Bat Science Stations for Preschool

My preschoolers are learning about bats. I set up bat science stations for them to learn more. I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.

Preschool Bat Science Centers

How much do bats weigh?

I set up a station for students to compare the weight of different bats.

Here are the bats and weights I used for the activity.

I printed and laminated photos of the bats. I added weight to the back of the laminated photos by using pennies. A penny weighs about 2 grams, so I added enough pennies to equal the weight of the bat. I placed the pennies in a small plastic baggie and then taped the bag to the back of the bat.

Measuring a Bat’s Wingspan

I chose the Bumble Bee Bat and the Little Brown Bat for students to measure the wingspans. I printed the photos to the correct length of their wingspans.

Students measured the wingspans using Math Stackers – foam blocks that are made in 1 inch units.

How Much Do Bats Eat?

Did you know a bat can eat its weight in insects each day? I used a coloring page of a Little Brown Bat for this station. The bat coloring page is from Animalia.

I added an unused glue stick to the back of the bat to represent the weight. Students will place the bat on one side of a balance scale and add insects to the other side of the scale to match the weight. I used plastic insects from Terra by Battat.

Is Your Hearing as Good as a Bat’s?

Bats use echolocation to help them navigate in the dark. They send out squeaks and listen for the sound to bounce back to them. They can tell the shape, size, and distance of the object. This helps them find food, avoid predators, and navigate their way around obstacles.

What’s the Sound Mystery Capsules

I set out mystery sound capsules from Lakeshore Learning. Students shook the capsules and guessed what was inside. They could turn the capsules to look through the window and see what was making the sound.

Feed the Bats

From Teachers Pay Teachers, I found a bat resource made by Crystal McGinnis. Grab the Bat Freebies here. I printed the Roll & Record page and changed the numbers 7-8 to 1-6.

Students rolled one die and fed an insect to that number bat.

Make a Bat Cave

In the same Bat Freebie from Crystal McGinnis on Teachers Pay Teachers, I found a bat cave craft. I reduced the size by a quarter to fit 4 sets of bats on a page. I used small cups.

Students cut out the cave entrance. I showed them how to add the bats and sign to their caves.

Color a Bumblebee Bat Picture

I printed a bat coloring page from Simply Love Coloring. I chose one that looked like a Bumblebee Bat. I like to print 2 coloring pages on one page.

Read a Bat Book

We read Hello, Bumbleebee Bat before my students did the bat stations. The book does a great job of introducing the world’s smallest bat.

On the second day, we read The Bat Book. Since I was reading to a group of preschoolers, I selected some of the facts to read to students and showed them pictures. I only ready a handful of pages from this book.