Rewarding positive behavior
  * If you have animals at the meeting, this is a good time to let the kids meet them.
  * Snack and Story Time
  * Wild Animals
    * What makes wild animals different from pets?
    * Compare domestic to wild animals within different types of animals: birds, fish, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates. Can you think of a pet and a wild animal from each category?
    * How do you interact with wild animals? Give space, don't approach, don't feed them.
    * Don't leave food out when you are camping--if wild animals get a taste for human food it can be dangerous for them.
  * What is your favorite animal?
    * What do you know about them?
  * Make Animal Scrapbooks
    * Bring magazines that the kids can cut out pictures from
    * You can also bring books with animal facts
    * One big hit with Otters is talking about scat and the role poop plays in the animal kingdom
    * They can also draw their animal and come up with a few facts about it.
  * Have the otters share their scrapbooks with each other.
  * Closing Ceremony

===== Items Needed: =====

  * Paper
  * Glue
  * Magazines
  * Scissors
  * Colored Pencils

===== Badge Requirements Covered: =====

=== Green Nature Paw ===

  * Learn about pet care
  * Make a scrapbook about an animal you like

{{tag>meeting:otter ot_nature:pet_care ot_nature:animal_scrapbook}}