Canadian Animals: The Busy Beaver (For All Ages)

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

What's your favorite animal? Have you told your sponsored kids about it? Maybe they've mentioned a favorite animal in their letters. I find that most of my kids have either a chicken or a goat as their favorite pet, although one of my kids loves cats (she has a cat at home) and another of my kids shared the good news with me that his dog had puppies!

Kids in North America love learning about animals like lions, elephants, and giraffes. But for some of our sponsored kids, those animals are quite common. My former sponsored child in Indonesia shared with me that although he loves the beach, he hadn't been able to go there for a while because there was a wild alligator on the loose! That's certainly not a problem we run into every day! (Unless of course you live in Florida!)

So, I decided to begin a series of letters on Canadian animals suitable for both my older and younger kids. First up, is a true symbol of Canadian pride: The Busy Beaver!

Dear (Name),

How are you doing? Today I want to tell you about a Canadian animal called a beaver. A beaver is a brown, furry animal that spends most of its time in the water. Beavers are slow on land, but in water they are very good swimmers and can spend 15 minutes underwater. Can you guess what a beavers' favorite food is? It's tree bark and sticks! That doesn't seem like it would taste very good, but to a beaver, it's a tasty snack. Beavers also eat some plants that grow underwater. God gave beavers two very special body parts to help them survive in nature. The first, is its huge teeth! Beaver teeth never stop growing, and a beaver has to chew wood constantly to stop its teeth from growing too big for its mouth! Beavers use their teeth to cut down huge trees and branches so they can build their houses. I am sending you a picture of a beaver chewing on a tree. You can see from the many tree stumps that it has been working for a long time! Beavers push trees into the water, where they float. Then the beaver can easily pull the trees and branches to where it wants to build its house. Have you ever seen a dam? A dam is a structure that is built to hold back water and make it deeper in one part. While some people go to university to learn how to build and design dams, beavers are born already knowing how! I am sending you a photo of a large dam made of sticks that was built by a beaver. Beavers feel safer in deep water, so they go into the deep part to build their houses made of wood.

The second special body part that God gave to beavers is their tail. A beaver's tail is very wide and flat. It uses its tail to help it swim. When a beaver feels unsafe, it raises its tail high into the air and brings it down hard on the surface of the water with a loud SLAP! This sound can be heard from far away and warns all the other beavers that there's danger! Then the beaver dives deep into the water to protect itself.

Beavers are the national animal of Canada. We also have a picture of a beaver on one of our Canadian coins. Beavers are very hard working and industrious little animals, which is why some people use the expression "As busy as a beaver". We can learn a lot about hard work and creativity just by learning about beavers. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:10, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." Beavers are a good example of this. God designed them especially to cut down trees and build dams, so they work hard at it all day long! Whenever I see a beaver swimming in a lake, or notice a tree stump that was chewed by a beaver, I am reminded to work hard and faithfully at the tasks that God has given me! I hope you have enjoyed learning about beavers! I love you and I will write again soon!

There are lots of free-to-use photos of beavers and beaver dams online!

If you'd like to send a fun maze to your younger kids, The Gumboot Kids has a great Beaver Maze!

Super Coloring has a full lineup of Beaver Coloring Pages for your younger and older "busy beavers"! Super Coloring also has hundreds of other free beaver printables such as dot-to-dots, jigsaw puzzles, and even a beaver mask or two! Just type "Beaver" into the search bar!

I even found a fun "Beaver Crown" for the artsy kids who love putting together paper crafts!

Responses From my Kids:

"She is very thankful for the letter and the story of that Canadian animal called a beaver and its hard work. She says that she has seen a dam built of soil but not a very big one. From the story of a beaver, she says that she will be as busy as a beaver." ~Miriam, 7, Kenya

"I was happy for Beaver, it was my first time to see this animal." ~Basomingera, 15, Rwanda

"I felt happy for you wrote me about Beaver. Thank you very much. It is an amazing animal." ~Kerubel, 17, Ethiopia