Reindeer can run very fast for a reason–they have quite a few predators. Coyotes and wolverines are natural enemies, as are brown bears and polar bears. Even hawks and eagles have been known to attack and eat reindeer to survive. Another enemy of reindeer is extremely small: Blood-sucking insects feast on reindeer to survive.
Reindeer Facts: Lesson for Kids
Instructor: Jennifer Lowery Show bio Jennifer has taught elementary levels K-3 and has master’s degrees in elementary education and curriculum/instruction and educational leadership.
Reindeer are amazing creatures–far beyond the cartoon images we see at Christmastime! In this lesson, explore where reindeer live, what they eat and the special physical adaptations they have for survival.
Table of Contents
- Common Image of Reindeer
- Physical Characteristics
- Habitat and Diet
- Surviving in the Wild
- Lesson Summary
Common Image of Reindeer
We all know about that famous reindeer with the red nose that people sing about during the Christmas holiday. Our culture has created a cartoon image of what a reindeer looks like. In reality, this animal has very interesting characteristics that make it much different from that holiday image we are most familiar with.
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Physical Characteristics
Reindeer belong to the deer species (which caribou are also a part of). Reindeer males, called bulls, have large horns and bodies covered with soft fur. Females are called cows, and most female varieties also have horns, though their horns are somewhat smaller than those of a bull. A baby deer is called a calf, and they have to grow quickly in order to survive in the wild.
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These animals have very strong legs to enable them to run quickly and even swim across rivers, if needed. Their hooves can change to adapt to the season. In the summertime, their hooves get softer, which helps them walk on softer ground. In the winter, they become stronger in order to avoid slipping on snow and ice.
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How to Draw a Reindeer
The step-by-step drawing lesson on how to draw a reindeer will surely be useful to you. Draw as often as possible using the step-by-step instructions to develop your artistic skills. I have created these instructions to make it easy for any beginner artist or child to draw a reindeer. As a result, you will have a very cute reindeer drawing.
The reindeer are mammals. Reindeer are often seen as a symbol of Christmas because we are used to seeing these animals as Santa Claus’ helpers who carry him around in a magical sleigh.
You will start this tutorial by drawing an outline of the body of this animal and then adding a very important part of its body, the horns. So you can start drawing the reindeer.
- Pencil
- Paper
- Eraser
- Coloring supplies
Time needed: 20 minutes
How to Draw a Reindeer
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Draw the outline of the head and torso. Depict the head as a circle and the torso as a freeform figure, using a curved line.
Add the front of the head, the neck, and the tail. Connect the head and torso with curved lines, add part of the head and the pointed tail.
Draw the facial features. Paint the reindeer’s nose, eye, and mouth with circles and a curved line.
Depict the reindeer’s ears. On the animal’s head, draw two identical pointed ears with curved lines.
Add the horns. On the reindeer’s head, add two identical curved horns.
Draw the paws. Outline two identical paws of the reindeer with straight lines.
Add the second pair of paws. Draw these paws at the back part of the reindeer’s torso with straight lines.
Erase the auxiliary lines. Use an eraser to remove unnecessary lines from the drawing.
Color in the drawing. To color this reindeer you should use black and shades of brown.
So you have drawn a wonderful reindeer step by step. You can now download the PDF file I prepared for you. This file contains a short version of this lesson and some additional useful materials that you can use anytime.
When the coronavirus pandemic quarantine period began in Spring/Summer 2020, I realised that lots of people were going to find themselves at home with their children for several weeks/months looking for things to do. So I decided to post a draw-along video every Tuesday and Thursday that parents could watch with their kids and, hopefully, make some nice pictures. They have proved very popular, garnering millions of views across the world. On 21 May 2020 we broke the Guinness World Record for the largest online art lesson when 45,611 households drew a whale with me. From September 2020 lockdown gradually began to ease and kids started going back to school, so I decided to move the #DrawWithRob video slot to Saturdays at 10am BST/GMT so that kids can join in with my Saturday Art Club. And then in August 2021 as life returned to (something like) normal, the videos began to be released slightly more sporadically. But I’m still going! Keep an eye on my social feeds or sign up to my newsletter here to find out when the next video will be released.
Here are all of the videos (scroll down the page). Feel free to watch and share them with anybody and everybody. I’d love to see the results, so please send me your pictures on social media using the hashtag #DrawWithRob. I am @RobBiddulph on Twitter, @rbiddulph on Instagram and robbiddulphauthor on Facebook.
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I’m delighted to say that DRAW WITH ROB is now an incredible activity book series (every page features perforated edges so you can easily tear out and display your art). The first book is a Sunday Times number one bestseller, the winner of the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award 2020 and was shortlisted for Children’s Illustrated/Non-fiction Book of The Year at the British Book Awards 2021. The second book, Draw With Rob at Christmas, is also a bestseller and was the WHSmith Book of the Month for November 2020. The third book, Draw With Rob: Build A Story, the fourth book, Draw With Rob: Monster Madness, the fifth book, Draw With Rob: Amazing Animals, and the sixth book, Draw With Rob at Halloween, are (guess what) bestsellers too! They are all available to order here.
