Taking a chinchilla to a kindergarden class

[horslvr123]

Hi.. My daughter is in kindergarden and wanted to bring her chinchilla to class for show and tell... its a small class, about 10 kids.

What are your thoughts on this?? The chin I have in mind is very mellow.. Loves attention and treats...

I was thinking of bringing a dog "exercise" pen so he cant escape, and cutting cheerios up into small pieces and bringing one kid at a time into the pen to interact with him...

Im not going to be doing this for long.. maybe like 15 minutes... just for all the kids to feel what a chinchilla feels like and learn about them.

Any ideas would be great..

Thanks.

 

[Antbritt]

We just did this for both of my daughters classes. Although my girls are in 4th and 6th grade the classes were small too. Luckily my husband was home to help carry the cage.

First rule my husband and came up with was to keep the kids in their seats. We didn't want everyone rushing the cage. Our daughters held Chilly and went from desk to desk to let the kids pet her. Which led to the second rule we had, only family hold her.

We then put Chilly's bath in the cage, so the kids could see her go nuts and jump around. Watching a chinchilla bath isn't something the average person gets to see. The kids got a kick out of it.

I think your plan with the play pen is great. We are lucky to have a good size travel cage. You would have a lot more room with the pin. It would have been nice if we had the saucer or a wheel for Chilly to show off some more.

 

[blondeangel]

I brought in my super mellow chin into my mom's classroom for show and tell before. She teaches 3-6 year olds at a montessori school, and there was roughly about 20 of them. I also brought my dogs playpen to keep him in while the kids sat around it in "circle time". It was about a 20 minute show and tell and he did great. I didn't let the kids feed him anything but after I talked I sat in a chair with him in my lap and whoever wanted to pet him was allowed. I typically wouldn't normally let random young kids around my animals, but her classroom is extremely well behaved and I have done animal show and tell with roughly 20 of my animals throughout the past few years, the kids really enjoy it and it teaches them to respect for many types of animals from a young age.

 

[Pleiades]

I think that, with the right chin, and the right adult supervision, this could be okay. I'm not usually a fan of chinchilla "show and tell" per se, but if you really controlled the situation, it might be nice for the children.

On the other hand, kidergarten-age kids can be really unpredictable/ loud/ rowdy, and this is not the greatest combination for making a chinchilla feel secure (especially during the daytime). I almost feel that allowing the chin loose in a pen would be very chaotic, even in a small classroom like you describe. But, what do I know?

It might be better if you just held your daughter's chin, and allowed each child to come up slowly and feel the fur. I think this way, you'd have more time to give some basic facts about chins, as the kids are petting him/her (life-span, temp. requirements, dust bath hygiene, ect.)

I hate to say it, but another part of me really cringes at the thought of bringing such a cute creature into a K class. Chins don't make good pets for most young children IMO (lifespan is just one issue), and you know every child is going to go home and go 'Mom, can I pleeeeeaaase have a chinchilla????' I just imagine all these soccer moms buying plastic-shelved cages, death balls, improperly-sexed pet store chins, Kaytee feed, and calling it a day.

My [cynical] imagination can get carried away however, so please take these thoughts with a grain of salt!

 

[horslvr123]

LOL.. I know. I was thinking the same thing about all the kids asking mom and dad for a chin.. Im trying to figure out a way to incorporate learning about chins in there daily class activities.. Like.. the letter C.. for instance.. or mammals.... I dont know.. Ideas always welcome...

I like the idea of holding him in my lap while the children come up one by one to pet him...(im going to ask for parent permission first.... just in case of allergies)
I figured if I did treats, it would be a healthy treat.. maybe a timothy/alfalfa cube in pieces...

Im also going to be bringing ducklings to school.. when they get bigger.. I had 2 hatch yesterday.. and one more due tomorrow.. I am going to wait a bit on them... but it seems im the only parent with odd ball animals in the house hold..

Hehehe... wonder if I could bring a donkey to class... Matty sure wouldnt mind walking thru the halls....(not sure about the principal):hilarious:

 

[Pleiades]

Aw, ducklings are so cute.

Good, small treats for this purpose might be rolled oats! 10, individual rolled oats would not be toooo bad for your little guy (or girl) in one sitting, and chins usually love them. It'd be like a serving of supplement or something...

 

[addictedtochins]

I think I would just skip any treats. The chin will be a little uneasy already, the oats may get dropped, kids nipped and then they will ALLways want to give something to a chin they meet. Does the pen have a cover? Without one they can easily jump out. I would just use a small cage/carrier. I just took my two boys (about 9mo. old) to visit my friend Michelle (NorthIdahoChins). I put them in a small wire dog kennel, I couldn't believe Jack was squeezing out of a 1 inch by 4 inch space in the wire until he plopped on my lap while I was driving. Also, once I had to put my Sammy chin in a hard plastic typical airline carrier, little bugger chewed through that rock hard plastic and escaped. So be careful, and 100% supervise.

 

[ticklechin]

When I do education days with the rescue, if you want to pet or hold a chin you need to use hand sanitizer before and after. It helps to protect the chin and protect you from liability if a kid gets "sick" and your chin is blamed. A member on CNQ was in a messy legal situation where here chin was blamed because a kid got e coli from a show and tell event at school.