Big Kid Science
Measuring Shadows Using an Ancient Method
How did ancient peoples determine the height of really tall objects? Young scientists and mathematicians explore the concept of using shadows to measure height in a hands-on experiment. Paired pupils measure shadows, then calculate the...
ESL Kid Stuff
Colors
You can sing a rainbow with a fun set of color-themed activities. Kids learn a song, match colors to objects, and jump up and down as they practice their color recognition.
California Academy of Science
Which Way is North?
Who needs a compass to find cardinal directions? Just place a stick in the ground and record the movement of its shadow over the course of a day. Then, measure the shadow lengths in order to determine a north-south line. A simple...
Curated OER
Vitamin D and Me
Students create a graphic organizer showing the importance of Vitamin D intake. In this Vitamin D lesson, Students list problems with Vitamin D deficiency and create poster boards in small groups. Individually, students will create menus...
National Gardening Association
Migration Mishaps
Elementary ecologists pretend to be migratory hummingbirds. They fly between wintering and nesting grounds, trying to reach a habitat haven. In a musical-chair fashion, some birds will miss out, and are removed from the game. To further...
Curated OER
Sound Walk: Discovering Data and Applying Range, Mode, and Mean
Elementary schoolers sharpen their listening skills as they use sound maps, tallies, and line plots to organize and interpret data. Everyone takes a "sound walk," and focuses on the sounds around them. They chart and tabulate the sounds...
Curated OER
Guess Who?
Getting ready for a activity on animal adaptations can be a lot of fun. Kindergartners will go on an egg hunt. Once they have collected all the eggs, they will open them up to reveal an image of an animal. Each pupil will act out...
Curated OER
Living and Nonliving Things
Students photograph five objects from a bag and five objects from the outdoors. Students categorize things by living and non-living and by properties such as color, size, structure and needs. Students draw conclusions about the basic...
Curated OER
Composition and Line
Learners examine the use of composition and line as they create original drawings. For this composition and line lesson, students recognize the art vocabulary associated with line and composition. Learners illustrate the...
Curated OER
The constitution and Our Republic
Young scholars record and interpret data. In this constitution lesson, students discuss voting and making bar graphs. Young scholars practice voting and do a bar graph activity. Students make visual representations of votes on the board.
Curated OER
Prairie Find Outdoors
Middle schoolers take a field trip to a local prairie. Using identification books, they identify various forbs and grasses in the prairie. As a class, they discuss the importance of forbs and grasses to the ecosystem and review the...
Curated OER
Poetry and Nature
Students observe an object in nature and record them. In groups, they create a group poem about the same object. They create their own poem based on another object using other their senses to help them. They share their poems with the...
Curated OER
Crab Soccer and the Navigator
A typical physical education crab soccer game just for the fun of it. Included are several ideas for accomodations and modifications.
Montana Natural History Center
Studying Grassland Ecosystems
At first glance, grassland ecosystems might seem dull and uninteresting, but once you start to explore it's amazing the things you'll find! Through this series of engaging lessons, activities, and experiments, elementary students examine...
Leadership Challenge
Inspire Students Today to Make a Difference in the Future
Your search for a year's worth of leadership lessons is over! A lesson in a character education series provides a full two semesters of inspiring leadership activities. The resource includes individual and group challenges to ensure a...
Curated OER
Primary Lessons for Grades K-2
Students study wildlife and identify similarities and differences between their home and wild environments. In this wildlife lesson plan, students make connections between wildlife and wildlife habitats. Students then build...
Curated OER
Hide and Seek with Geocaching
Students locate objects using a Global Positioning System. In this global geography lesson, students explore latitude and longitude using a GPS in order to locate objects.
Curated OER
A Perfect Pond Study Lesson Plan
Students take a field trip to a wetland ecosystem. An informal pond study is performed by students. They examine their favorite animal, write a description of how it moves and illustrate it. In groups, students draw pictures of organisms...
Curated OER
Footbag - Lesson 1 - Knee Kick
Footbag, also known as hacky sack, is a fun activity for many age levels. It can be played outdoors, in a park, or in a parking lot; just a little space is needed. But it takes some skill to keep the footbag moving. Lesson 1 (out of five...
National Park Service
It's Not Easy Being Grizz
Grizzly bears can be up to 600 pounds and require a great deal of food, especially to survive hibernation. Comprised of multiple games, the third lesson of five only uses one setup. Pupils run around a large field, sorting and collecting...
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
More Tribal Homelands
Here is a very fun idea that introduces young learners to how geographical location affects cultural development. They are introduced to four areas where Native Americans have lived in the past by reading stories and examining images....
Polk County Education
Winter Survival/Hike
Hibernation isn't just about staying fed, it's about staying warm. Young environmentalists explore the importance of staying warm in the wilderness with a short lesson about surviving in the wild. Using gelatin to represent warm-blooded...
National Park Service
The Young Naturalist
Beginning with a brief history of our 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, then followed by a discussion of his interest in nature, young scientists take to the outdoors to locate and observe local plants and insects....
Calvin Crest Outdoor School
Survival
Equip young campers with important survival knowledge with a set of engaging lessons. Teammates work together to complete three outdoor activities, which include building a shelter, starting a campfire, and finding directions in the...