Animal Adaptations

ACTIVITY HEADER

 

 

 

Name of Activity Animal Adaptations
Author Emily Ryan
Keywords animal adaptations, environments, design, build, unique, animal, animals, found materials, adapt, modeling
Subject Non-LEGO, LEGO Building
Grade Level K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Time 1 Hour Total
Brief Description This activity explores animal’s adaptations to their environments. Students will look at
animal adaptations and then design and build their own unique animal that could live
in their backyard.
Lesson Objectives: To teach students about animals and why they have certain adaptations for
particular environments.
To teach students to design and build a model based on particular constraints.
Materials Needed: pipe cleaners
feathers
cloth
glue
string
tape
popsicle sticks
any available building materials
Preparation and Set Up: Gather an assortment of building materials (can use LEGOs or not).
Collect some research on animals and their adaptations.
Pictures of an environment that the animals need to adapt to.
If desired, break students into groups of 2 – 4.
Distribute materials to students.
Necessary Background Animals adapt to their environment in many different ways. The most evident adaptation
is color and texture. Camouflage is used by many animals to protect themselves from
predators. Some examples include tree frogs, polar bears, and iguanas. Animals may also
be colored to make them appear to be something they are not. Moths and butterflies
often have coloration that makes their wings look like eyes. Animals also adapt to their
environment. Giraffes developed long necks to allow them to reach food at the tops
of trees. Arctic foxes have snow white coats during the winter which they shed to
reveal a light brown coat for the summer months

Vocabulary:
Adaptation
Design
Modeling
Procedure
  1. Introduce animal adaptations to students, giving examples of familiar and unfamiliar animals that have different adaptations that help them live in a particular environment.
    1. The attached document labeled AnimalAdaptPres.pdf can be used to present info on animal adaptations to students
  2. Tell students that their backyards have a certain environment.
    1. Have students brainstorm some aspects of their backyard environments including:
      1. Space.
      2. Available foods.
      3. Places to make a home.
      4. Year round temperature.
      5. Dangers (pets/cars/people)
    2. If time, let students draw a picture of their backyard.
  3. Distribute building materials and tell students to build a model of an animal that might live in their backyard. Tell the students to build the animal with adaptations for the environment in their backyard.
  4. At the end of class, have students or student groups present their animal to the class.
    1. Students should mention the adaptations that the animal has.
    2. Students should explain how their animal moves, behaves, what it eats, where it lives, etc.
Reference 1 http://sites.tufts.edu/stompactivitydatabase/files/formidable/AnimalAdaptPres.pdf

One Response to “Animal Adaptations”

  1. Avatar of Kenneth Westerman Kenneth Westerman says:
    December 15, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    Used this lesson on 9/26/13 with 4th grade class at the Healey School. Students seemed interested in the idea of animal adaptations, but could not figure out how to make structures of any complexity using only pieces from the NXT kit.

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