Animal

Habitats
Unit
 About this unit
This unit covers areas related to biological science suitable for younger primary
grades. It includes activities about:
- The needs of living things (animals and people)
- External features of animals (labelling, comparing animals by their external
features, sorting animals by their external features)
- Animals and their habitats (different habitats, sorting animals by habitat,
comparing habitats)
- Research project (note taking, animal narrative, assessment for a diorama)

This unit also includes cards to be used on a word wall.

 Suggested unit structure
Week Focus Activities
1 Where do animals live? - Where do I belong?

- The four things I need to survive

2 What do animals need? - The four things it needs to survive
- Caring for my pet
- Habitat brainstorm
3 What is a habitat?
- Land or water?

4 What is in our local habitat? - Exploring our local habitat

- Sort us out
5 What does it look like?
- Label the animal

6 How are we the same and different? - Animal comparisons

7 How are habitats the same and different? - Habitat comparisons

- Animal sort by habitat

8 Which animal lives there?
- Habitat foldable book
- My animal research
9 What have we learned?
- My animal diorama assessment

10 What might happen to my animal? - Animal story template

 Where do animals live?
Students will select an animal and draw it in the habitat that it belongs in. They will
write (or tell an adult and they will scribe) why the animal belongs there. Then,
students will draw the same animal in a habitat where it doesn’t belong, and
describe why the animal doesn’t belong there.
For example:
A shark belongs in the ocean because it swims and can breath oxygen from the water.
A shark doesn’t belong in the desert because it doesn’t have feet and it can’t breath on land.

A fabulous YouTube clip to use in the introduction to this lesson is The Elephant Song by
EricHermanMusic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yihq8BIhL9c
 Where do I belong?
Where I belong Where I don’t belong

Why do I belong there? Why don’t I belong there?

 What do animals need?
Activity 1: Students draw either themselves or their chosen animal in the centre box
(depending on the sheet you have chosen). In the four puzzle pieces they draw the
four items living things need to survive:
1. Water
2. Food
3. Shelter
4. Air/oxygen
These four things fit together to ensure survival.

Activity 2: To connect the needs of a living thing to themselves, students will draw a
picture of their pet and show the four items living things needs to survive (food,
water, shelter, air/oxygen). They then write a short sentence about what they have
drawn.
The four things I need to survive

Me
The four things it needs to survive

Animal
 Caring for my pet
Draw a picture of your pet and the four things it needs to survive. Write a sentence about the things your animal needs.
 What is a habitat?
Activity 1: As a whole class, or in groups or pairs, students will brainstorm the
different habitats they know. You could tune students in to this task by watching
videos or reading books about animals living in different places.

Activity 2: For this activity, students can either draw their own land/water animals,
or they can cut/paste and sort the animal pictures. During this lesson, talk about the
common features between the animals that live on land and the animals that live in
the water.
 Habitats we know
Habitat Features Drawing
 Land or water?
Land animals Water animals
 Land or water?
Land animals Water animals
 Land or water?
Land animals Water animals
 What is in our local habitat?
Activity 1: For this activity, take students for a walk around the school, or local
neighbourhood if possible, to look at the types of animals that live in your local
habitat. Students record the animals they see, the water sources they see, and the
types of food they see. This can lead into a conversation about carnivores and
herbivores, or food chains.
 Exploring our local habitat
Animals Food Water
 What does it look like?
Activity 1: Students can work in pairs, in groups, or independently to sort out the
animal pictures. They choose how they will sort them out, based on their external
features. For example: feathers or no feathers, scales or no scales, flying or not
flying, tails or no tails. The choices are endless, and students can be very creative
about how they sort the animals.

Activity 2: Choose the sheets you’d like to use with your students. Students use the
word bank to label the parts of the animal. This is a good opportunity to talk about
common features (legs, head, body) and the less common features (flippers, bill,
tusks).
Sort us out
Sort us out
Label the animal - giraffe
ears legs tail head body
Label the animal - giraffe
ears legs tail head body
 Label the animal - walrus
front flippers tusks back flipper body head
 Label the animal - walrus
front flippers tusks back flipper body head
 Label the animal - owl
beak wings talons body tail
 Label the animal - owl
beak wings talons body tail
Label the animal - turtle
shell head body tail flippers
Label the animal - turtle
shell head body tail flippers
Label the animal - platypus
bill feet body head tail
Label the animal - platypus
bill feet body head tail
 How are we the same and
different?
Activity 1: Choose the pairs of animals that suit your students, or print the blank
Venn diagram and students can choose their own animals. Students compare the
animals and find things that are the same and different about them. Encourage your
students to think about the following:
- Where do the animals live?
- How do they eat?
- What do they eat?
- How do they move?
- What covers the outside of their body?
- Where do they go for shelter?
- What size are they?
Animal comparisons – turtle and kangaroo
Animal comparisons – turtle and kangaroo
Animal comparisons – cow and chicken
Animal comparisons – cow and chicken
Animal comparisons – fish and tiger
Animal comparisons – fish and tiger
Animal comparisons – snake and camel
Animal comparisons – snake and camel
Animal comparisons – duck and frog
Animal comparisons – duck and frog
Animal comparisons
 How are habitats the same
and different?
Activity 1: Working independently or with a partner, students discuss the pairs of
habitats and compare them. They record things that are the same and different
about the pairs of habitats. Key information to compare could include:
- Animals
- Weather
- Plants
- Water

Also included is a blank Venn diagram and 15 habitat scenes to choose from to add
to the Venn diagram.
Habitat comparisons – rainforest and desert
Habitat comparisons – rainforest and desert
Habitat comparisons – arctic and ocean
Habitat comparisons – arctic and ocean
Habitat comparisons – forest and farm
Habitat comparisons – forest and farm
Habitat comparisons
 Habitat comparisons

arctic ocean desert farm forest

grasslands jungle marine polar pond

prairie rainforest river wetland wilderness

 Habitat comparisons

arctic ocean desert farm forest

grasslands jungle marine polar pond

prairie rainforest river wetland wilderness

 Which animal lives there?
Activity 1: Working with a group, in pairs or independently, give students both
Animal sort sheets and a large piece of paper. They cut/paste the headings,
cut/paste the animals and sort the animals based on the habitat they live in.

Activity 2: Print both pages for each student. Follow the instructions below to fold
the booklets, put the booklet without a front cover inside the other booklet and
staple along the edge. Foldable books allow students to fold and staple their own
books, and save time for teachers because they don’t need to be cut and collated
beforehand. Students then draw animals that belong in each habitat.

Cover
 Animal sort – habitat headings

grasslands ocean

rainforest arctic

desert farm
 Animal sort – habitat headings

grasslands ocean

rainforest arctic

desert farm
Animal sort – animal pictures
Animal sort – animal pictures
 Grasslands

Ocean
The habitats I know about are:

_________________
 Arctic
Farm
Rainforest
Desert
 What have we learned?
Activity 1: Students use books or digital sources (for example, the app Epic!) to
research an animal. It could be their choice, or chosen by the teacher. They record
their notes in picture or written form on the research sheet.

Activity 2: Students make a diorama for the animal they researched. They create the
habitat (which must include evidence of food, water and shelter) and a model of the
animal using materials available to them. This could include paper, paint, modelling
clay/plasticine, or other craft materials.
 My animal research
What does it look like?
Animal What does it
eat? (Food)

Where does it live? (Habitat) Interesting facts

 My animal diorama assessment
Teacher comment
My diorama included a model of my animal

Teacher comment
My diorama included:
- Shelter
- Food
- Water

Teacher comment
My diorama included plants that would be in the
animals habitat

Teacher comment
I took pride in completing my work and gave my
best effort

Teacher comment
I used the information from my research sheet to
make my diorama

Overall comment
 What might happen to my
animal?
Activity 1: To take students knowledge further, they plan and write a narrative/story
about the animal they researched. It can be a realistic narrative or an imaginative
narrative (they can choose if the animals will talk, etc). Use the front cover template,
and print the paper option that includes the lines you’d like your students to use. A
narrative planner is also included.
 My narrative plan
Characters Setting

Problem Solution
By ___________________________
 Word wall cards
Included are word wall cards for habitats, for the things animals need to survive and
the external features of animals. There are two sets – one with pictures, and one
without so that the teacher or the students can draw the pictures.
 Word wall - headings

grasslands ocean

rainforest arctic

desert farm
 Word wall - habitats

savannah farm

jungle wetlands

forest marine
 Word wall - habitats

pond wilderness

polar mountains

prairie
 Word wall - needs

shelter air

water oxygen

food
 Word wall – animal features

legs body

bill head

beak ears
 Word wall – animal features

wings talons

flipper tail

shell feet
 Word wall - headings

grasslands ocean

rainforest arctic

desert farm
 Word wall - habitats

savannah farm

jungle wetlands

forest marine
 Word wall - habitats

pond wilderness

polar mountains

prairie
 Word wall - needs

shelter air

water oxygen

food
 Word wall – animal features

legs body

bill head

beak ears
 Word wall – animal features

wings talons

flipper tail

shell feet
Word wall - blank
Credits