This activity uses movement to get students thinking about animal adaptations. How do animals move? Can we move the same way they do? What about their bodies lets them do the things they do to survive? This comes straight out of our Zoo Animals and Teaching the Elementary Curriculum course, so if you like this, consider learning more fun ways to explore science in engaging and hands on ways with all our online professional learning courses @ wcs.org/teacherpd

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Animal Movements

At zoos and aquariums and in the wild, scientists carefully observe animal behavior in order to learn more about those species. By observing animal behavior, we can learn more about what a species eats, when it is usually awake or asleep, and what role it plays in an ecosystem. You can do this same kind of science investigation at home by observing the behavior of a pet or someone you live with!

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Animal Behavior Tracking

These activities will give you a peek into the life of an insect and let you try to experience the world from their perspective. This type of activity is great for a variety of reasons – it lets kids learn in an engaged, hands on way, plus it builds empathy and connection to different animals by pretending to be them, all while learning science concepts and having fun!

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Act Like An Insect

This activity encourages you to make a pledge to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, but this is a wonderful activity to do even after Earth Day has passed. After all, the Earth needs our help every day of the year!

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Happy 50th Earth Day

Scientists create questions based on what they observe in their surroundings. In this activity, you will act like a scientist and create questions that you could research based on what you see! You’ll observe animals (in your home, outside of your window, or on your computer) and write down what you see. Once you have observations, you can begin to create questions about what you’d like to learn more about. There are several types of questions that can be created and you’ll get to choose the question type that fits best! If you want to do even more, you can begin to think about how you might go about answering your question like a scientist would! Good luck, scientist!

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Questions in Science

Migratory birds are birds who migrate, or fly long distances to move from one location to another with the changing seasons. May 9th, 2020 is International Migratory Bird Day! A day to celebrate those hard working migratory birds and the ways that all of us can help them in their journey. There are so many different ways to celebrate birds, and this activity is here to give you some ideas and you can choose!

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Migratory Bird Day

The primary threats to orangutans in the wild are habitat loss and fragmentation, fires, and illegal hunting/trafficking. This activity, adapted from the resourceI Heart Orangutans…Do You? created by OSAFE, is designed to engage children at home in a craft that is simple, entertaining, and that connects them to orangutans.

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Orangutan Masks

Identification and classification are critical parts of being an ecologist. These skills take lots of practice. They help us to learn about different kinds of wildlife - their features, what similarities they have, and what makes them diverse. You can build up your own classification skills by observing wildlife and trying your hand at identifying what you see while looking out the window or taking a walk around your local park

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Classification

Pollinators play a vital role in the world around you! Pollinators like insects, birds, bats, and small mammals travel from plant to plant looking for food and, in the process, help new plants grow. Pollen from one plant sticks to these animals and falls off on a different plant, beginning the process of growing the fruits and seeds that produce new plants. Pollinators are responsible for much of the food we eat and serve many important ecosystem roles from carbon sequestration to preventing soil erosion. You can help support pollinators and their work by building your own pollinator garden at home!

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Pollinator Garden

The world’s oceans are an incredible resource, as well as the home to over 90% of the species living on earth. June 8, 2020 is World Oceans Day. One way you can celebrate World Oceans Day is by taking the time to share something you think is interesting or important about the ocean with the people you know! Good science communicators make a plan for their message, their audience, and the platform that they will use to send that message.

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World Oceans Day

In the wild, there are animals who are hunters (predators) and those that are hunted (prey). A skilled predator is always on the prowl for fresh prey. What can an animal do to stay off the menu? Find out how some animals survive by using camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. In this activity, participants will be the hungry predator hunting for prey. You might be surprised to see which individuals avoid your grasp!

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Camouflage

Conservationists often do their fieldwork outside of a laboratory setting. Because they are out in the field, the notes that they take are very important. Those notes allow the scientist to record the details of everything that they see so that they don’t have to try to remember later. To do this, scientists use all types of methods, including writing down what they see, collecting numbers for how many animals or behaviors occur, and sketching animals and plants so that they can identify them later. Scientists call these notes “field notes” because they are notes taken “in the field”. Can you take field notes like a scientist?

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Taking Field Notes Like a Scientist

Scientists at zoos, aquariums and in the wild don’t just study the animals they observe. They also communicate what they have learned to others in the hopes of inspiring them to help save wildlife!

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Conservation Poster