Dear Parents and Guardians:
What child doesn’t like elephants? The cover and pages 6-11 of this month’s Ranger Rick Jr. have wonderful pictures and facts about the 
largest land animals.
As you read about elephants with your child, compare the similarities and differences between their lives and ours. Here are questions to ask—along with possible answers—while looking at pages 8-9.
• If an elephant uses its trunk to eat, what does a child use? (The answer could be his or her hands, or a fork or spoon.)
• Elephants greet each other by rubbing trunks. How do we greet each other? (People usually shake hands or hug.)
• Elephants throw wet mud to cool themselves. (In summer, some children play in water sprinklers.)
On pages 10-11, there are twelve elephants in the three photographs. Ask your child to count them. Talk about which elephants are the largest, the smallest, the youngest, and the oldest.
Encourage your child to draw an elephant using these simple steps:
After he or she makes a few drawings, the best can be colored and mailed to Ranger Rick Jr. at:
Ricky’s Mail
11100 Wildlife Center Drive
Reston, VA 20190
(You can also submit drawings online here.)
Turn to page 33 to see examples of other children’s animal drawings.
Have fun exploring Ranger Rick Jr. with your child.
Mike Wilson, Founder
Prekindergarten Reading Encouragement Project
PREP – Helping childhood literacy one family at a time.