Students use tools to represent bird beaks and pick up different types of food with them in order to discover which beak would help the bird survive depending on their food type.

Students uses this game to see how difficult survival is even for a fierce predator, especially when it is young. It stresses: How much energy it takes to keep a large animal alive or a small one growing, The differences in the fauna...

The Galápagos Islands are an amazing place of isolated adaptation, colonized by an interesting mix of plants and animals. The class plays a game to help them understand how these organisms came to live on the island through a combination...

Students investigate the natural characteristics of animals by completing a coloring activity.  In this animal properties lesson, students investigate the reasons different animals have specific colors, and how it is essential for...

Third graders examine the capacity of animals able to live in one habitat. In this habitat lesson, 3rd graders play a game that shows the food chain and the interactions between animals in an area. Students discover that food is a major...

During this game, kids become migratory shorebirds and fly among wintering, nesting, and stopover habitats. If they do not arrive at a suitable habitat on time, they do not survive. Catastrophic events are periodically introduced that...

Students investigate animal behavior, examining the nervous system and the physiology of the brain and the fight or flight response. They simulate animal behaviors and discuss the difference between an instinct and a behavior.

Are you a koalafied biologist? The lesson begins with research about human survival and our ecosystem. Then, an online training module simulates the effects of changes to the plants and animals in an ecosystem. Finally, scholars research...

The ways that animals adapt to their environments is quite remarkable. In this life science instructional activity, fifth graders take a look at some of the ways that aquatic animals that live in Arctic or Antarctic waters survive. They...

Students examine nature by creating their own animals. In this animal adaptation lesson, students define scientific vocabulary terms dealing with adaptation such as sea stars, sea cucumbers and exoskeleton. Students utilize their...

Learners examine what animals need in order to survive.  For this investigative lesson students play a "role" of an animal in winter.

Students demonstrate the interrelationships of animals and plants. For this ecology lesson, students discuss the things plants and animals need for survival and study the glacier food chain. Students simulate the web of life by using a...

Why not walk in the footsteps of Teddy Roosevelt and become a conservationist? After discussing issues and reasons for animal extinction, the class creates their own conservation plans. Each small group is given mock data regarding a...

Do you want a creative and fun way to teach about natural selection? Hop to it by turning your middle school princes and princesses into frogs trying to catch as many bugs as possible in a Hungry Hungry Hippos style game. For high...

Beginning wildlife biologists become adult bats, baby bats, snakes, owls, bobcats, or land-clearing developers in a grand role-playing activity. In a large open space, they play a game in which they move to designated areas based on what...

Students participate in a role playing lab that allows students to experience how different beak adaptations play a role in the type of food the animal can eat, therefore playing a role in the survival of the species.

Students explore whales. For this animal adaptation and whale lesson, students access prior knowledge about whales from previous lessons, then use background knowledge to predict the eating strategies of a baleen whale and a toothed...

Students explore animal characteristics by participating in a role-play activity. In this food chain lesson, students discuss the order of life and how animals must eat other animals to survive. Students conduct a food chain game in...

Students use items from boxes to dress up classmates as animals adapted to a given environment.

Students pretend they have just entered a national park. They imagine that the park borders are all impassable mountains, and students will play the role of grizzly bears. Students list three things every animal needs to survive, in this...

Fledgling felinologists are taught how to recognize when a mountain lion is preparing to attack. They identify proper actions to provide the greatest chance of survival if they are attacked. Learners play a matching card game in which...

As the reality of population decline across many species becomes real, pupils learn about the variables related to changes in populations. They complete a simulation of population changes and graph the results, then discuss limiting...

Students study the aquatic environment in which largemouth bass are able to survive. They participate in a mystery animal activity based on their own basic needs to determine the identity of the largemouth bass.

Student identify the basic human needs. In this life science lesson, 3rd graders compare the needs of plants, animals and humans. They apply what they have learned by playing a survival team game.