Plan
- Where will you do this adventure?
- What materials will you need and who will gather them?
- How will you form groups of three or four?
- What do you know about adaptations? How have animals adapted to their environment? How do adaptations help animals survive?
- What other adaptations could you explore?
- How many adaptations will each group try?
Do
In your groups, explore different adaptations:
Disappear
- Imagine you are an animal that lives nearby.
- Choose a specific part of the environment and design and build a camouflage outfit.
Keep Warm
- Build a blubber mitten using two re-sealable zipper bags, tape and shortening.
- Fill one bag with shortening and push another bag into the first one.
- Make sure the shortening creates a solid layer of “blubber.”
- Seal it with tape so no water can get in.
- Put one bare hand in snow or ice-cold water, and then put your hand in the mitten and try the snow or water again.
- How much of the cold do you feel?
- What other materials could you use to make a warm mitten?
- Try some out.
Look Bigger
- Some animals have a way of making themselves look bigger to scare off predators.
- What do you notice in the pictures provided by Scouters?
- Using the available materials, design and build something that can help you look bigger than you are.
- Find inspiration in the techniques animals use to do this.
Review
- What do you know now that you did not know before?
- What did you learn about how animals adapt to their environment?
- How do adaptations help animals survive?
- What can we learn from animal adaptations to solve our human problems?
- What did you like about this adventure?
- What did you not like? How would you do this adventure differently?
- How do humans use animal adaptations in their daily lives?
Materials
Disappear In Your Surroundings
- Pictures of different animal adaptations
- Construction paper or fabric in different colors
- Scissors
- Glue
- Newspapers, white cloth or old clothes for base of the outfit to keep warm
Keep Warm
- Large Ziploc bags
- Vegetable shortening
- Other insulating materials such as bubble wrap, feathers or wool
- Duct tape
- Towels
- Ice and water
- Buckets or tubs
How Big Can You Get?
- Newspaper
- Plastic sheets
- Air pump
- Measuring tape
- Long wooden sticks
Keep it Simple
- Start by playing some games such as hide and seek and see how hard it is to camouflage yourself.
Take it Further
- Look at other animals in environments that are different from ours such as tropical environments.
