Animal Ed-Ventures At Home: Cute Hidden Hissers!

Forget What You Thought You Knew About Cockroaches...

Thank you for joining our Animal Ed-Ventures At Home! Introducing AHS' Animal Teachers, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, Biggie and the Gang!  Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches are not pests, do not inhabit human homes, and cannot fly. Unlike other insects that make noise by rubbing their body parts together, these little guys hiss by exhaling air through their breathing holes. Our "hissers" are Animal Teachers named Biggie and the Gang, Biggie being the largest one. Can you hide him in your painting? Supplies:

• Print outs: Print the Cute Hidden Hissers background and foreground templates.
• Paint: On a paper plate or scrap piece of cardboard, pour 1 tablespoon of each paint color (Tempura nontoxic, washable paint is used in our demonstration, but you can make your own finger paint using household items).
• Marker
• Colored pencils
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Follow along with our Animal Ed-Ventures At Home video on AHS' Facebook page! The video will premiere on Wednesday, May 13 at 10 a.m.
2. Print the background and foreground templates.
3. Color the templates in earthy colors using colored pencils and carefully cut out the templates. Make sure you do not cut off the tabs! Turn the leaves and rocks over so you can color in the back of the template.
4. Mix your brown paint colors on the paper plate with your finger.
5. Carefully push your finger into the paint and start finger-painting your hissers onto your background. Try to avoid overlapping them, otherwise it will be difficult to draw on the hissers' legs. For Biggie the largest hisser you can finger-paint with your thumb! Leave it to dry.
6. Turn over you rock and leaves and finger-paint the hissers onto the back. Leave it to dry.
7. With a marker, draw on the hissers' legs (they have three pairs), two antenna, and black dots for horns (male hissers have horns).
8. Fold the tab over on the leaves template and place on the top of the background. Stick with tape on the back. Repeat for the rock.
9. Ask someone to guess how many hissers are in your painting! Then, surprise them by lifting up the leaves and the rock!

We would love to see your hidden hissers when you are finished! Please feel free to share with us on AHS' Facebook page and be sure to join us for future activities each Wednesday at 10 a.m.! AHS' Education and Outreach team inspires a compassionate community of animal lovers through education events across the Valley and youth programs in schools and in our shelters. They also care for our Animal Teachers, who are ambassadors who help young animal lovers develop an appreciation and compassion for living things through interaction and up-close observation. Our Animal Teachers come to us from a variety of circumstances. Some were surrendered or transferred to us from another rescue organization, while others were rescued after being abused, abandoned or injured. They become ambassadors in our education programs as their stories are filled with a message of caring, empathy and hope. Both our Animal Teachers and our own companion pets will join us in our Animal Ed-Ventures At Home weekly series.

Learn More About AHS' Youth Programs