Micro Hikes

Aim of the Activity

To explore a very small habitat and identify characteristics, needs, similarities and differences between the creatures living there.

Target Year Level

Year 1 - 2

Curriculum Alignment

Science, English

Description of the Activity

There is a lot of life under a rock or log and this activity is all about exploring that life by going on a micro hike. Your child will imagine what it would be like to see it through the eyes of their ‘mini person’.

Discuss what micro and hike means (Micro means small or microscopic and hike means a long walk). Discuss what we would need to take to survive if we were going for a big hike. Explain to your child that they are going to take their mini person on a long hike; that whilst 1 metre would not be a long hike for us, for our mini person it’s a long way. Discuss what the mini person might experience over a 1 metre hike, what they might see, feel, smell, hear. Discuss what living things might be seen, what might these creatures be doing?

Choose a spot outside that has a log(s) or rock(s) or another object that can be flipped with life living under it . Lie down on your belly next to your site. Your mini person will hike only the distance from your shoulder to your fingertips.

Safety: Always roll rocks, logs and other objects towards you, not away from you and don’t place your fingers where you can’t see what they might be touching! Ensure there are no potentially harmful creatures in the chosen area such as red back spiders. Instruct your child to not handle any creatures observed.

Move your mini person through their hike. Flip over any logs, rocks or other objects the mini person passes by. Draw/write or orally record observations of what life the mini person is seeing. The magnifying glass can help your child see creatures and plants up close.

Observations might include:

• listing all the different living things their mini person sees,

• what the creatures are doing

• how the creatures get the things they need to survive under there

• what is the same or different about the creatures and plants along the hike

• anything you notice about the plants or animals that might help them survive eg camouflage, body parts used for defence

After ample time to record observations, ask your child to return the objects flipped back the way they were so the animals can return to their homes.

Get your child to share their observations with you. You could ‘interview’ their mini person and your child answer your questions.

This activity could be a great spark to creative writing. Get your child to write a story about their mini person’s adventure. Older children could write it in journal form. Think of words that describe what the mini person felt, smelt, saw, heard and maybe even tasted along the way. Were they ever in danger? What kind of emotions were they feeling on their hike?

Questions to talk about with your child

• Begin with questions that spark your child’s thinking about what animals, including humans, need to live. ‘If we were going to go a walk for a day and stay outside overnight, what would we need to take?’, ‘How do we help keep our pet healthy and safe?’, ‘What do creatures living in our garden need to survive?’.

• Once you have explained the activity, get your child to think about what their mini person might see and experience (Prediction)

• During the micro hike asks questions that help focus their observations (see ‘Description of the Activity’ for ideas).

• Afterwards ask questions that help your child explain and reflect on their observations - ‘Why do you think the creature looked like that’, ‘What other animals have those body features?’, ‘How does the animal get water?’, ‘I wonder what that animal eats?’, ‘How does that creature keep itself safe’. ‘How could we learn more about these creatures’, ‘What questions do you now have about these creatures?’.

Links for further learning

• David Attenborough’s, ‘Life in the Undergrowth’ is a 5 episode documentary all about small creatures living in these habitats. Life in the Undergrowth