•  The bats in Bats at the Library imagine themselves in their favorite books.  Make a drawing of yourself doing something in one of your favorite books!

•  Shadow play:  what kinds of animals can you shape using combinations of ordinary classroom objects (markers, erasers, crumpled paper, etc.)?  Objects can be taped to clear plastic sheets at students’ desks, then students can place sheets on an overhead projector and the class can guess what animal each student was trying to shape.

•  Imagine what your house might look like if you flew above it.  Draw what you think you’d see (internet maps can help:  Yahoo maps / Google earth).

• make your own edible bugmallows!

• draw your own house as bats might see it from the sky (connect with map-making)

• have each student draw a bat or decorate a bat cutout, and hang on thread from classroom ceiling

• Bats at the Beach Mural: Along the bottom of a long piece of dark blue or black paper, glue a strip of yellow or tan paper (sand) or half-sheets of sandpaper, and a thin strip of blue paper (water). Have each student draw, decorate and cut out a bat or family of bats engaged in his or her favorite beach activity. Attach students’ bats to the background. What kind of details or activities can you think of to add to the mural?

• draw what you think is in the bats’ attic

• make a collection of bumper stickers bats might put on their bags or baskets.

• design a beach towel for a bat

• make a pair of bat wings from an old umbrella (if you’re in a city, you can find lots of discarded umbrellas on a rainy, windy day!). Strips of cloth with Velcro at wrist, shoulder and waist will help hold wings in place. 3-4 umbrella panels will make a good single wing...