In this picture the dog is chewing on a bone. Is this dog safe to pet? You’d be surprised at how many kindergartners said “Yes!”.
I offer free dog body language presentations to lower elementary school classrooms in my town of Petaluma. Here I’m having fun with kindergartners at McNear School. I am showing them images of dogs and asking them to “vote” whether or not they think the dog in the picture is safe to pet or not safe to pet. Then we sort the pictures on a marker board into these two categories. To vote, the kids hold up either a green square of construction paper to indicate the the dog is safe to pet or they use their red square to indicate that the dog is not safe to pet.
An important part of this activity, is that I ask them to share “why” they chose a certain answer. If you’re interested in having me visit your child’s classroom, or you’re a teacher and would like this presentation for your students, please contact me by email or phone! I’d love to visit! A bonus is that after each visit, I will donate one of my Stop, Look & Paws learning activities to the classroom!
If you want to ready more about dog body language read this post. Body Language that shows a dog is happy!
Below is a short video clip from McNear School.
