Animal Habitats

In this lesson, students learn about animal habitats by creating a habitat for crickets and observing how the nonliving and living parts of the habitat interact with and support one another. Students briefly explore and discuss animal habitats visible in their community before experiencing a read-aloud on the same topic before finally creating a cricket habitat to notice what a cricket needs to live.

• Plants and animals depend on each other and their environment for survival.
• Animals are living things, but they are different from plants because they need to eat other living things for food.
• Animals are also different from plants because plants take in carbon dioxide from the environment and release oxygen, while animals take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. This is why we breathe.
• A habitat is a place where life grows and provides plants and animals with clean water, air, food, and shelter. A shelter is a structure that protects animals from other animals and weather.

• What are some examples of animals?
• Why do we all need to eat food?
• How do animals get food?
• What happens when we breathe in and out?
• What nonliving things do animals need to survive?
• What kinds of things are found in a habitat?

Misconception: Plants are not alive because we cannot see them move.

Fact: Plants are alive because they meet all of the requirements for life. For example, there is movement within plants; we just cannot see it.

Animal : a living thing that needs to eat other living things for energy and breathes in oxygen

Habitat : a place where life grows; provides plants and animals with clean water, air, food, and shelter

Shelter : a structure that protects animals from other animals and weather

As the main hands-on activity of this lesson, students prepare a simple cricket habitat and observe what parts of the habitat help it to survive. Students differentiate between living and nonliving things in the habitat and how each thing helps the cricket live. Acting as scientists, students document what they see in the cricket habitat by drawing a diagram to notice all the elements (food, air, water, etc) that a cricket needs to survive. Students continue their study of animal habitats in the next lesson of this unit.