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
Young scholars 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
Students 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
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.
Curated OER
Desert Adaptations
In this desert adaptations activity, 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 record...
Curated OER
Biomes: Adapting To Deserts & Other Ecosystems
Middle schoolers examine how animals must be adapted to the conditions of its environment to survive. In this biomes lesson 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
Young scholars experiment with methods of water conservation. In this water conservation lesson, students explore the importance of water for plants and animals in a desert biome.
Curated OER
My Life As An Insect In Namib
Students 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
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...
Curated OER
Habitats of the World
Students discover that the Earth supports many different animal habitats. In this habitat lesson students research different habitats of the world. Students show how the animals in their habitat are adapted.
Curated OER
Dress Like A Frog
Students recognize amphibian adaptations. In this amphibian lesson students explore amphibian adaptations that provide for successful living in their environments. A volunteer dresses up with all of the adaptations using everyday items...
American Museum of Natural History
Moving Mammals
How many different ways do mammals move from place to place? An online resource uses animation to show how different mammals move. Learners use a slider to speed up or slow down a variety of mammals. The versatile lesson works as a...
Curated OER
Turtle Adaptations
Students identify structural adaptations of different types of turtles, and compare and contrast adaptations of painted turtles, sea turtles, and desert tortoises using a chart.
Curated OER
Animal Adaptations to Various Environments
Fourth graders examine animal adaptatations for various animals and different environments throughout the year. They use the Internet to research these environments and apply them to the animals.
Curated OER
Design-A-Weed
Pupils create a "super weed" that prospers in teh harsh conditions on plant Weediv. They comprehend how weed adaptations give the plants an advantage over native plants. Students define the term adaptation. They give three examples of...