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Imaginary Animals

Imaginary Animals

How and why do animals blend in with their environment? Students will explore this topic and create an imaginary animal and a story about its life and how it blends in with its environment to stay safe.

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.

  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Ask students to think about times they've been surprised by a camouflaged insect or animal. Perhaps it appeared as if a twig started walking but it was in fact a stick insect. Or maybe it looked like part of a tree started to fly away, but it was really a bird blending in with the bark. Talk about how animals evade capture by blending in with their surroundings. Explain that it isn't just about changing color; it can also be about a pattern on the animal that makes it appear to be something else. Or it could be something called disruptive coloration that renders its outline difficult to discern.

  • Step 2

    Ask students to make up a new and colorful animal with the ability to blend in with its environment. Have them illustrate this creature and then write an imaginitive story about where it lives, what it eats, and the activities it enjoys.

  • Step 3

    Have students present their animals and stories and talk about how it's able to camouflage itself.

Standards

LA: Write using words, numbers, and images to inform and explain, share experiences, and create narratives, either fictional or non-fictional.

LA: Develop real and imagined narratives.

SCI: Explore similarities and differences in patterns and use them to sort, classify, communicate, and analyze natural phenomena and change.

Adaptations

Have students visit a website with pictures of camouflaged animals. See if they can spot the animals in the photos!

Divide the class into two groups. Have one group hide objects in plain sight. They might but a blue crayon on a shelf next to a book with a blue binding, or a green button next to a green plant. Then challenge the other group to try and find the objects.