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Pre- and Post-Visit Activities
Explore pre- and post-visit activities designed for every grade level. Use the links below to find lessons, videos, and book ideas that help prepare your students for their outdoor experience—and extend learning back in the classroom.
Environmental Traits
Activities/Videos
Survival in a Changed Environment
Books
Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights by Debbie S. Miller
Acclaimed Alaskan duo Debbie S. Miller and Jon Van Zyle bring the beautiful and mysterious Arctic lands to life in this smart, stunning picture book. Imagine a land where the sun rises at 1:58 a.m. in the summer and shines for less than four hours on a winter's day. The animals in the wilderness near Fairbanks, Alaska, witness some of the world's greatest temperature extremes and light variations every year. At an average low of -16 degrees Fahrenheit, the winters may be unpleasantly frigid, but the light shows are always glorious!
Books
The One and Only Me: A Book About Genes by Ariana Killoran
Have you ever wondered what makes you, You? Join Poppy on her journey into the fascinating world of her genetics. Learn how Poppy's genes created her red hair and blue eyes, and trace these traits through her family tree. Poppy's genes are not the only things that help make her unique. Discover, with Poppy, how your genes and the world around you can shape who you are. What makes you unique? Why do you look like your family? What do genes have to do with it? Join Poppy to find out answers to these questions and more.
Inheritance of Traits: Why Is My Dog Bigger Than Your Dog? by Jen Green
This fun book about dog shows teaches the core curriculum topic of inheritance.
The Same But Different Too by Karl Newson
There’s something about each of us that makes us special. But while everyone is unique, we all have many things in common as well. Explore the ways that we are all the same but different, too, in this joyful and simple celebration of individuality and camaraderie. Filled with children and their animal friends, this rhyming text illuminates the wonderfully different and similar things that make us who we are.
Books
Animal Groups: How Animals Live Together by Etta Kaner
Animal Groups: How Animals Live Together by Etta Kaner explores the reasons and ways animals live in groups, such as for defense, finding food, and raising young, using examples like honeybees and flamingos. Part of the Animal Behavior series, it features large illustrations by Pat Stephens, engaging questions for the reader, and activities, making it suitable for elementary school children.
National Geographic Kids: Animal Groups by Jill Esbaum
A crash of rhinos, a zeal of zebras, or a pandemonium of parrots ... ever wonder what you call that group of animals? Fantastic photography from award-winning photographer Frans Lanting introduces young children to animal groups -- their names, behaviors, and distinctive features. From the African savanna to an island off of Iceland, kids find adorable close-up shots and spectacular sweeping vistas of massive migrating herds. Playful text and design make the book a read-aloud treat that will have kids wondering what discovery they'll make next and parents trying to recall what on Earth you call a group of hyenas (it's a cackle, of course!).
Animal Teams by Charlotte Milner
Have you ever asked why birds swoop and soar in a flock? Or wondered where an army of ants is marching? This nonfiction ebook explains how animals work together to survive and thrive in the wild and teaches children how important teamwork is, no matter how big or small a creature you are.
Animal Teams takes young readers through a range of habitats, from snowy mountains to colorful coral reefs, to discover different animal groups and how they work together to survive in their environments. Children will learn fascinating facts along the way. For example, did you know that a group of monkeys is called a troop? Or that flying in flocks means birds can sleep as they fly?