Learn interesting facts about big cats and domestic cats, and use these ready-made cat lesson plans and printables.
Interesting cat facts for children
Learning fun facts is beneficial in many ways:
:: reading them, perhaps aloud, develops reading comprehension and language skills
:: they increase a child’s knowledge of a topic
:: they can introduce new vocabulary
:: they introduce children to the wide variety of things it’s possible to know about, widening their understanding of the world
:: they can spark questions and wonderings, for children to pursue through their own reading and research
This lesson is part of our Cats Unit Study, one of our ready-made thematic units.
Using the KWL chart method
Learn how to use a KWL chart to encourage motivated learners and support self-directed learning.
Host a question quiz
It’s up to you whether you host a friendly or fiercely fought quiz, but all learning is good and to be celebrated, even if you don’t (yet) know all the answers.
You can do your quiz as a whole class activity, work in a small group or have your children work in pairs, taking turns to ask / answer questions.
If it works better for your children, let them take time to write down their questions and answers before the oral quiz happens.
Use our question mark resources to help generate questions for the quiz.
Interesting facts about domestic cats
The scientific name for the cat family is Felis catus.
There are over 60 breeds on domestic cat including the Bengal, British Longhair, Egyptian Mau and the Munchkin.
The world’s largest domestic cat is a Maine Coon named Barivel, who lives in Italy. He is 3 feet and 11.5 inches, or 120 centimeters, long.
You can tell what mood a cat is in by looking at their whiskers. If their whiskers are held straight and slightly to the side of their face, they’re happy.
Just like human finger prints, it’s thought that every cat’s nose print is unique.
Most of the time, cats are asleep. They sleep about 14-16 hours per day.
Cats are good at jumping and climbing. They can jump up to 6 times their height.
Most cats have 18 toes; five toes on each of their front paws, and four each on their back paws.
The smallest breed of cat is the Singapore. They have large ears and almond-shaped eyes, and very short, fine fur.
Interesting facts about wild cats
A family of lions is called a pride.
Baby lions are born with spotty fur, but these markings disappear as they grow up.
You can tell if a male lion is old or young by looking at their mane. Their manes get darker as the lion gets older.
Most wild tigers live in India.
Tigers have soft pads on their toes to help them creep silently through the forest.
The fastest wild cat is the cheetah. It can run at a speed up to 70 miles per hour.
The biggest wild cat is the Siberian tiger. They can be 3 meters from their nose to the tip of their tail.
All big cats can roar except for the snow leopard which chuffs.
Ready-made Cat Unit lesson plans
Save time and teach better by using our ready-made Cat Unit Study. You’ll get a complete week of lesson plans to learn about cats and a collection of activities, arts, and crafts all planned for you: instant download, printables included, no prep needed, and all ad free.
See more details of our Cat Unit and join the Play Academy to access this and all our 50+ ready-made teaching units.
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