What kind of animals would you suggest putting in a Kindergarten or 1st Grade classroom?

The first thing you have to do today, is check with the school nurse, or send a question to the parents about allergies. Some, today, are very bad.....

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I only have stuffed animals in my Kindergarten classroom. My son's K class had a rabbit or some kind of rodent. It died on one of its away weekends; the family was devastated along with the children. The teacher told me later that the logistics of sending the pet home every weekend was nightmarish and until it died, she was quite worried about what to do with it in the summer time. She also found it expensive and tedious to feed it and clean its cage. The only animals that will go in my class are stuffed.

None.

For reasons mentioned above.

I do think it would be great to be able to have therapy dogs visit K/1 classrooms, if you can find some willing. Hypo-allergenic breeds would be great, and don't forget to check your health records for allergies first.

If you really want to invest the time and money into caring for an animal on top of all of the rest of your duties, I'd suggest an animal that is not removed or handled. No fear of being bitten, or of the child squeezing too hard.

Fish. Tarantulas. I kept a tarantula in my primary room for years. Parents took turns to bring in live crickets once a week. I cleaned the terrarium out once every season. Students were fascinated, and spent lots of time watching, but I never had to worry about poking, handling, etc..

Even better: plan some short-term animal projects. Hatch chicks. They watch the eggs for 3 weeks, spend a week with the chicks, then they are done. Hatch silkworms. Raise butterflies or ladybugs. Keep a worm compost bin. Keep an ant farm. Raise tadpoles of local species, and release them when they've matured. I've done all of the above at one time or another.