We finally finished our unit on lizards in the Sonoran Desert. It took us a month to do the unit due to numerous colds along the way. Besides being sick for most of the month of May, we had fun learning about the lizards we see climbing our walls outside (we have cinderblock walls for fences in the Southwest). I knew very little about the lizards here in Arizona, but I was able to identify the ones in our backyard. Here are some picture books about lizards in Arizona that we enjoyed, plus a handicraft we did that helped us learn more about reptiles.
We also learned about tortoises because they are reptiles. There weren’t many picture books to make a whole week of learning about them. So, I threw them into the lizard unit.
Picture Books that Feature Lizards in Arizona
Gecko by Raymond Huber
Lizards at Large: 21 Remarkable Reptiles at Their Actual Size by Roxie Munro
About Reptiles by Catheryn Sill
All About Lizards by Jim Arnosky
Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
The Horned Toad Prince by Jackie Mims Hopkins
The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit by Susan Lowell
Arizona Wildlife: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Animals
Observing Lizards
Like I said earlier, we were sick with colds for a number of weeks. Going on a nature walk just isn’t fun with sick kids. Don’t try doing it. However, we have plenty of lizards zipping and scrambling on our walls, that we really didn’t even have to go anywhere. What we did was we sneaked up as quietly as could to a lizard, and observed him until he ran away. We used our Arizona Wildlife Pocket Guide. It has very simple and clear picture of the different lizards, making it an easy to identify a lizard right in front of you.
As we observed lizards, we found that we most often saw the Western Whiptail and the Western Fence Lizard. I see them when I am outside watering the garden. They run away from the water and skitter to a dry place. My three-year old loved trying to get close to a lizard as she could. She’s usually loud, so she really couldn’t get all that close to one, but she enjoyed it nonetheless.
Staying in the Backyard
Staying in my backyard and not making a fuss of getting kids in the car is my favorite way to do nature study. Walks are nice too, but you still have to make sure everyone goes to the bathroom and has sunscreen on. Sometimes I don’t even want to do that. All to say, is that studying the life we see in our backyard is perfect for this age with littles.
It gets even better – we have hawks that hunt in our neighborhood. We like to watch them circle around and around. We have seen them sitting on the pool fence, resting. Sometimes a roadrunner visits our area too, and then I have the poem A Bird Came Down the Walk by Emily Dickenson stuck in my head, except I change it to A Roadrunner Came Down the Walk. Most years, we have a quail family nest under a bush. We get to watch the chicks grow. In a busy season of life, it’s nice when we can learn in our backyard. It makes life easier.
Handicraft
I made up a fun craft! It’s a lizard suncatcher. We used contact paper, paper plates, tissue paper, and yarn to make it. First, we cut the contact paper into a circle and placed it on the cut out plate. Then we cut tissue paper into the shape of a lizard. We cut a head, arms, legs, tail, and body and fitted them together. Next, we placed another layer on contact paper on top to protect the first one from collecting dirt. Lastly, we put another cut out plate on top to cover the edges of contact paper, taped some yarn on, and hung up our sun catchers.
What I Didn’t Know…
I keep finding out how little I know about the animals here in Arizona. First of all, Gila monsters get their name from a river called the Gila River. There used to be a bunch of them that lived there. Gila monsters are poisonous lizards. When they bite, they don’t let go. It’s really hard to get on off of you. It just sounds awful to have a lizard stuck to you like that. I guess you bring it with you to urgent care. Then what do they do with it after they get it off you? I just don’t know how this usually plays out. However, they don’t bite unless you bother them. There was only one record of a bite from a Gila monster here in Arizona in 2024 (in case anyone was wondering).
Also, the horned toad shots blood out of its eyes when it meets a predator. My boys thought that was really cool. Some of these animals are so strange and gross. I have written this before, but it’s fun to learn with your kids. Reptiles in Arizona are kind of interesting (and gross), and since I didn’t grow up here, it’s all new to me.
Last Thoughts
It took us a month to learn about lizards, but we did it! Sometimes life has to slow down like that. We enjoyed taking our time reading the picture books about lizards in Arizona. Next up is diurnal animals. There are some really cool resources that I found for that unit, and I am looking forward to sharing them. Want more picture books about reptiles in Arizona? Read my post about picture books about snakes.
Carly from DesertHomeschoolDays.com
