Curated OER
Desert Animal Sorting
What makes certain animals better suited for desert life than others? Explore the differences between desert and non-desert animals with this picture sorting activity. Be sure to print the instructional activity in color so learners can...
Curated OER
Flight for Survival - Avian Adaptations
Students create imaginary creature that has some of the adaptations birds have.
Curated OER
Adaptations
Cacti have special adaptations for living in desert heat and dryness. Polar bears have adaptations that allow them to withstand icy conditions. Humans adapt to different conditions by wearing appropriate clothing or building homes...
Curated OER
Whose Home Is This?
After reading a short and informative paragraph on animals and their environments, learners look at pictures of four animals, and write a short description of how each one has adapted to its environment. A suggested activity is that each...
Curated OER
Animal Adaption to Environment
Students explore the concept of adaptation as a means of surviving in varied environments. They discuss human adaptations and then view slideshows and video that present animal adaptations in the following environments: cold regions,...
Curated OER
Animal Adaptations
Students use items from boxes to dress up classmates as animals adapted to a given environment.
ARKive
Adaptations for Movement
What animals are best suited for moving around a rainforest, or a desert? Design your own animal species based on a particular habitat, focusing on the characteristics it will need for optimal movement. Great as a group lesson or...
American Museum of Natural History
What's This? Life at the Limits
There are some amazing ways species evolve to survive. From large ears to sneezing salt, learners read about these interesting adaptations in an interactive lesson. Great to supplement an in-class lesson, it also works well as a remote...
Curated OER
Desert Tortoise Adaptations
Learners observe the Desert Tortoise in its natural surroundings. In this adaptations lesson, students study and take pictures of an animal in its habitat, then design a PowerPoint which addresses adaptations, biodiversity, and threats...
Curated OER
Amazing Desert Dwellers
Students explore the many adaptations desert animals have made to survive in their challenging habitat. They use this information to invent new creatures well-suited for desert life.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Build Your Wild Self
Get wild with an interactive web site that challenges scholars to create their wildest self. Future wild things begin as an average person—eyes, mouth, clothes—then morph into animal attributes—horns, tails, wings—and end in the desert,...
Curated OER
The Desert Alphabet Book
Students explore world geography by researching a science book with their classmates. In this desert identification instructional activity, students utilize a U.S. map to locate the geographical locations of deserts. Students create an...
Curated OER
Change or Adaptation
Students identify the adaptive forces in the life cycle of plants, animals, and humans, isolate and identify the role that change and adaptation play in extreme environments and research and write a short term paper using MLA citations.
Desert Discoveries
Sonoran Desert Predators and Prey
Here is a fabulous instructional activity the animals found in the Sonoran Desert. Learners classify these animals as predators, prey, or both! They take a look at the many adaptations that these animals utilize to help them find food,...
Lerner Publishing
Teaching Habitats
What makes up a habitat? Use this resource to engage first graders in the exploration of desert, wetland, forest, and ocean habitats. Youngsters classify plants and animals into the four distinct habitats through drawings and cutting and...
Curated OER
Desert Adaptations
In this desert adaptations worksheet, students are given a water filled sponge which represents an animal. Students observe their "animal" for a 24 hour period and conserve the water in the sponge as best they can. They measure and...
Curated OER
Biomes: Adapting To Deserts & Other Ecosystems
Students examine how animals must be adapted to the conditions of its environment to survive. In this biomes instructional activity students research desert adaptations then discuss how these animals have survived.
Curated OER
Desert Animals
Students survive within an ecosystem, an animal must be physically and behaviorally adapted to the conditions of its environment.
Curated OER
Desert Habitat
Students examine how desert plants and animals are adapted to life in the desert. They listen to the book, "Seasons of Saguaro," conduct experiments to demonstrate plant succulence, and create and draw an animal or plant that...
Curated OER
Desert Adaptations: Water
Students experiment with methods of water conservation. In this water conservation instructional activity, students explore the importance of water for plants and animals in a desert biome.
Curated OER
Desert Animals
First graders investigate and identify a variety of animals that live in the desert. They complete a class KWL chart, then listen to the book Way Out in the Desert. Next, 1st graders observe a presentation of live desert animals, and...
Curated OER
My Life As An Insect In Namib
Learners examine the harsh living environment of the Namib Desert. They watch and discuss a video, record the types of insects observed in the video, record information about insects and animal adaptations in their science journals, and...
Curated OER
Habitats and All That
First graders read books, complete online explorations and discuss the ways in which animals adapt to their habitats in order to survive. They create accordion books, play matching games and dramatize animal adaptations.
Curated OER
Bats: Need Nectar, Will Travel
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...