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Students observe characteristics of various animals and their habitats and use observations as evidence that adaptations help the animals survive.

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Before the lesson, I will give my students some pre-assessment questions.

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Before the lesson, I will give my students some pre-assessment questions.

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·       What is an adaptation?

·       What kind of things might help an animal survive well in its environment?

·       Do common animals like dogs and cats have adaptations?

I will give the students 5 minutes to answer as best they can. We will discuss each question as a whole group.

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I will give my students a KWL chart to fill out the K and W part. They will write what they already know and what they want to know about adaptations. 

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I will write some vocabulary words down on the smart board and we will define them as a whole group. The vocabulary words are adaptation, armadillo, environment, predator, prey, camouflage, echidna, and opposable thumbs. I will explain each of these words/terms to make sure my students understand the vocabulary. This will help the students grasp the lesson better knowing these vocabulary words.

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I will put this video on the smart board of these bears in their natural habitat. I will ask each of the students to pull out their whiteboards and to list/draw the characteristics of that type of habitat. They will all show me their answers and we will discuss as a whole group their answers.

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Brooks Falls - Katmai National Park, Alaska 2023 powered by EXPLORE.org

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Animal Adaptations - Adaptation and Survival - Animal Adaptations for Kids - Learning Junction

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I will then ask students to think about the characteristics of the animal that help it survive in the environment. I will start this discussion by asking the following questions.

·       How does the animal survive in its environment?

·       How does this animal obtain food?

·       How does this animal protect itself?

·       Are any parts of its body particularly useful for knowing if danger is coming? To defend itself? To fight back?

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After thinking about each of those questions and briefly answering them in their notebook. I will then explain that the characteristics students have been studying that help an animal survive in its environment are called adaptations. I will connect it back to it being one of the vocabulary words that we defined. We will then go over the discussion questions and see what questions we got right and questions that were confusing.

I will then tell students that they are about to see some adaptations of a wide variety of animals through this video. I will ask them to pay close attention because there will be questions about the video after. I will then ask some discussion questions about the video as a whole group.

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Adaptations and the Environment

Describe an animal adaptation and explain how it helps survival.

If a hummingbird hunted like an eagle, would its beak be useful? Explain.

How does camouflage help lions and sloths survive in different ways?

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Learn what an adaptation is and how it helps living things survive in their environment. Our science video for kids shows you many examples. Watch now!

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·       Why is a giraffe’s long tongue an adaptation?

·       What types of adaptations do sloths have to help them survive?

·       How are echidnas feet adapted for the environment they live in?

·       What adaptations does the armadillo have to defend itself?

·       Have any of you seen these animals in real life? If so, where?

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I will then put my students into groups. I will hand each group a picture of an animal they are to research. As a group, they will determine if they think it could survive well in the environment where they (the students) live. Why or why not? After, each group will go up to the front and present their animal and if their animal could survive. I will be walking around observing each group.

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Before giving the students their quiz, I will show more videos/pictures of adaptations and animals in their habitat. We will also play a Kahoot to review!

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Habitats for Kids | Learn all about deserts, forests, grasslands, mountains, and more

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Animal Adaptations for Kids, Learn about physical, life cycle, and behavioral adaptations of animals

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn - any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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If you decided to visit Antarctica, you'd struggle to survive without specialist clothing and equipment. However, penguins manage to live there perfectly well as they have adapted to survive and thrive in their harsh environment. Animals and plants have special adaptations to allow them to thrive in their natural environment.

Animals need food, water, shelter and a safe place to have their offspring in order to survive. Over thousands of years, they adapt and change in order to live successfully in their habitat. Species of the same animal can even be adapted to live in different parts of the world. African elephants have bigger ears than Asian elephants as ears are used to cool the elephant down, and African elephants live in a hotter part of the world.

Adaptations can be how an animal looks, some animals are camouflaged to look just like their environment. Some animals have adapted to scare away predators, and others to be super hunters. Animals all over the world have developed unique adaptations for survival in their specific habitat.

I've compiled a list of 10 amazing animal adaptations demonstrating just a little of the diversity of animal life on our planet.

Once you've read through the list, have a go at designing your own uniquely adapted animal by combining different animal adaptations. There's a handy printable template at the bottom of this post.

10 Awesome Animal Adaptations

Pufferfish - an amazing ability to puff up

The pufferfish is not a fish to cross. Pufferfish have stomachs that have evolved to be super stretchy, allowing them to inflate with water to scare predators away.

Pufferfish also contain a deadly toxin making them highly dangerous if eaten!

Elephants - big ears to cool down

Elephants are big animals that mostly live in hot places. They can't sweat like humans so they use their cleverly adapted ears to cool down. Elephant ears are thin with lots of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. When an elephant gets too hot, blood flows to the ears, where it loses heat, cooling the elephant down.

Elephant ears can also flap to act like giant fans.

African elephants usually have bigger ears than Asian elephants, who live in cooler climates.

Giraffe - very long neck

The long neck of a giraffe gives them a couple of unique advantages over other animals. They can reach food that's REALLY high up and can see enemies from far away.

However, the downside of such a long neck is that it's VERY hard for giraffes to drink water from the ground.

Hummingbird - super fast wings

Hummingbirds flap their wings so fast it's a blur to the human eye. This very clever adaptation means they are the only bird that can fly backwards ( handy for avoiding predators ) and can hover for a long time!

Platypus - electric field detecting bill

The Platypus is a unique species that appears to be a blend of several animals you're probably familiar with. It has webbed feet and a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and a fur like an otter! Don't be fooled by its cuteness though, as males have a venomous spur near their back leg!

One very interesting adaptation of the Platypus is that its special bill can detect electric fields generated by other animals, which helps it hunt for food.

This is called electrolocation.

Stick Insects - super camouflage

Stick insects have a camouflage superpower! They usually look like either sticks or leaves and can hide remarkably well in their natural environment.

Naked Mole Rats - interesting incisors

Naked Mole Rats live underground. They can't see or hear very well but have special long incisors that can move independently of each other and very strong jaws. This unique adaptation allows them to tunnel underground for miles!

Camel - extra long eyelashes

If you were to walk through the desert, you'd probably have a bit of trouble with sand getting into your eyes and nose.

Camels have adapted perfectly for this scenario and have extra long eyelashes to help prevent sand, dust and other particles from getting into their eyes.

Camels can also close their nostrils to stop sand from getting in their nose and, of course, have one more very special feature, a hump!

Camels store fat in their hump to use for energy when times get tough, and food is scarce!

Eagle - super sharp vision

Eagles have some of the sharpest vision of all animals. They have very large eyes for their skull size and a lot more cells on the back of the eye than humans allowing them to see more clearly and for greater distances.

Eagles also have a 340-degree field of vision compared to the 180 degrees a human has.

However, eagles are not famous for their night vision. Eyes like an owl or a cat are better for seeing a night!

Shark - super smell

Sharks have the most incredible sense of smell. They can detect even very small traces of blood several miles away! Sharks can even tell which direction the smell is coming from, making them extreme hunters.

More Animal Adaptations

Stingrays have flat bodies with eyes on the top and a mouth on the bottom. This allows them to keep an eye out for predators while eating!

The fur of a lion blends into its sandy environment providing some camouflage!

Polar bears have white fur and a thick layer of fat under their skin, allowing them to be camouflaged and stay warm.

Emperor penguins have blubber under their skin like polar bears and thick feathers to help them stay warm in the harsh environment of the Antarctic!

Which animal adaptation is your favourite? Would you like to be able to puff up like a pufferfish, smell your favourite meal from 3 miles away or have super vision?

Now you're an animal adaptation expert, try this simple activity!

Animal Adaptation Activity

This easy animal adaptation activity gives children the chance to design the ultimate animal by combining different adaptations.

I'd love to see this resource in action, so please do share your mix-up animals!
MIXED UP Animals Worksheet

Last Updated on April 13, 2023 by Emma Vanstone

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Pufferfish puff up, elephants have big ears and sharks have a super sense of smell. Create the ultimate animal with this animal adaptation activity

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After each group has presented their animal, we will go back to our seats. I will write common animals on slips of paper and have students draw an animal from a jar. I will ask students to list 3-4 adaptations that help that animal survive in its environment, help it obtain food, and defend itself. They will then explain what the characteristic of the animal is and why it helps the animal survive using 3-4 sentences. They will also be asked to provide evidence.

After their quiz, each student will turn their paper into the turn in basket. I will then ask students to finish filling in their KWL chart and to turn that in as well.

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Students can go home and do research about their favorite animal and see what adaptations they need to survive. They can share their animal during bell work the next morning.