Hands-On Life Science Activities For Grades K-6

This is the second edition of Marvin N. Tolman’s bestselling book Hands-On Life Science Activities for Grades K-6. Like all the books in The Science Problem-Solving Curriculum Library series, this revised edition offers compelling activities that help teach students thinking and reasoning skills along with basic science concepts and facts. The book’s activities follow the discovery/inquiry approach and encourage students to analyze, synthesize, and infer based on their own hands-on experiences. This new edition includes an expanded “Teacher Information” section, inquiry-based models and complex cooperative learning projects using materials found around the home. Many of the activities easily become great science fair ideas, as well as lessons and activities that correlate with national standards grid.

About the Author xix About the Library xx How to Use This Book xxi Correlation with National Standards Grid xxxvii Key to Icons xxxix Listing of Activities by Topic xli Section One: Living Through Adaptation To the Teacher 1 Correlation with National Standards 3 Activity 1.1: What Is Adaptation? 4 Activity 1.2: How Do Adaptations Affect Where Animals Live? 6 Activity 1.3: Why Are Feathers Special? 9 Activity 1.4: What Purposes Can Feathers Serve? 10 Activity 1.5: Can You Make a Feather? 12 Activity 1.6: How Can We Be Tricked by Color? 14 Activity 1.7: How Is Color Used by Living Things? 15 Activity 1.8: What Happens When the Camouflage Is Gone? 17 Activity 1.9: What Happens to Camouflage When the Environment Changes? 19 Activity 1.10: How Do Birds Adapt to Eating? 22 Activity 1.11: What Are Some Other Eating Adaptations? 24 Activity 1.12: What Are Human Teeth Like? 26 Activity 1.13: How Important Is Your Thumb? 28 Activity 1.14: How Do Animals Move? 30 Activity 1.15: How Do Some Animals Communicate? 33 Activity 1.16: How Do Seasons Affect Animal Adaptations? 35 Activity 1.17: How Do Animals Adapt to Seasonal Change? 37 Activity 1.18: Can You Design a Better Bird? 39 Animal Adaptations Word Searches 41 Do You Recall? 44 Section Two: Animals To the Teacher 47 Correlation with National Standards 49 Activity 2.1: Who Are the New Members of Our Class? 50 Activity 2.2: How Can We Keep Our Pets Healthy? 53 Activity 2.3: How Many Pets Can You Find? 56 Activity 2.4: How Many Other Pets Can You Find? 57 Activity 2.5: What Kind of Pet Would You Like to Own? 59 Activity 2.6: What Can Hair Tell You? 60 Activity 2.7: How Many Play Animals Can You Find? 62 Activity 2.8: How Can You Make a New Animal for a Funny Zoo? 63 Activity 2.9: How Can You Make a Bony Animal? 65 Activity 2.10: What Can Footprints Tell Us? 68 Activity 2.11: What More Can Footprints Tell Us? 69 Activity 2.12: What Clues Can Help Us Read Tracks? 72 Activity 2.13: What Animals Live Around You? 74 Activity 2.14: What Do You Need in Order to Study a Nature Square? 76 Activity 2.15: How Can a Chart Help Us Make Observations? 79 Activity 2.16: What Equipment Can Help Us Study Our Nature Squares? 80 Activity 2.17: How Can We Report Our Findings? 83 Activity 2.18: How Can We Attract Wild Birds? 86 Activity 2.19: What Is a Bird? 88 Activity 2.20: How Can You Make a Birdhouse? 91 Activity 2.21: What Do We Need in Order to Keep Pets in an Aquarium? 94 Activity 2.22: How Can We Keep Small Animals in Our Classroom? 97 Activity 2.23: How Do Earthworms Live? 100 Activity 2.24: Why Is the Snail So Unusual? 102 Activity 2.25: What Organisms Live Around Us That Are Too Tiny to See? 104 Activity 2.26: Is It Alive or Not? 106 Activity 2.27: Is It Living, Once-Living, or Nonliving? 109 Animals Word Searches 111 Section Three: Growing and Changing: Animal Life Cycles To the Teacher 115 Correlation with National Standards 117 Activity 3.1: What Is Growing Up? 118 Activity 3.2: How Much Do People Change? 119 Activity 3.3: How Does Growing Up Begin? 121 Activity 3.4: What Is a Chicken Egg Really Like? 123 Activity 3.5: What Are Some Other Animals That Hatch from Eggs? 126 Activity 3.6: How Can You Hatch Eggs in the Classroom? 128 Activity 3.7: What Is a Tadpole? 131 Activity 3.8: What Is a Good Environment for Tadpoles? 133 Activity 3.9: Where Do Butterflies Come From? 136 Activity 3.10: What Is Wormy? 140 Activity 3.11: How Long Do Animals Live? 142 Growing and Changing Word Searches 144 Do You Recall? 147 Section Four: Plants and Seeds To the Teacher 149 Correlation with National Standards 151 Activity 4.1: What Plant Is This? 152 Activity 4.2: How Do Seeds Begin to Grow? 154 Activity 4.3: What Happens to a Growing Plant If It Has No Light? 156 Activity 4.4: How Do Seeds Travel? 160 Activity 4.5: How Can Plants Grow Without Seeds? 163 Activity 4.6: What Is Another Way to Grow Plants Without Seeds? 165 Activity 4.7: What Can You Do with Plants That Become Too Big for Their Containers? 167 Activity 4.8: How Do Containers Make Plants More Interesting? 169 Activity 4.9: What Is a Terrarium? 171 Activity 4.10: What Do Plants Need in Order to Grow? 173 Activity 4.11: How Does Water Travel in a Plant? 175 Activity 4.12: How Do Plants Respond to Light? 179 Activity 4.13: How Do Plants Respond to Gravity? 183 Activity 4.14: How Can We Make a Visual Record of Plant Growth? 188 Activity 4.15: What Are the Parts of Some Common Plants? 191 Activity 4.16: Why Are Leaves Important? 193 Activity 4.17: How Are Leaves Alike and How Are They Different? 196 Activity 4.18: How Can You Preserve the Leaves You Collect? 198 Activity 4.19: How Can You Collect Bark Without Damaging the Tree? 200 Activity 4.20: How Do Roots Grow and Develop? 202 Activity 4.21: What Are the Parts of a Flower? 204 Activity 4.22: How Can You Make a “Dandy” Tasting Salad? 206 Activity 4.23: What Parts of Plants Do You Like to Eat? 208 Activity 4.24: Can We Make a Whole Meal with Just Plants? 211 Activity 4.25: How Can We Know What Kind of Tree It Is? 213 Activity 4.26: If We Can’t Climb It, How Can We Measure It? 215 Activity 4.27: Is This a Plant? 219 Activity 4.28: What Is This Strange Growth? 220 Activity 4.29: What Does Your Strange Organism Grow On? 221 Activity 4.30: What Have We Learned About Mold? 223 Plants and Seeds Word Searches 225 Do You Recall? 228 Section Five: Body Systems To the Teacher 231 Correlation with National Standards 233 Activity 5.1: How Do Fingerprints Compare? 234 Activity 5.2: How Big Is the Average Person Your Age? 236 Activity 5.3: How Can You See Your Pulse? 238 Activity 5.4: What Is a Blood-Pressure Cuff? 239 Activity 5.5: How Do the Body Systems Work Together? 241 Activity 5.6: What Is Your Lung Capacity? 242 Activity 5.7: How Does an Apple Skin Protect the Apple? (and How Does Our Skin Protect Us?) 244 Activity 5.8: How Does the Skin Help Regulate Body Temperature? 247 Activity 5.9: What Do Our Bones Do for Us? 250 Activity 5.10: Are Human Bones Large or Small? 251 Activity 5.11: How Many Bones Can You Count? 253 Activity 5.12: How Can Doctors Tell Whether a Bone Is Broken and Where? 255 Activity 5.13: How Is a Splint Applied to a Broken Bone? 257 Activity 5.14: How Are Bones Connected at a Joint? 258 Activity 5.15: What Are Tendons, and How Do They Work? 260 Activity 5.16: What Is Bone Like Without the Mineral Material? 262 Activity 5.17: How Many Muscles Can You Identify? 263 Activity 5.18: How Do Voluntary and Involuntary Muscles Differ? 265 Activity 5.19: What Is Muscle Sense? 267 Activity 5.20: How Fast Are Your Reactions? 268 Activity 5.21: How Fast Do Your Nails Grow? 270 Activity 5.22: What Does Hair Look Like Under a Microscope? 273 Body Systems Word Searches 275 Do You Recall? 278 Section Six: The Five Senses To the Teacher 281 Correlation with National Standards 283 Activity 6.1: In What Ways Do We Depend on Our Eyes? 284 Activity 6.2: How Well Can You Judge Depth with One Eye? 285 Activity 6.3: Which Is Your Dominant Eye? 287 Activity 6.4: How Well Do You Remember What You See? 288 Activity 6.5: Why Do We Need Five Senses? 290 Activity 6.6: How Do Our Eyes Help Us “Hear”? 292 Activity 6.7: How Does a Picture Stimulate Your Senses? 294 Activity 6.8: What Happens to the Iris as Light Changes? 295 Activity 6.9: How Is the Eye Like a Camera Diaphragm? 297 Activity 6.10: How Can You See Through a Solid Object? 299 Activity 6.11: What Is a Blind Spot? 300 Activity 6.12: How Effective Is Your Side Vision? 302 Activity 6.13: Can You Save the Fish? 304 Activity 6.14: How Can Our Eyes Make Colors Seem to Change? 306 Activity 6.15: How Well Can You See in the Dark? 308 Activity 6.16: How Fast Can You Judge What You See and Take Appropriate Action? 310 Activity 6.17: How Fast Do Odors Travel? 314 Activity 6.18: How Long Can You Retain a Smell? 315 Activity 6.19: What Foods Can Your Nose Identify? 317 Activity 6.20: How Is Taste Affected by Smell? 319 Activity 6.21: How Can You Tell Whether Taste Is Affected by Smell? 321 Activity 6.22: How Can You Match Things Without Seeing Them? 323 Activity 6.23: What Sounds Do Your Ears Recognize? 325 Activity 6.24: What Sounds Do You Hear in Paper? 326 Activity 6.25: How Well Do You Know Your Classmates’ Voices? 327 Activity 6.26: How Well Can Your Ears Alone Tell You What’s Happening? 328 Activity 6.27: How Much Can You “See” with Your Ears? 330 Activity 6.28: What Is a Stethoscope? 331 Activity 6.29: What Differences in Taste Do People Have? 333 Activity 6.30: Which Part of the Tongue Is Most Sensitive to Taste? 335 Activity 6.31: How Can We Classify Foods by Taste? 339 Activity 6.32: How Does a Sudden Change in Temperature Affect Us? 340 Activity 6.33: How Well Can You “Observe” with Your Sense of Touch? 341 Activity 6.34: How Much Can You “See” with Your Hands? 343 Activity 6.35: Where Is Your Sense of Touch Most Sensitive? 345 Activity 6.36: What Parts of Your Body Can Feel Things Best? 347 Activity 6.37: What Is Warm and What Is Cold? 349 Activity 6.38: How Many Touch Words Can You Find? 351 Five Senses Word Searches 353 Do You Recall? 356 Section Seven: Health and Nutrition To the Teacher 359 Correlation with National Standards 361 Activity 7.1: What Are We Made Of? 362 Activity 7.2: Why Do We Wash Our Hands Before Handling Food? 364 Activity 7.3: Why Are the Basic Food Groups Important? 366 Activity 7.4: What Are the Most Common and the Most Popular Foods? 368 Activity 7.5: How Well Balanced Is Your Diet? 372 Activity 7.6: How Can We Test Foods for Protein? 374 Activity 7.7: Which Foods Contain Sugar? 376 Activity 7.8: Which Foods Contain Starch? 378 Activity 7.9: Which Foods Contain Fat? 380 Activity 7.10: How Do People Count Calories? 382 Activity 7.11: How Many Calories Do You Use? 383 Activity 7.12: How Are Teeth Shaped for Their Task? 386 Activity 7.13: What Does Tooth Decay Look Like? 388 Activity 7.14: Why Are Healthy Teeth Important to You? 390 Activity 7.15: How Can You Clean Your Teeth Best? 392 Health and Nutrition Word Searches 394