Under development · The Museum of Friendly Beasts is open while new galleries are added
✿ Lambythe Museum of Friendly Beasts
For teachers and groups · Bradenton, FL

Gallery walks

Four walks, one for each grade band. Each stop names a card to stand in front of and a question to ask there. Lessons on newSchoolWorks.com pick up where the walk ends.

All bandsGrades K-2Grades 3-5Grades 6-8Grades 9-12
Grades K-2 · 6 stops

Who lives with us

Six short stops for the youngest visitors: look, count, name and draw. About 25 minutes.

  1. Dogs: From wolf to dog
    Look at the wolf and the dog. Name two ways they are the same and one way they are different.
  2. Cats: The wildcat that moved in
    Act it out: grain, mouse, cat. Who came to the farm first, and why did the cat follow?
  3. Pet birds: The budgerigar
    Wild budgies are green and yellow. Count the colors you see. Where did the blue ones come from?
  4. Aquarium fish: The goldfish
    What does a goldfish need to stay alive? Draw its home with everything it needs.
  5. Lionfish in Florida: An aquarium fish gets loose
    This fish got out of a fish tank and moved into the sea. Is that good or bad for the other fish? Tell a partner why.
  6. Reindeer, dogs and cats
    Which animal walks with you on a leash, and which walks by itself? Point to one of each.
Linked lessons

The Petting Yard: Who eats what?PreviewThe Nest: Watch one birdPreviewThe Pond: Is a tadpole a fish?PreviewMaps and Long Ago: parks, fairs and marketsPreview

Fiction to pair

The Owl and the Pussy-cat (Edward Lear), Tall Museum · Charlotte's Web (E. B. White, 1952), at your library

Every room, as this band sees it
DogsCatsPet birdsReptilesAquarium fishBred, sold, kept, adopted, killedMurderous catsAnimals made to fightMarkets and delicaciesFugu and poisonous puffersThe economics of tunaLionfish in Florida
QR code DDDC04DDDC04
Grades 3-5 · 7 stops

Partners, pets and pests

Seven stops on how animals came to live with us and what happens when they get loose. About 35 minutes.

  1. Dogs: Dogs at work
    List three jobs dogs did long ago. Which one does a machine do now?
  2. Cats: Cats of Egypt
    People prayed to cats and also sold them. Can both be true at once? Give one reason.
  3. Pet birds: The canary trade
    Why was a small bird a good warning in a mine? What replaced it in 1986?
  4. Reptiles: The dime-store turtle
    A 1975 rule stopped the sale of tiny turtles. Who was the rule protecting?
  5. Aquarium fish: Florida raises the tropical fish
    Find Ruskin on a map of Florida. How far is it from Bradenton? Why farm fish instead of catching them?
  6. Murderous cats: The hunter on the sofa
    A full cat still hunts. Is hunting about hunger? What is your evidence?
  7. Lionfish in Florida: Why lionfish win
    Venomous or poisonous? Sort the lionfish and the pufferfish and explain the difference.
Linked lessons

The Domesticated Animal: Open the drawerPreviewThe Domesticated Animal: Map it, time itPreviewThe Reptile House: Is "cold-blooded" true?PreviewThe Bird Aviary: Why are they different colours?PreviewThe Great Aquarium: Is a dolphin a fish?PreviewTales Around the World: Puss in BootsPreview

Fiction to pair

Puss in Boots (Perrault, 1697), Tall Museum · The Cat That Walked by Himself, in Just So Stories (Kipling, 1902) · Black Beauty (Anna Sewell, 1877) · Charlotte's Web (E. B. White, 1952), at your library

Every room, as this band sees it
DogsCatsPet birdsReptilesAquarium fishBred, sold, kept, adopted, killedMurderous catsAnimals made to fightMarkets and delicaciesFugu and poisonous puffersThe economics of tunaLionfish in Florida
QR code 6651A26651A2
Grades 6-8 · 8 stops

Breeding, trade and invasion

Eight stops on how people reshaped animals and moved them around the world. About 45 minutes.

  1. Dogs: The breed and the kennel club
    Most breeds are under 150 years old. Is a breed a kind of animal or a kind of rule? Take a side.
  2. Cats: Cats on ships
    Trace the cat's route out of the Near East. What carried it, and why?
  3. Pet birds: Parrots and the wild-bird trade
    The 1992 law stopped most wild-bird imports. Who gained and who lost?
  4. Reptiles: Pets that escaped into Florida
    Pythons cut Everglades mammals sharply. Who should pay for the damage a released pet causes?
  5. Aquarium fish: Reef fish and the ocean trade
    How could a buyer tell whether a reef fish was caught with cyanide? Design a label.
  6. Bred, sold, kept, adopted, killed: Held, adopted, and killed
    Use the shelter numbers: what share of animals entering shelters were adopted in 2025? Show the arithmetic.
  7. Murderous cats: Billions of birds
    The estimate runs from 1.3 to 4.0 billion birds. Why is the range so wide? What would narrow it?
  8. Markets and delicacies: What a wet market is
    Most wet markets sell no wild animals. Why did the word become a headline in 2020?
Linked lessons

The Domesticated Animal: Two sources disagreePreviewThe Domesticated Animal: Now, todayPreviewEcosystems: A Web from the WallPreviewEcosystems: Crowded Cups and LimitsPreviewHeredity and Evolution: How Wide the VariationPreviewFur, Fish and Frontier: Weigh itPreviewNumbers, Time and Food: Money and Prices at the MarketPreview

Fiction to pair

The Call of the Wild (Jack London, 1903) · White Fang (Jack London, 1906) · The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling, 1894) · Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls, 1961), at your library

Every room, as this band sees it
DogsCatsPet birdsReptilesAquarium fishBred, sold, kept, adopted, killedMurderous catsAnimals made to fightMarkets and delicaciesFugu and poisonous puffersThe economics of tunaLionfish in Florida
QR code 838567838567
Grades 9-12 · 8 stops

Markets, laws and the moral animal

Eight stops on price, law and ethics: who decides what may be bred, sold, eaten or made to fight. About 50 minutes.

  1. Bred, sold, kept, adopted, killed: Bred and sold
    California and New York now allow only rescue animals in pet stores. Predict two effects on the market, one intended and one not.
  2. Murderous cats: Cats on islands
    Cats helped drive at least 63 species extinct. Should outdoor cats be regulated like other invasive species? Argue both sides.
  3. Animals made to fight: American law today
    Federal law reached the territories in 2018. Why might a ban popular in one place be resisted in another?
  4. Animals made to fight: Bullfighting: culture and law
    Spain's court struck down Catalonia's ban. Who should decide when tradition and welfare collide: region, nation or court?
  5. Markets and delicacies: South Korea ends dog meat
    South Korea paid farmers to close. Compare a ban with compensation to a ban without it.
  6. Markets and delicacies: Shark fin soup
    The U.S. banned shark-fin sales in 2022. Can one country's law change demand elsewhere? What evidence would show it?
  7. The economics of tuna: Bluefin: collapse and recovery
    Pacific bluefin rebuilt after quotas. Use the tragedy of the commons to explain why agreement was hard and why it worked.
  8. Lionfish in Florida: Eat them to beat them
    Can a market for eating an invader help a reef? What could go wrong if lionfish became too profitable?
Linked lessons

The Dog at the Fire: Open the drawerPreviewThe Dog at the Fire: Take the other sidePreviewEcosystems: Populations and carrying capacityPreviewThe Market and the Customer: Supply, demand and the shortagePreviewLectures in Society and Economy: Trade windsPreviewLiving Together: The political animalPreview

Fiction to pair

Black Beauty (Anna Sewell, 1877), a novel that changed laws · Moby-Dick (Herman Melville, 1851), the economics of the sea · The Theory of the Leisure Class (Veblen, 1899), on status foods · The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway, 1952), at your library

Every room, as this band sees it
DogsCatsPet birdsReptilesAquarium fishBred, sold, kept, adopted, killedMurderous catsAnimals made to fightMarkets and delicaciesFugu and poisonous puffersThe economics of tunaLionfish in Florida
QR code A12D38A12D38

Faint rooms are meant for older grades and stay closed in a younger student's view. More walks through the farm galleries: start in the lobby. Animals in fiction.