CONTENTS Look out for
sticker activities
What’s Inside?
4
STRIPY TIGERS Why are these cats striped?
How
do I
play?
16
WILD DOG DAY CARE Playtime for pups!
This page: Tiger © Mint Images / Art Wolfe / Getty Images; Owl © Pchoui / Getty Images;
MISSING PIECES
5 24
Wild dogs © Arco Images GMBH / Alamy; Butterfly © Dobermaraner / Shutterstock.
Finish the tiger picture!
Cover: Owl © Media Drum World / Alamy; All other images © Adobe Stock.
CHRISTMAS DINNER
6 Which letters are missing?
WHAT IS DIFFERENT?
7 Spot-the-difference game
THAT’S COOL!
8 Anteaters and ants!
MEASURE UP
14 How big are these animals?
THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST
20 Sorting penguin species
AN ICEBERG FORMS
22 A floating chunk of ice!
throughout the
magazine!
Stick
pageer
SNOWY OWLS Hunting on the ice!
What
colour is
under my
wings?
26
BLUE MORPHO BUTTERFLY Time to fly!
SEARCH THE SEA ICE
PLUS
Arctic search-and-find
stickers
LET’S VISIT… PERU!
28 Machu Picchu, llamas and more! and fact
cards!
LITTLE KIDS BIG QUIZ!
32 Multiple-choice fun
BIG AND SMALL SLEDS
34 Match them together!
National Geographic Little Kids
magazine is designed to enhance
your child’s Early Years education,
with activities to develop their skills
in numeracy, literacy, communication
and physical development.
4
 OBSERVATION Stick
pageer

Missing Pieces Sticker

Which of these Stick the
activity

pieces complete missing

the picture of pieces in
a tiger and place!
her cub?
1 2 3 4

No two
tigers have the
same pattern
of stripes.
All images © Adobe Stock.

natgeokids.com 5
 NAMING
Can you
name these

Christmas Dinner!
things? What
letters are
missing ?

—urkey —ince pies —russels sprouts

—arsnips —hristmas pudding —oast potatoes

Turkey © The Food Passionates / Corbis; All other images © Adobe Stock.

—tuffing —igs in blankets —rackers

Can you name any more festive foods?

6 National Geographic Little Kids

 OBSERVING

What isDifferent?
Look at each picture in the top row. Then find the
differences between it and the one below.
Bird © Ondrej Prosicky / Shutterstock; Bikes © Canadastock / Shutterstock; Cars © Macondo / Shutterstock.

Find one Find two Find three

difference. differences. differences.

natgeokids.com 7
 NATURE

t i
S ag
p
c keer That’s Cool!
Baby giant Meet the giant anteater.
anteaters ride
around on their
This
mum’s backs!
animal is
Stick a baby on
longer than
this female.
your bed! Anteaters
don’t have
any teeth!

Giant To catch
anteaters ants, a giant Small image © Michel and Christine Denis-Huot / Science Source.

live in Central anteater flicks out

Main image © Christophe Courteau / Minden Pictures;

and South its long tongue

America. 150 times a
minute!
How fast Tongue
can you
flick your
tongue?

8 National Geographic Little Kids

 COUNTING Stick
pageer

Inside an Ants’ Nest!

Giant anteaters rip open ants’ nests
with their strong claws to get at the insects
inside. Let’s take a look…
Sticker
activity

Stick some
Stick two ants in this
ants carrying nest.
eggs in this
Giant chamber.
anteaters can
gobble up to
35,000 ants
and termites
a day!

Stick five Stick four

ants carrying ants here.
leaves here.
All images © Adobe Stock.

Ants
live in
huge groups
called
colonies.
natgeokids.com 9
 Stick a
lemming here
for this hungry
owl to catch!

10 National Geographic Little Kids

 Stick
pageer
Snowy owls
hunt lemmings,
mice, hares,
birds and
squirrels.

A snowy owl’s
wingspan is
almost as wide
as a car.

Stretch your
arms out either
side. What's
your 'wingspan'
as wide as?

A snowy owl hunts during the day and

at night. It swoops down and catches
food with the long claws on its feet.
Flying © Pchoui / Getty Images; On post © Andy Rouse / Minden Pictures; Claws © Cyril Laubscher / Getty Images. natgeokids.com 11
 Snowy owls
have very good
hearing. They can
hear food moving
around under
the snow!

Female

A snowy owl mother

Male lays her eggs in a
nest on the ground.
Adult male
snowy owls are When they hatch,
mostly white.
Adult females the babies are
have brown
on their covered in soft white
feather tips.
feathers called down.
12 National Geographic Little Kids
 This owl is
swooping
down to catch Female
food with its snowy owls
claws. lay 3–11 eggs at a
time. The babies
are called
owlets.

About one week old

About three weeks old

As the babies
grow, new brown
feathers replace
the down. Soon
the young owls
will fly away
and hunt for
their own food. About six weeks old

Swooping © Jimkruger / Getty Images; Male and female © Colette3 / Shutterstock;

One week old © Winfried Wisniewski / Minden Pictures; Three weeks old © Christine and
Jurgen Sohns / Getty Images; Six weeks old © Peter Wey / Alamy. natgeokids.com 13
14
 ANIMALS

DAY CARE
African wild dogs live in large
family groups called packs.
The mother guards the pups
while the other dogs hunt.

16 National Geographic Little Kids

The puppies wag their tails as they
chase and tackle each other. Soon
the hunters will return and it will
be time to eat.

Females may
have up to 15
puppies
at a time.

African wild
dogs are also
called painted
dogs because
of their
markings.

Main image © Manoj Shah / Getty Images;

Two dogs © Arco Images GMBH / Alamy. natgeokids.com 17
 "Hoo! Squeal!" call the hunters How do
you greet your
when they return with food. friends and
family?
All the wild dogs leap, lick faces
and whine to greet each other.

Every wild
dog's coat
has a slightly
different
pattern.

How many
pups can you
see in this
picture?

Adult and pups © Laurent Geslin / Nature Picture Library; Playing © Richard
Du Toit / Minden Pictures; Maned wolf © Sean Crane / Minden Pictures;
Arctic fox © Erni / Shutterstock; Red wolf © Mark Newman / Minden

After dinner, the

Pictures; Corsac fox © Colin Langford / Getty Images.

entire pack plays.

Everyone wags
their tail!
18 National Geographic Little Kids
 MORE
Stick
pageer

CANINES
African wild dogs Maned wolf
are part of the dog
family, called canines.
Meet some more…
Arctic fox

Red wolf

Sticker
activity

Stick
another Stick
canine here!
Corsac fox
 ZOOLOGY

THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST:

There are many kinds of penguins.

Scientists tell them apart using their colours
and patterns. Can you work out which
penguin belongs to which group?

Penguins
cannot fly.
A rockhopper They use their
penguin has wings to swim
spiky feathers underwater.
on its head.

An Adélie penguin
has a white ring
around each eye.

A king penguin has

short orange feathers
on the side of its head.

Single rockhopper © Dean Bertoncelj / Shutterstock; Single Adélie © Steve Allen / Dreamstime; Single king ©
Andreea Dragomir / Shutterstock; Adélie group © Robert McGillivray / Shutterstock; King group © Vyshnivskyy
/ Shutterstock; Rockhopper group © Mint Images / Frans Lanting / Getty Images.

20 National Geographic Little Kids

 Stick
pageer

Stick your
penguin stickers
1 in the right
groups!

What things
do ALL these
penguins have
in common?

Answers: group 1 – Adélie penguins; group 2 – king penguins; group 3 – rockhopper penguins.

natgeokids.com 21
 NATURE

1
A huge ‘river’
of ice, called a Crack
glacier, moves
slowly from the
mountains to
the ocean.

2
Glaciers are
Big cracks form in
made of layers the glacier. Huge
and layers
of squashed
pieces fall off.
snow!

22 National Geographic Little Kids

 Iceberg

3
A large chunk of ice from
the glacier floats away in the
ocean. Now it is an iceberg.

1 © Andy Rouse / Nature Picture Library / Getty Images;

2 © Design Pics Inc. / Getty Images; 3 and top right © Eric Baccega / Nature Picture Library.

natgeokids.com 23
 IDENTIFYING

Search the Sea Ice

Which Arctic animals can you see?

Tick these things off

when you find them
in the big picture.

A walrus
2 Arctic
wolves
4 polar
bears
4 gulls

Orcas eat
fish, seals and
seabirds. Which
animals on this
page need to
watch out?

Polar bears
are very good
swimmers. Do
you like to
swim?
24 National Geographic Little Kids
 Stick
pageer

Can you
name these
other Arctic
animals?

Sticker
activity

Stick
another seal
on the
sea ice.
All images © Adobe Stock.

A baby
seal is
called a
pup.
natgeokids.com 25
 Sticker
ENTOMOLOGY Blue activity
morpho
c k er butterflies start
i
St age
p life as hairy
caterpillars.

BLUE MORPHO
Stick one
here!

BUTTERFLY
As it flies through
the rainforest, the
morpho flaps its
wings up and down.
FACTS When the butterfly’s
FOOD
Fungus, tree sap,
wings flap down,
wet mud and the
juice of rotten fruit.
bright blue colour
SIZE shows. But the blue
This diagram
shows how big this
disappears when
butterfly is. its wings flap up!
Five-year-old’s
hand That is because its
wings are brownish
underneath.
26 National Geographic Little Kids
 The blue
morpho is one
of the biggest
butterflies in
A butterfly’s the world.

Dobermaraner / Shutterstock; Proboscis © A. Storm Photography / Shutterstock.

proboscis
(say “pruh-BOH-sis”) Small butterfly © Stephen Dalton / Minden Pictures; Big butterfly ©

is a mouthpart
shaped like a long,
hollow tube.

The butterfly
uses it like a
straw to sip juice
from fruit.
Proboscis
natgeokids.com 27
 High in the Andes Stick
pageer
mountains is an ancient
city called Machu Picchu.
It was built by people
called the Inca.

Llamas are
used to carry
things in Peru.
Their wool is
made into
fabric. Sticker
activity

People
decorate their
llamas. Stick
some pom poms
on this llama’s
ears!

Rainbow
Mountain in
All images © Adobe Stock or Getty Images UK.

southeastern Peru is
made up of 14 different
colourful minerals!
 ART AND DESIGN

Peruvian Patterns
In Peru, people make brightly
coloured textiles out of dyed
wool. Finish this pattern with
coloured pens or pencils! This woman is weaving
fabric on a loom.

30 National Geographic Little Kids

ANIMALS Stick
pageer
Stick some
animals in

Cloud Forest this cloud

forest.

High up in the Andes mountains of Peru,

the forests are covered in clouds!

The beak
of this orange
bird is covered
by fluffy
cock-of-the-rock
feathers!

White-fronted
capuchin monkey

Spectacled
bear

Amethyst-throated
sunangel hummingbird

natgeokids.com 31
 QUIZ

1
Are there
more stripy
creatures
or spotty
creatures?

Look at these
2
faces. Which child
is tired? Who is
cheerful? Who
seems worried?

3
Which of
these things
do NOT help
keep your FLO
SS
All images © Adobe Stock.

teeth clean?

32 National Geographic Little Kids

 MATCHING

Big and Small

It is fun to go sledding in the snow.
Draw a line with your finger from each big
sled to the little sled that looks just like it.

People sit on
sleds to slide
down snow-
covered hills.
Whee!

34 National Geographic Little Kids

 Which sled
do you think is
fastest? Why?

Sleds
Editor Georgia Harrison
Which sled would Art Editor Claire Brisley
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