I have new cutting strips for you … with lots of sweet mother and baby animal images! They’re perfect for Earth Day, but they’re also great at any time of year. They show a number of endangered animals … all species that can be used with a Safari Ltd. TOOB if desired. As usual, the free endangered animal cutting strips are an instant download and super easy to prepare.
Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now
My daughter, Chrissy (a former Montessori child), and I are partnering to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. (Note: Chrissy has some sweet, themed, free kids’ fitness printables that are great for homes or classrooms!)
The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them). The cutting strips use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality. These cutting strips have 7 photographs of endangered mother and baby animals along with a collage of those 7 animal species and 2 more species on the second page.
Preschoolers love to learn proper terminology, so I tell you the name of the objects or animals featured whenever I can. I list what each photo is on the credits page.
Free Endangered Animal Cutting Strips
To download, click here and then click on the file image in the upper right corner of the PDF to save to your computer (just choose where you want it saved).
Note: Go to the bottom of the post for free cutting strips for a wide variety of themes!
Montessori-Inspired Activity Using the Endangered Animal Cutting Strips
Endangered Animal Cutting Strips and Safari Ltd. Endangered Species Figures with Tray
Cutting skills are so important for preschoolers. Two year olds can begin working on them, too. When children are first working on cutting skills, they’ll have an easier time cutting cardstock than paper. So, in the beginning, I recommend printing the strips on cardstock. Printer paper is fine for children with more advanced cutting skills.
I used a small Multicraft tray to hold everything. The Safari Ltd. TOOB figures are from the Endangered Species – Land Animals TOOB. I’ve always liked Fiskar scissors for kids, which are sharp enough to cut paper easily.
For home use with the cutting work, I like to have a small container to catch the paper scraps. I used a small wooden box we had, although you could use any small container. For younger children, I recommend keeping the basket or tray up out of reach when it’s not being used.
For classroom use, you might want to use Ziplock bags to catch the scraps. Children have fun taking their scraps home in a bag … or saving them to paste onto a collage.
Ideas for Activities Using the Cutting Strips and Safari Ltd. Endangered Species Figures
A fun activity with the endangered animal cutting strips could be to have the child paste the pieces from a few different strips onto a paper and then have the child hop the endangered animal figures from matching endangered animal image to matching endangered animal image.
Another idea would be to do an endangered animal and continent map cut-and-paste activity similar to the one we did with the African zoo animal cutting strips. The gorilla and black rhinoceros are from Africa, while the giant panda, Bornean orangutan, Asian elephant, snow leopard, and Bengal tiger are from Asia.
More Earth Day (Earth Day Every Day) Resources
- Endangered Animal Books for Kids
- Endangered Animal Products for Kids
- Earth Day Science Products for Kids
Free Endangered Animal Printables and Montessori-Inspired Endangered Animal Activities
Free Endangered Animal Songs and Educational Videos {Save the Animals}
- Free Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Printables and Activities for a Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Unit
- Free Recycling Printables and Montessori-Inspired Recycling Activities
- Free Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Phonics Instant Download)
- Free 3-Part Recycle Cards
- Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Activities for Earth Day Every Day
- More Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Lorax Activities
- Free Earth Day Printables and Montessori-Inspired Earth Day Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Arbor Day Activities
- Free Recycling Cutting Strips (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Recycling Do-a-Dot Printable (Montessori-Inspired Instant Download)
- Free Conservation Songs for Home or School {Character Education Resources}
- Free Earth Day Songs and Rhymes for Circle Time
- Free Tree Printables and Montessori-Inspired Tree Activities
- Thank You for Planet Earth (or Thank You, Planet Earth) Mindfulness Cards and Booklet
- Kids’ Earth Day Every Day Pinterest Board
Don’t miss our themed monthly packs! You’ll get the link and password for the Living Montessori Now subscriber library with the current pack and all the past monthly packs if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter!
The Best Way to Begin Working on Scissor Cutting Skills
Even before using cutting strips, I recommend using an easier object to cut, such as strings of beads. You’ll find lots of tips and ideas for teaching scissor skills in my post on developing scissor cutting skills with Montessori-inspired activities.
More Montessori-Inspired Paper Cutting Activities
You’ll find ideas for home and classroom setups in my post on Montessori-inspired paper cutting activities.
All Our Free Themed Cutting Strips
I’ve arranged the following gallery in alphabetical order. Just click on an image to go to the post with the related free printable!
You can see all our free cutting strips with the latest at the top here.
I hope your child (or students) enjoys using the cutting strips. 🙂
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