Science Investigation Box

Wildlife Wonders

 

This investigation box allows children to explore wild animals and their habitats. The activities in this box are geared toward pre-kindergartners.

To begin this investigation, share with your students the book Where Once There Was a Wood by Denise Flemming. This text is excellent for introducing young students to concept of vanishing wildlife and what we can do to protect the wildlife and our environment. Students may wear hats to become wildlife rangers as they engage in the activities in the box. 

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In this activity students will use clues based on each animal's needs for food, water, space, and shelter to identify which animal belongs in which habitat. The cards and animals are all laminated and the animals Velcro onto their clue cards to look as if they are standing in their habitat. Definitions and explanations of the four basic needs of living things: food, water, space, and shelter can be found in the back of Where Once There Was a Wood.

Another fun activity is to have students play a paw print memory/matching game. students will play until they have matched all of the sets of paw prints and then look through the guide to identify which paw prints belong to which animals.

Next you can make an animal footprint trap or go on a bird walk. Use the Basics of Bird-Watching guide to make your experience the best that it can be.

Next you may want to study animal life cycles. Here is an example of how to use a template to create a life cycle of a frog booklet. There are many templates available online for building animal life cycle booklets. 

 

 

Last but not least, have your little wildlife rangers choose their favorite animal to create an animal dot painting. These will make for excellent classroom decor and serve as a fun way to end your wildlife unit.