Celebrating World Rhino Day With Preschoolers

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World Rhino Day is celebrated every September 22^nd since 2011, in order for concerned individuals and organizations to raise awareness of the danger of extinction that all five rhino species are facing, hoping to find a way to save them.

Why? Because approximately three rhinos are killed every day by poachers. They use tranquilizers to disable the rhinos, cut off their horns, and left them to bleed until they die. World Rhino Day is the perfect opportunity for the world to be aware of what’s happening, spread the word, and stand together against the trade of rhino horns to preserve this endangered species.

The incredibly good news I have to give you is that the San Diego Zoo Safari Park just had a male baby Southern White Rhino born on August 6^th, 2022. This zoo has a “cryobank that stores reproductive cells and embryos from almost 1,000 species, including 12 northern white rhino cell lines”, and this successful birth gives a little hope of using this rhino mom or other Southern Rhinos as surrogates for Northern White Rhinos embryos, since there’re only two Northern White Rhinos left in the world, and they are both females. The last male died in 2018.

Celebrating World Rhino Day With Preschoolers

At the end of this post, you will find a World Rhino Day pack, as my gift to you. It includes 23 pages of Literacy, Science, Math, and Fine Motor activities for your preschoolers, that you can use to complement other activity suggestions and ideas I’m offering you below, to celebrate this important day.

History of World Rhino Day

World Rhino Day was announced by the World Wildlife South Africa in 2020, but it was celebrated for the first time on September 22, 2011, when Lisa Jane Campbell of Chishakwe Ranch in Zimbabwe and Rhishja Cota united their efforts to make this happen.

Even when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) declared the trade of rhinoceros horns illegal in 1977, the rates of poaching of rhinoceros species and other endangered species have increased, now using sophisticated gun power.

Cause-related organizations, wildlife conservation centers, N.G.O.s, zoos, and concerned individuals must get united to seek effective ways to stop rhino poaching and possibly preserve this endangered species.

Why World Rhino Day is Important

The demand for rhino horns and blood has increased in Asia, where they mistakenly believe that those horns increment male virility, and are a cure for diseases such as convulsions, fever, and cancer. Also, they are considered exotic trophies in Vietnamese markets.

World Rhino Day‘s main goal is to keep the last 5 remaining rhino species alive by calling up the world to do something to stop these poachers. One of the things that helps a lot is collecting donations to support the efforts done by the anti-poaching teams, especially in South Africa.

World Rhino Day is a beautiful excuse to learn and teach about these incredible animals.

I invite you to watch the trailer of the Gambling on Extinction | Anti-poaching/Illegal wildlife trade documentary below, to get informed on how serious this situation is.

How to Celebrate World Rhino Day

Educate yourself, your preschoolers, and their families about these magnificent animals, and the danger they are facing.

Start a fundraiser in your school and/or neighborhood to raise funds to help the anti-poaching teams get equipment and manpower able to protect rhinos better, and/or donate to charities and organizations that support endangered species and global conservation efforts, such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Defenders of Wildlife, International Rhino Foundation, and International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Organize a field trip to your local zoo with your preschoolers and their families to go see the rhinos, and talk to their keepers to get information about the different types of rhinos, the problems they face in the wild, and the projects the zoo has to protect them.

Encourage your preschoolers, families, and friends to “adopt a rhino” by giving monthly donations to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in the amount they can afford. They will send you a pack with a certificate and other items according to your adoption, and the best part is that everybody that participates gets will help the WWF “support vital conservation work throughout key rhino range, support effective anti-poaching measures, reduce consumer demand for rhino horn, and fund our other essential work around the world”. What can be a better help than that?

Invite your children to make a rhino hat, or plan it as a home activity. You can also find more rhino crafts to do with your preschoolers at kidsartncraft.com.

Organize or participate in peaceful demonstrations against poaching.

Use your social media and encourage people you know to do the same, to spread the word about rhino poaching and how to protect other species in the brick of extinction as well. Some tags you can use are Facebook: @InternationalRhinoFoundation; Twitter & Instagram: @rhinosirf) and/or use the World Rhino Day hashtags: #WorldRhinoDay #WRD2022 #TeamRhino #KeeptheFiveAlive.

Watch documentaries about rhino facts, rhino poaching, and extinction, and share them with your preschoolers, families, and friends, to spread the word. The below documentaries show you the characteristics of each of the remaining rhino species: Time Is Running Out For The Black Rhino On The Brink of Extinction | Giving Nature a Voice | Real Wild; The Southern White Rhinoceros – Everything You Need To Know About White Rhinos, The World’s Smallest Rhino, the Sumatran Rhino, is Going Extinct | Seven Worlds, One Planet | BBC Earth, Javan Rhino • All You Need To Know About This Rhinoceros, and Indian Rhinoceros – World Rhino Week.

Facts About Rhinos

Rhinoceros appear in China thousands of years ago.
The name rhinoceros means ‘nose horn’ and is often shortened to rhino.
White rhinos are the second-largest land mammal in the world, after elephants.
Rhinos are partially blind.
Rhinoceros have thick, protective skin, and small brains, but they are not stupid.
Rhinoceros horns are made of keratin, the same substance as fingernails, and hair is not attached to the skull and continues to grow until the rhino dies.
Javan and Indian rhinos have one horn. White, Black, and Sumatran rhinos have two.
White Rhinos are actually grey.
Rhinos have fantastic hearing and a great sense of smell.
The skin of the rhinoceros is very thick and yet it is also very sensitive.
Rhinos can run at 30 to 40 mph and can make swift turns in small places.
They get frightened easily.
One-horned rhinos can swim, and dive underwater.
Rhinos’ only predators are humans.
The Sumatran rhino is the smallest species of rhino. The largest is the white rhino.
The white and black rhinos live in Africa, Javan and Sumatran rhinos live in Indonesia, and Indian or One-horned rhinos live in India.
Rhinoceros are herbivores. They eat grass, leaves, aquatic plants, various crops, branches, shoots, bushes, and fruit.
Rhinoceroses are solitary and territorial animals.
Some species like white rhinos may live in a group called herd or crash.
An adult male rhino is called a bull, an adult female cow, and a baby calf.
There are five different species of rhinos left in the world: Black Rhino, White Rhino, Sumatran, Javan, and Indian or greater one-horned.
They live for about 35 to 50 years, depending on the species.
Several rhino subspecies are extinct. The Sumatran and Javan are critically endangered, and only two Northern White rhinos remain in the world.

Books About Rhinos

These are some of my favorite books about rhinos. If you don’t have any available, you can go to your local library, or used book store and use my links on the pictures to quickly get them from Amazon. Get as many as you can, read them to your preschoolers, and fill your library and centers with them.

Pin It For Later

If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it for later, pin it to one of your Pinterest boards.

I feel like we, as educators and parents have to do everything we can to create in our preschoolers the desire to become defenders of the planet and its inhabitants for life so that future generations can get to know and enjoy all existing species.

I hope you enjoy these ideas and help you have fun during the World Rhino Day celebration with your preschoolers. To get the FREE pack, you just have to click on the link below and put your information, for an immediate download.

Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.

Love,

P.D. Please let me know if any of these ideas worked for you, or if you think I need to add or replace something. My goal is to help you in any way I can.