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Creating a Home in a Habitat

Creating a Home in a Habitat

Students will create a model of a natural habitat in a 3-D triorama.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Craft Materials
  • Natural Materials
  • Recycled File Folders
  • Tape

Steps

  • Step 1

    All living things need a place to thrive and feel safe. Animals need to live where they can find food and be protected from predators. Plants need the right kind of soil and weather. Ask students to name some habitats they know of such as deserts, forests, lakes, oceans, etc. Then ask them to pick one to depict in a triorama - a pyramid-shaped diorama.

  • Step 2

    Have students take a square piece of heavy paper and fold it twice diagonally. Then have them cut along one of the folds from the corner to the center. To form the triorama they will pull one flap back over the other. Have them note which area will be hidden from view when this is done. They should lay the drawing surface flat for ease of decorating the background of their triorama. When they are done they will take that one end of the flap and pull it behind the other flap and secure it with tape.

  • Step 3

    Now ask students to fill in their trioramas with natural materials such as twigs, pine needles, bark, cotton balls, sandpaper, pebbles, or anything else that could exemplify their habitat.

  • Step 4

    Have students present their trioramas to the class and talk about the habitat and the flora and fauna that live there.

Standards

SCI: Convey designs through sketches, detailed drawings, or physical models to communicate ideas and solutions.

SCI: Design pictorial or graphic representations/models that are useful in communicating ideas.

SCI: Describe what living organisms have in common (eating, breathing, growing, and reproducing) and distinguish them from non-living things.

Adaptations

Have students pick a habitat or two and make a list of animals that live there. For example, in the ocean there are fish, dolphins, whales, clams etc.

Ask students to pick a habitat they'd like to live in if they could and discuss why they chose it.