Observing Animal Artifacts

We began our Animal Adaptations unit which focuses on how animals use their body parts to adapt to their environment. We discussed how animals can have physical and behavioral adaptations. Physical adaptations are when the body of an organism changes to allow the animal to survive in its environment. Some of the physical adaptations we explored were camouflage, size of an animal's ears (tiny ears keep an animal warm and larger ears keep an animal cool), tails for balance, and more. Behavioral adaptations are things an organism does in order to survive in its environment. Some of the behavioral adaptation we explored were migration and hibernation. Ask your kiddo to give some examples of each adaptation :)

We also had the opportunity to observe some animal artifacts and write about each artifact's purpose. We observed Arctic Fox Fur, Hawk Foot, Duck Foot, Porcupine Quills, Turkey Feather, Beaver Fur, and an Eagle Foot.

Some questions students thought about were:

• Would it protect the animal?
• Would it help the animal get food?
• Would it help the animal move?
• Would it help the animal to hide?
• Would it help the animal to hunt?
• Would it help the animal to keep warm or cool?