At a Glance
This International Bat Appreciation Day post is a complete celebration guide for preschool, kindergarten and other young learners, packed with bat facts, jokes, discussion starters and cross-curricular learning ideas spanning science, math, literacy and PSHE. You'll also find low-prep indoor and outdoor activity ideas, book recommendations, a participation certificate and a set of lovely printable bat activities! Celebrated every year on April 17.
Contents - Jump to what you need
What Is International Bat Appreciation Day?
Every year on April 17th, we get a whole day to celebrate one of nature’s most underappreciated creatures – the bat.
Not the spooky Halloween kind that lurks in cartoon graveyards, but the really helpful bat that has been quietly doing important work out there for over 50 million years.
International Bat Appreciation Day was created by Bat Conservation International (BCI) to raise awareness about the importance of protecting bat species worldwide. BCI was founded in 1982 by scientists and conservationists – and has since grown into an internationally recognized conservation organization. Their mission is to conserve the world’s bats and their ecosystems to ensure a healthy planet.
April 17th is also a particularly fitting date, as April is the best time of the year to observe bats with many species are now beginning to emerge from hibernation.
You can learn more about BCI’s work directly at batcon.org.
Why Is International Bat Appreciation Day Special?
Bats have a bit of an image problem. Most of your little ones have probably only ever encountered them as Halloween decorations or in spooky cartoons – which is a shame, because they’re really very interesting.
The truth is, bats are incredible animals doing some really important work. They help keep insect populations in check, pollinate plants and can also spread seeds across entire ecosystems.
Dedicating a day to them is a chance to turn “scary bat” into “wow, bats are actually amazing.” That shift in perspective is exactly the kind of curiosity and empathy it’s great to nurture in our little learners!
Learning Opportunities
Bats open up a brilliant range of learning angles that work beautifully for young learners. Here’s a look at a few key areas you can explore with your little learners:
Science: Mammals and Flight
It’s easy for young children to assume that bats are birds. This gives us a fantastic opportunity to explore what makes a mammal a mammal. Bats are warm-blooded, have fur, give birth to live young, and feed them milk.
Bats are mammals, not birds – they have soft fur and large ears, and as babies they drink milk from their mothers. And they are the only mammals on Earth capable of true, sustained flight!
A little idea for the classroom or home: Print off some images of bats and birst and place them side by side. What’s the same? What’s different? How do we know the bat is a mammal?
Science: Echolocation
This one is pure magic for young children. Bats send out waves of sound from their mouths or noses, which bounce off their surroundings right back to their ears. By listening to the echoes, bats can build up a picture of exactly what’s around them – including all those juicy insects! This navigation system is called echolocation.
Try a simple clapping echo activity in a hallway or stairwell. Can your little ones hear their clap come back to them? That’s the basic idea behind how a bat “sees” in the dark.
Science and PSHE: Bats in the Ecosystem
Bats are considered keystone species that are essential to the ecosystem. Without their pollination and seed-dispersing services, local ecosystems could gradually collapse.
Hundreds of plant species rely on bats to pollinate them, including fruits like bananas, avocados, and mangoes.
This could be a lovely entry point into conversations about why all living things matter – even the ones that seem scary at first.
Math: Counting and Measurement
The world’s smallest bat is the Bumblebee Bat, measuring just 29 to 33mm in length as a full-grown adult, while the world’s largest bat – the Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox – has a wingspan of up to 6 feet.
Use this as a measuring and comparing activity: lay a 6-foot piece of string or ribbon on the floor and see how it compares to the bumble bee bat’s or your little learners’ own wingspan!
Did You Know?
Here are a few fun bat facts to share with your little learners:
Bats are the only mammals on Earth that can truly fly. The scientific name for the order of bats, Chiroptera, actually means “hand-wings” in Greek – bat wings are actually thin membranes of skin stretched between long, finger-like bones. So bats literally fly with their hands!
A single little brown bat can eat around 1,200 mosquitoes in just one hour. That’s 1,200 fewer itchy bites – so next time you spot a bat swooping around at dusk, you might want to say thank you!
Baby bats are called pups. And every baby bat has its own special sound – so the moms can find them even in crowded roosts.
Bats are pollinators, just like bees and butterflies. hundreds of plant species rely on bats to pollinate them, including fruits like bananas, avocados, and mangoes.
- With over 1,400 species of bats in the world, bats make up around 20 percent of all described mammal species! Which makes them the second-largest group of mammals after rodents; One in every five mammals is a bat!
International Bat Appreciation Day Jokes
A bat themed day feels even more fun when your little learners get to laugh along with it. Here’s a few themed jokes you may want to share with your little ones (I only collated these, I didn’t write them – please don’t shout at me!):
- Which circus performers can see in the dark? The acro-bats!
- What is the first thing a bat learns at school? The alpha-bat!
- Why don’t bats live alone? They like to hang out with their friends!
- How do bats greet each other from far away? With a sound wave!
- What do you call a bat in a bell tower? A ding-bat!
International Bat Appreciation Day Printable Activities
Whether your little ones are counting bats, threading lacing cards, building their own bat craft, or acting out stories with a finger puppet, there’s plenty here to keep those curious brains busy. Our bat-themed printables cover fine motor skills, counting, number recognition, imaginative play, and more.
Click on the images below to grab an bat-themed activity:
Other Fun Ways to Celebrate
There are so many wonderful ways to celebrate Bat Appreciation Day that don’t require a printout or a special trip! All of the ideas below are low-prep, use everyday materials, and work brilliantly in a classroom or at home.
Indoor Activities
Handprint Bat Art:
Paint both hands black or brown and press them (thumbs touching, fingers spread wide) onto some white or blue paper to make bat wings, then add draw or paint on a simple body, ears – and maybe add some googly eyes. It’s one of those crafts that looks impressive but only takes about ten minutes – and the results make a brilliant display. If you want to extend it, children can paint a night sky backdrop first and add a moon using a circle sponge. Skills: fine motor, creativity, pencil control.
Bat Cave Small World: Drape a dark sheet or blanket over a table to create a “bat cave.” Set up inside with plastic bats, toy insects some rocks and moss from outside – you get the idea. Then you can let children play freely or prompt them with a story starter like ‘the bats are waking up and need to find their dinner before morning.’ This kind of imaginative play is rich in language, storytelling, and science vocabulary. Skills: imaginative play, language, storytelling, science vocabulary.
Echolocation Blindfold Game: This is a take on the ‘hot or cold’ game I’m sure you’re familiar with.Basically, one child is the bat – they close their eyes or wear a blindfold. Hide a “moth” (a soft toy or beanbag) somewhere in the room. The rest of the group gives directions using only sound. They clap slowly when the bat is far from the moth and clap faster as they get closer. This would help your little ones to really understand how bats use sound to navigate. Skills: listening, spatial awareness, science understanding.
Outdoor Activities
Seed Dispersal Relay: Bats eat fruit and drop seeds as they fly, helping forests regrow. Set up a simple relay where children carry a “seed” (a counter or beanbag etc.) from one end of your outdoor space to the other then ‘plant it’. Talk about how bats do this job every night across entire rainforests without even trying. Skills: gross motor, science, understanding of ecosystems.
Bug Hunt — What’s on the Menu?: Bats eat a huge variety of insects – moths, mosquitoes, beetles, gnats. Head outside with magnifying glasses and see what you can find hiding under leaves, on bark, and around long grass. Every insect you spot is something a bat might eat! Record findings with simple drawings, charts or tally marks. Skills: observation, science vocabulary, fine motor, mathematical recording.
Twilight Bat Watch: April is one of the best times of year to spot bats as many species are just coming out of hibernation. Pick an evening with mild temperatures, head to a garden, park, or open space near trees or water, and watch quietly as the light fades.
Can your little ones spot the quick, darting flight that tells you it’s a bat rather than a bird? Skills: observation, science, mathematical recording, patience.
Ideas from Around the Web
If you’d like a few more ways to celebrate, here’s a few simple ideas from some trusted sites:
Nature Bat Craft Using Sticks and Leaves – Sticks for the wings, leaves for the ears, and a little creativity. It’s completely free, needs no special supplies (just a trip outside), and produces a wonderfully unique bat for each child. Perfect for pairing with a bat-themed nature walk. Skills: creativity, fine motor, nature connection. (Little Pine Learners)
Hanging Toilet Paper Roll Bat Craft – a simple, charming hanging bat made from an empty toilet paper roll, black paper, and googly eyes. Skills: fine motor, scissors, creativity. (Buggy and Buddy)
- Build a Bat Box – PBS KIDS for Parents has a family-friendly guide to building a simple bat box – a real home for real bats! Adults do the cutting, but children can help with painting, measuring, and installing. science, measuring, environmental stewardship, teamwork. (PBS)
Simple Classroom Display & Group Activity Ideas
Here are some easy ways to bring your bat theme to life in a group setting:
Bat Fact Wall:
Create a “Did You Know?” display using the facts from this post. Each child makes a bat shape (they could use the Build A Bat Craft or these simpler bat templates) and writes or draws one fact on the back. Pin them hanging with some twine from a display tree, cave shape, or dark-paper night sky.
Class “Appreciate a Bat” Pledge Wall: Each child draws a bat (or uses these simple bat templates) and writes (or dictates) one reason why they appreciate bats. Display these together as a class appreciation wall. Lovely for PSHE and as a display piece.
Collective Bat Story: Sit in a circle and build a bat story one sentence at a time, with each child adding the next part. You could even write it down as you go and read the finished story back to the group at the end. A brilliant speaking and listening activity that develops narrative structure and turn-taking.
Bat Species Investigation Station: Set up a simple science investigation corner with bat reference books, printed facts and pictures of bats. Can children sort images of bats by what they eat – insects, fruit, nectar? Or by size – small, medium, large? Good for scientific thinking and vocabulary building.
Bat Appreciation Day Reading List -Bat Books to Explore Together
Books are one of the most powerful tools you have for bringing any theme to life, and there are loads of absolute gems for Bat Day – here’s a few:
Stellaluna – Janell Cannon
This much-loved picture book handles themes of belonging, kindness, and understanding others beautifully – and it sneaks in plenty of real bat biology as well!
Bats at the Library – Brian Lies
With gorgeous illustrations and some super, bouncy rhyming text, this story is a great one for sparking a love of books and curiosity about bats in equal measure.
Nightsong – Ari Berk
I love the illustrations on this one! Really help children to understand and get a better ‘feeling’ for echolocation.
Bats – Gail Gibbons
Clear,easy to understand text, brilliant diagrams and some super facts make it an excellent classroom read-aloud before diving into any of the bat activities above.
Discussion Starters
A few well-chosen questions can turn a simple activity into a rich conversation that builds language and thinking skills. Here are some open-ended starters to use with your little learners around Bat Appreciation Day:
Before today, what did you think about bats? Has anything changed now that you’ve learned more about them?
Bats use sound to “see” in the dark. Can you think of any other ways animals might use their senses in unexpected ways?
If you could be a bat for one night, where would you fly and what would you eat?
Bats help grow bananas, avocados, and mangoes by pollinating the plants. Why do you think that makes them important?
Some animals are misunderstood because of myths and scary stories. Why do you think it matters to find out the truth before making up your mind about something?
International Bat Appreciation Day Certificate of Participation
I’ve made a little certificate you can use to help celebrate your learners’ efforts with a cheerful keepsake! I’ve kept it simple as I know too well how time consuming writing the dates and signing a class worth or certificates can be…
Click the button below to download and print a International Bat Appreciation Day Certificate of Participation:
Bat Appreciation Day Final Thoughts
International Bat Appreciation Day is such a super chance to change opinions on one of the most misunderstood animals out there.
Whether your little ones are spotting bats at twilight, building bat boxes, acting out echolocation in the playground, or snuggling up with Stellaluna, there’s something quietly magical about watching a child go from “ew, bats!” to “wait, bats are actually super cool!” That curiosity, that willingness to look closer and think again – that’s exactly the kind of thing worth nurturing!
We’d love to hear from you: did your little ones spot any bats this April? Or do they have a favourite bat fact they want to share?
Enjoy and let’s nurture those neurons!
And if you want to see what other special days are coming up soon – as well as grab a few choice activities – you can check out our Special Day Calendar here.
FAQ
International Bat Appreciation Day is observed every year on April 17th.
Bat Conservation International (BCI) started and supports International Bat Appreciation Day. BCI’s mission is to conserve the world’s bats and their ecosystems to ensure a healthy planet. The organization was founded in 1982.
April is the best time of the year to observe bats, as many species are now beginning to emerge from hibernation. Head out around dusk on a mild evening – near trees, water, or open grassland is a great spot.
No – this is one of the most common myths about bats. Bats have good eyesight as well as awesome hearing – the old saying “blind as a bat” is totally inaccurate. Many species also use echolocation, a system of sound navigation, in addition to their eyesight.
Eating insects is the most common diet among bats worldwide – a major benefit for farmers. However, many nectar-feeding bats are equally important as pollinators of flowers and plants. Only three species of bats drink blood, and none of them live in the United States or United Kingdom.
There’s plenty to do! You could read a bat-themed picture book, go on an evening bat watch at dusk, make a bat craft, or try an echolocation game together. You’ll find all sorts of ideas – including printable activities – right here at Nurtured Neurons.
