5-8 Deserts:

Desert homes

Feel free to explore any of the topics below.

Then scroll toward the bottom to find project instructions!

First!

Please fill out this attendance form!

Explore the desert

Use these videos to learn more about deserts!

10 largest deserts in the world

desert animal adaptations

Google Earth

Go to Google Earth and see if you can find these deserts: Sahara, Goby, Great Basin, and Arabian

visiting the desert

Vloggers share their very different experiences with visiting the desert

volunteerism in the israeli desert

Check out these vloggers' trip to the Israeli desert

Visiting the Sahara desert

steam project

Try making a model of a mud hut!

Some deserts are among the planet's last remaining areas of total wilderness. Yet more than one billion people, one-sixth of the Earth's population, actually live in desert regions. For thousands of years, indigenous peoples have built their homes from the few resources available to them, the most prevalent being sand. If you ended up in the desert, do you think you could create a livable home?

materials

Water
Sand
Straw or grass
toothpicks/small sticks
A plate or tray to hold your hut
Thermometer
Other materials you could use for structure, roofing, doors, etc. Be creative!

This video is rather long but full of fun ideas for your home! Make sure you pay special attention to how they made a FRAME before adding the mud!

directions

You are going to make a MODEL of a mud hut (make sure you are in a space that is easy to clean!)
Use the videos to the left for ideas!
Create a mixture of sand, dirt and grass to create a compound that make walls
Begin to mold a model of a hut and use toothpicks, popsicle sticks or similar items to support the walls as you go
Be sure to add a roof and a door
You can try drying your hut outside in the sun
When you are done, test the strength of your hut. Is your mixture strong enough to last a while? If not, what could you do to make the mud mixture stronger?
Take your hut outside. Place a thermometer in the sun next to the hut. Wait several minutes and record the temperature. Then, take the temperature from inside the hut. Is there a difference?

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