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Feathers, Fur and Fins: A song about echidnas

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An echidna walks on grass
Feathers, Fur and Fins: A song about echidnas

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  F–2


What would it be like to have an echidna for a pet?

Listen to Don Spencer as he sings this song about a pet echidna.

Watch an echidna looking for food to eat.


Things to think about

  1. 1.This song is about having an echidna as a pet. What might it be like to have a pet echidna? How would it be different to having a dog or a cat as a pet? What special things do you think a pet echidna would be able to do?
  2. 2.Listen to the lyrics (words) of the song that describe the echidna. Listen for 'prickly and small' and 'won't chase a ball'. The words at the end of these phrases sound the same. These words rhyme. Listen for other words that rhyme.
  3. 3.The song is about someone with an echidna as a pet. Which lines tell you how he feels about this? Make a list of words in the song that rhyme. What letters make up the sounds in these words? Do all the words that rhyme have the same letters?
  4. 4.If you could choose any Australian animal to keep as a pet, what would you choose? Draw a picture of this animal. Add rhyming words and phrases to your picture that describe what it looks like, how it moves and what it feels like to touch. What special things could this pet do?



Date of broadcast: 9 Sep 1986


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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