'World Elephant Day' 🐘 12 August

🐘 World Elephant Day – CST Activities

World Elephant Day, celebrated on 12 August, is a chance to celebrate these extraordinary animals and learn a little more about the largest animals walking the Earth today. Elephants make a wonderful CST theme. They can prompt memories of childhood visits to the zoo, wildlife programmes, circuses, television and films, as well as familiar sayings, songs and stories.

We begin with Facts About Elephants, discovering more about their families, behaviour, intelligence and remarkable abilities. Our Let’s Talk Elephants slide then encourages everyone to share their own memories and opinions.

Elephants are the largest living land animals – but how do they compare with the giants of the rest of the animal kingdom? We know the blue whale is the largest animal on Earth, so what other creatures come close?

We’ll discover whether there is any truth behind the familiar saying “an elephant never forgets”, and ask which elephants have the biggest ears – and why?

Elephants also have a complicated relationship with people. Some cultures and countries have revered and celebrated elephants, while elsewhere they have been hunted for ivory. This gives us an opportunity to think about how attitudes towards elephants have changed and why protecting them remains so important.

Next comes our Complete the Animal Similes Memory Challenge, using familiar expressions to test word recall and language – from as wise as an owl to as strong as an ox.

Then we turn to Circus Elephants, remembering a time when performing elephants were a familiar part of the travelling circus and considering how attitudes towards using wild animals for entertainment have changed.

Our Name the TV & Movie Elephants Memory Challenge takes us into popular culture, seeing how many famous fictional elephants we can recognise and name.

And who could forget Lulu the Baby Elephant on Blue Peter? Her famously chaotic studio appearance became one of the most memorable moments in the programme’s history – particularly for presenter John Noakes and Lulu’s unfortunate keeper!

🎵 CST Songs of the Day

There are plenty of musical connections too. We’ll enjoy the childhood favourite “Nellie the Elephant”, Henry Mancini’s wonderfully playful “Baby Elephant Walk”, and Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s “Ebony and Ivory” – using the songs to encourage musical memory, conversation and reminiscence.

Finally, it’s time to get creative with our practical activity, Making an Elephant Collage, using different textures, shapes and materials to create our own elephant artwork.

Together, the activities provide plenty of opportunities for reminiscence, recognition, word finding, discussion, music, humour and creativity – all inspired by one of the most intelligent and remarkable animals on our planet.

Happy World Elephant Day! 🐘