Nanoparticles have toxic effects on plant and animal life—even though you can't see them. The second lesson plan of a two-part series has young scientists conduct an experiment that exposes plant and animals to nanoparticle pollutants....

Celebrate the circle of life with this fun hands-on activity. After cutting out, gluing together, and assembling this visual model, students are able to spin through and observe the life cycle of penguins.

Scholars create a diorama to showcase a vibrant coral reef. Six steps walk pupils through setting up the diorama box, crafting four different types of marine life, and putting it all together. 

Instill the concept of adaptation with the help of Blubber Gloves—ziplock bags, shortening, and duct tape. Scholars discuss how animals and plants keep warm in polar regions, record their predictions, and try on their Blubber Gloves to...

Studying the oceans? Focus on Hawaii's ocean with a resource packed with activity-based worksheets. Everything from products that come from the ocean to the abundance of plants and animals that call the ocean their home, Hawaii's ocean...

Create clay whistles with your elementary or middle school students. The project is outlined in great detail here, complete with step-by-step photographs, finished examples, a materials list, student handouts, and a rubric. Students...

Using gloves, shortening, tape, and a lot of ice, participants experience the feeling of having blubber. The experiment's eight steps follow an informative page about blubber and animals that have it.

Take time to appreciate the beauty in the anatomy of animals with this cross-curricular art and science activity. After viewing examples of fish-themed artwork, children complete the included learning exercise by labeling...

How does weather play a role in the lives of land and sea creatures? Find out with a lesson focused on habitats and the ways animals from different homes are connected. Here, learners explore how the life of a jaguar and howler...

Inspire young marine biologists to study animals in the wild with this assignment. Pupils view an eight-minute video and read an article in the New York Times about Denise Herzing's 25-year long study of dolphins in their own...

Send a signal to let others know one's location. Scholars investigate how scientists track the movement of marine wildlife. They model the process by creating a custom sound that can be used to identify each group member as they walk by.

Bring up the Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Display the colorful diagram of the coastal and marine organisms living in the area. Show a video about relocating the eggs of the Gulf's sea...

Who keeps animals safe? Who keeps us safe? Discover the helpers that make learning and growing possible through a medley of activities that focus on habitats—ours and those in the rainforest. Scholars are asked to identify one...

Bioluminescent animals are the focus of a hands-on craft in which scholars create a scene of either a land or sea bioluminescent creature.

Explore ocean habitats with a lesson that showcases the home of manatees and loggerhead turtles in Belize. Here, pupils compare and contrast the homes of ocean animals to those of humans, listen to an original short story about...

Coral reefs are full of an abundance of life and color. Why not celebrate it with an edible coral reef? Learners and teachers alike use cake, icing, and candies to create a tasty version of a coral reef that's complete with colors,...

Scholars follow eight steps to create a flipbook and discover key facts about mammals' locomotion.

Written for Washington state students in life science, this lesson provides an opportunity to examine the residents of local freshwater habitats. You or the class collects a water sample, and learners try to examine what organisms live...

When your class is examining the fishing industry or sustainable practices, you can use this brief activity to demonstrate the global impact our food choices have. Overharvesting, overfishing, and bycatch are important topics to address...

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about some of the animals found in the ocean including: sea turtles, sea urchins, starfish, sea horses, and clownfish. A question sheet is available to help students build skills...

Students learn about James Cameron's Challenger Deep dive and about the marine animals that live in different layers of the ocean. They then study the characteristics of the hadalpelagic zone at the bottom of the ocean, and imagine and...

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the different depth levels of the ocean and the types of animals that live in each. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.

[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about the discovery of ocean animals. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.

In the previous lesson, students learned about the issue of bycatching by fisheries and how it affects marine habitats. Dolphins are one of the main species affected by bycatching. Dolphins use echolocation to identify the location of...