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Create activity kits with educational materials and children’s books to help your teachers utilize your school’s Habitat Learning Lab (formerly referred to as an Outdoor Classroom) as an effective educational tool. Activity kits can be created by theme or by grade level and can be used with the AWF’s Field Investigation Activities. Learn more about the suggested activities and activity kit materials below.
Click on the grade level below to view the Activity Options and Suggested Materials for your activity kits:
Students will explore outdoors as they look for an animal and record observations about it to determine which of its characteristics (adaptations) help it survive. AL Science Standard #5: Design a solution to a human problem by using materials to imitate how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs (e.g., outerwear imitating animal furs for insulation, gear mimicking tree bark or shells for protection).
Students will explore outdoors as they look for an animal offspring and adult of the same species, which they will compare and contrast as they record their observations. AL Science Standard #7: Make observations to identify the similarities and differences of offspring to their parents and to other members of the same species
Students look for a pollinator in the Habitat Lab, record their observations about the pollinator, and then draw a model of the pollination process. AL Science Standard #6: Design and construct models to simulate how animals disperse seeds or pollinate plants (e.g., animals brushing fur against seed pods and seeds falling off in other areas, birds and bees extracting nectar from flowers and transferring pollen from one plant to another).
Students look for a bird, insect, amphibian, reptile or mammal in the Habitat Lab, record its features, and then describe its habitat. AL Science Standard #7: Obtain information from literature and other media to illustrate that there are many different kinds of living things and that they exist in different places on land and in water (e.g., woodland, tundra, desert, rainforest, ocean, river).
Students will compare their life cycle (the life cycle of a human) with the life cycle of an animal that they find in the Habitat Lab. AL Science Standard #6: Create representations to explain the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans (e.g., flowering plants, frogs, butterflies), including commonalities such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
Students will research the habitat needs of a specific wildlife species that they would like to see in the Habitat Lab, and then they will evaluate whether or not the Habitat Lab can provide habitat for that particular wildlife species. AL Science Standard # 11: Construct an argument from evidence to explain the likelihood of an organism’s ability to survive when compared to the resources in a certain habitat.
Students explore the Habitat Lab to find a plant with a flower that they can draw, label the parts, and answer questions about how its internal and external structures help the plant survive, grow, and reproduce. AL Science Standard #9: Examine evidence to support an argument that the internal and external structures of plants (e.g., thorns, leaves, stems, roots, colored petals, xylem, phloem) function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Students learn first-hand how animals have adaptations to help them survive by observing and identifying a songbird in their Habitat Lab. AL Science Standard #9: Examine evidence to support an argument that the internal and external structures of animals (e.g., heart, stomach, lung, brain, skin) function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Students explore the Habitat Lab, record plant and animal evidence of a food chain, and trace the flow of energy through the food chain from the producer to the consumer. AL Science Standards #10: Construct and interpret models (e.g., diagrams, flow charts) to explain that energy in animals’ food is used for body repair, growth, motion, and maintenance of body warmth and was once energy from the sun. #11: Create a model to illustrate the transfer of matter among producers; consumers, including scavengers and decomposers; and the environment.
Students explore the Habitat Lab, record plant/animal evidence of an “aquatic” food chain and “terrestrial” food chain that overlap in a food web. AL Science Standards #10: Construct and interpret models (e.g., diagrams, flow charts) to explain that energy in animals’ food is used for body repair, growth, motion, and maintenance of body warmth and was once energy from the sun. #11: Create a model to illustrate the transfer of matter among producers; consumers, including scavengers and decomposers; and the environment.
Click on the topics below to view the Activity Options and Suggested Materials for your activity kits:
Students compare the differences between living and non-living things in a song and through their observations in the Habitat Lab. AL Science Standard Kindergarten #3: Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (food, water, sunlight, shelter, and air.
This activity kit and the activities included in it can be used in conjunction with your Habitat Lab as students search for wildlife, learn about the different features and characteristics different types of wildlife have, and how these features and characteristics help the animals survive.
Students look for an animal in the Habitat Lab, and compare its features to their own features.
Students will explore outdoors as they look for an animal and record observations about it to determine which of its characteristics (adaptations) help it survive. AL Science Standard 1st Grade #5: Design a solution to a human problem by using materials to imitate how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs (e.g., outerwear imitating animal furs for insulation, gear mimicking tree bark or shells for protection).
Students look for two different types of animals (such as a bird & insect, insect & mammal, OR bird & mammal) in the Habitat Lab, and then classify and compare their features. AL Science Standard 1st Grade #4: Describe survival traits of living things and classify animals according to physical traits, including color, shape, size, texture, and covering.
Students look for two different types of animals (such as a bird & insect, insect & mammal, OR bird & mammal) in the Habitat Lab, and then classify and compare their features. AL Science Standard 1st Grade #4: Describe survival traits of living things and classify animals according to physical traits, including color, shape, size, texture, and covering.
Students look for a bird, insect, amphibian, reptile or mammal in the Habitat Lab, record its features, and then describe its habitat. AL Science Standard 2nd Grade #7: Obtain information from literature and other media to illustrate that there are many different kinds of living things and that they exist in different places on land and in water (e.g., woodland, tundra, desert, rainforest, ocean, river).
Students explore the Habitat Lab to observe and describe how an animal’s physical adaptations and behaviors impact its chances of successful reproduction. AL Science Standard 7th Grade #10: Use evidence and scientific reasoning to explain how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of both animals and plants.
Students record their seasonal weather observations in the Habitat Lab. AL Science Standards Kindergarten #9: Observe, record, and share findings of local weather patterns over a period of time (e.g., temperature changes throughout day, rain patterns from season to season). & 1st Grade #9: Observe seasonal patterns of sunrise and sunset to describe the relationship between the number of hours of daylight and the time of year (e.g., more hours of daylight during summer as compared to winter).
Students explore the Habitat Lab for evidence of the water cycle as they record their weather observations. AL Science Standard 2nd Grade #10: Collect and evaluate data to identify water found on Earth and determine whether it is a solid or a liquid (e.g., glaciers as solid forms of water; oceans, lakes, rivers, streams as liquid forms of water).
Students use observation skills to look, listen, feel, and smell for items from their own observation station. AL Science Standard 3rd Grade #13: Display data graphically and in tables to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season (e.g., average temperature, precipitation, wind direction).
Students explore the Habitat Lab to find evidence of the water cycle and water’s presence in plants and animals. AL Science Standard 6th Grade #7. Use models to construct explanations of the various biogeochemical cycles of Earth (e.g., water, carbon, nitrogen) and the flow of energy that drives these processes.
This activity kit and the activity included in it can be used in conjunction with your pollinator and butterfly gardens as well as other gardens with flowering plants as students search for pollinators and pollen in flowers so they can investigate the process of pollination.
Students look for a pollinator in the Habitat Lab, record their observations about the pollinator, and then draw a model of the pollination process. AL Science Standard #6: Design and construct models to simulate how animals disperse seeds or pollinate plants (e.g., animals brushing fur against seed pods and seeds falling off in other areas, birds and bees extracting nectar from flowers and transferring pollen from one plant to another).
This activity kit and the activities included in it can be used in conjunction with the butterfly garden, frog habitat, and songbird sanctuary in your Habitat Lab as students observe wildlife, learn about the different features and characteristics adult animals and their offspring have, and learn about the different types of life cycles insects, amphibians, birds and mammals have.
Students will explore outdoors as they look for an animal offspring and adult of the same species, which they will compare and contrast as they record their observations. AL Science Standard 1st Grade #7: Make observations to identify the similarities and differences of offspring to their parents and to other members of the same species.
Students will compare their life cycle (the life cycle of a human) with the life cycle of an animal that they find in the Habitat Lab. AL Science Standard #6: Create representations to explain the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans (e.g., flowering plants, frogs, butterflies), including commonalities such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
Students listen to a story abou tthe life cycle of the butterfly, act out the life cycle stages, look for the life cycle stages in your outdoor classroom, and create the life cycle stages on paper plates using pasta and markers.
This activity kit and the activities included in it can be used in conjunction with the butterfly garden, frog habitat, and songbird sanctuary in your Habitat Lab as students search for the habitat resources (food, water, shelter and places to raise young) that butterflies, frogs, and/or songbirds need to survive.
Students Students will research the habitat needs of a specific wildlife species that they would like to observe in the Habitat Lab, and then they will evaluate whether or not the outdoor classroom can provide habitat for that particular wildlife species. AL Science Standard Kindergarten #5. Construct a model of a natural habitat conducive to meeting the needs of plants and animals native to Alabama.
Students look for a bird, insect, amphibian, reptile or mammal in the Habitat Lab, record its features, and then describe its habitat. AL Science Standard 2nd Grade #7: Obtain information from literature and other media to illustrate that there are many different kinds of living things and that they exist in different places on land and in water (e.g., woodland, tundra, desert, rainforest, ocean, river).
Students will research the habitat needs of a specific wildlife species that they would like to see in the Habitat Lab, and then they will evaluate whether or not the Habitat Lab can provide habitat for that particular wildlife species. AL Science Standard 3rd Grade # 11: Construct an argument from evidence to explain the likelihood of an organism’s ability to survive when compared to the resources in a certain habitat.
Students will research the habitat needs of a specific wildlife species that they would like to see in the Habitat Lab, and then they will evaluate whether or not the Habitat Lab can provide habitat for that particular wildlife species. AL Science Standard 3rd Grade # 11: Construct an argument from evidence to explain the likelihood of an organism’s ability to survive when compared to the resources in a certain habitat.
Students use field guides and the internet to research a wildlife species that is native to Alabama that is experiencing a slight to moderate population decline, and then they evaluate the species’ habitat needs. AL Science Standard 7th Grade #6. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence regarding how resource availability impacts individual organisms as well as populations of organisms within an ecosystem.
This activity kit and the activity included in it can be used in conjunction with the songbird sanctuary provided in your Habitat Lab as students search for songbirds to observe and record the songbirds’ adaptations including the different types of beaks, feathers and feet they have.
Students learn first-hand how animals have adaptations to help them survive by observing and identifying a songbird in their Habitat Lab. AL Science Standard #9: Examine evidence to support an argument that the internal and external structures of animals (e.g., heart, stomach, lung, brain, skin) function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Students make pretend binoculars and take a bird-watching walk in your outdoor classroom site.
Students observe birds’ beaks and feet in your outdoor classroom site, and they they will create a new bird species using adaptations of birds.
This activity kit and the activities included in it can be used in conjunction with the plants found in your Habitat Lab as students record their observations about the plant and learn about how the different parts of a plant work to help the plant survive.
This activity kit and the activities included in it can be used in the Habitat Lab as students search for evidence of a food chain or food web created by the local plants and animals.
Students explore the Habitat Lab, record plant and animal evidence of a food chain, and trace the flow of energy through the food chain from the producer to the consumer. AL Science Standards #10: Construct and interpret models (e.g., diagrams, flow charts) to explain that energy in animals’ food is used for body repair, growth, motion, and maintenance of body warmth and was once energy from the sun. #11: Create a model to illustrate the transfer of matter among producers; consumers, including scavengers and decomposers; and the environment.
Students explore the Habitat Lab, record plant/animal evidence of an “aquatic” food chain and “terrestrial” food chain that overlap in a food web. AL Science Standards #10: Construct and interpret models (e.g., diagrams, flow charts) to explain that energy in animals’ food is used for body repair, growth, motion, and maintenance of body warmth and was once energy from the sun. #11: Create a model to illustrate the transfer of matter among producers; consumers, including scavengers and decomposers; and the environment.
This activity kit and the activities included in it can be used to help students practice their observation skills as they explore your Habitat Lab.
Students explore the Habitat Lab using their five senses, and record their observations
Students use observation skills to look, listen, feel, and smell for items from their own observation station
Students observe leaves they find in the Habitat Lab, and document their findings including the size, shape, color and condition of the leaves.
Students explore the Habitat Lab to look for evidence of wildlife such as bird feathers, spider webs and animal tracks. Then they log their data into a bar chart to determine which type of wildlife uses the Habitat Lab the most. AL Science Standard 2nd Grade #7: Obtain information from literature and other media to illustrate that there are many different kinds of living things and that they exist in different places on land and in water (e.g., woodland, tundra, desert, rainforest, ocean, river).
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