Spring Break Lesson Plans - Monday
9 – 9:30am – Arrival/Check-in
Check-in students outside of the building. Please have parents check the authorized pickup list and
remind them that ID’s will be required at pick-up.
9:30am – 10:30am – Explanation of the week
Once everyone has checked in go over what a wetland is and the plant projects that will be ongoing all
week. Explain that we are going to keep a classroom chart. The activity is going to the plant growth of
salt water vs freshwater. Each day we are going to take measurements of both and write our findings on
the chart.
What's a wetland?
That's easy. Take some low-lying land, add water, mix in lots of plants and animals, and you have a
wetland!
So wetlands are always wet, right?
Wetlands are places where there is shallow water or very soggy soil at least part of the time. Plants that
grow there love having wet "feet" (roots).
Are all wetlands the same?
No way! Most folks think of three major wetland groups: swamps, marshes, and bogs. It’s easy to tell
the difference between the first two. Swamps have mostly trees or shrubs. And marshes have mostly
grassy plants. Bogs are spongy, mossy wetlands where plants pile up faster than they can rot away. All
those plants form thick layers of peat.
Lakes are wet. Aren't they wetlands, too?
Not really—they're too wet. Remember wet-footed plants? Well, lakes are mostly too deep for plants to
grow right up out of them. That goes for oceans and most ponds, rivers, and streams, too. But the edges
of these bodies of water and waterways ... now that’s a different story.
Different how?
The edges are where the water is often shallow enough — or the soil just soggy enough — for wetland
plants to take hold. But you can also find wetlands far from any deep water. Mountains may have low
spots where water collects. And water seeping up from underground can make a wetland — even in a
desert.
What's so important about wetlands?
Ah, glad you asked. Without wetlands, thousands of species of animals and plants would become
extinct. And floods and pollution would be much worse. Oh, I tell you wetlands are greatly
misunderstood.
How so?
People have often thought of wetlands as smelly, buggy wastelands. They've drained the water from
them, making dry land for farms, houses, and shopping malls. Today more than half of the wetlands in
the "lower 48" states have been destroyed. But here's the good news: Many other people know that
wetlands are wonderlands that we — and thousands of other species — could never do without.
The project for the week is to look at and study the difference between plants that are watered with
regular water and plants that are watered with salt water. All plants need water to survive, fresh water.
But plants that live in a salt marsh like the one here at Sturgeon City do not have access to fresh water.
All they have is salt water that is absorbed through their roots. How do they survive? plants develop
adaptations that allow them to tolerate salt water. These plants are called halophytes. Some
adaptations of these plants are:
- develop ways to reduce salt intake by the roots called salt water exclusion
- some take the salt in but have salt-secreting glands to remove the salt
- Some develop salt concentrating glands like fleshy leaves. They collect salt in these leaves
and then shed them
- Some plants have succulent leaves, store water, and then use it to dilute the concentration
of salt
- Some plants have salt water proofed their selves by developing a waxy covering
- Some reduce their leaf surface to minimize exposure to salt
- some isolate salt into internal organs
Plant Project
We will be using salt water with a salinity of 20 ppt. Allow the kids to make the salt water. Using a
pitcher, fill it up with tap water. Add in the salt crystals (provided) to create our salt water. We will
measure the salinity with a refractometer.
10:30 – 11:00 - Snack Time
11:00 – 12: SC Tour and Video (both groups combined) (Admin building)
12 – 1:00 - Lunch/Recess
1 – 1:45 – House for Hermit (younger)
Read “A House for Hermit Crab” and begin the hermit crab craft. They can paint multiple egg cartons
and use different colors. Set aside to dry. Will come back to them later after they dry.
1:45 – 2:45pm – Dragonfly/Butterfly Salt Painting
Materials
white glue (such as Elmer’s school glue)
watered down paint (or use food coloring)
paintbrushes or squeeze droppers
salt
cardstock or somewhat thick paper
Butterfly Template
Dragonfly Template
Paint glue to cover the entire butterfly/dragonfly design. Shake salt over until all the glue is covered.
Use the paintbrushes to drip paint (or colored water) in different areas. Watch as the paint spreads like
magic! Repeat with other colors. It’s fun to watch the colors blend together.
2:45pm – 3:00pm – Prepare for dismissal
Spring Break Lesson Plans - Tuesday
9 – 9:30am – Arrival/Check-in
Check-in students outside of the building.
Once everyone has checked in measure and chart the wetland plant activity. Once finished head up to
the admin building for the amazing race! This will be done combined today. Make sure they take their
snack and lunch to the admin building.
9:30am – 2:45 pm - Amazing Race – Wetland Edition
Break for snack (10:30 – 11:00) and lunch/recess (12:00 – 1:00)
Wrap up and head back to learning center for dismissal at 2:45 pm
For the Amazing Race campers will have to follow clues and
complete challenges in this activity. You will be looking for this
symbol to find your clues/tasks.
The amazing race will start at the gate entrance to Sturgeon City.
Clue #1: These round structures used to be empty. Now there are fish, plants and fountains!
(the task will be taped to the side of one of the clarifiers.
Task: Complete fish printing activity, on cardstock. Each team member must complete the task to
receive the next clue. This activity will be laid out on the picnic tables outside of the admin building, lay
out the papers in the admin building so that they will dry. These will be picked up later.
Clue #2: 4 million of these kinds of creatures were put into Wilson Bay to clean up the pollution!
(Oyster shell drying bed)
Task: Look for shells that have stickers, find 15 marked shells to receive next clue.
Clue #3: A coastal paleontologist would love to dig around here! Where should you go to receive your
next task?
(Fossil pit)
Task: It is snack time! Head back to the learning center to eat your snack (10:40am-11:00am). When
everyone is done with snack then return to the fossil pit. Upon returning, each team member has to find
1 sharks tooth! After everyone on the team collects 1 (does not have to be whole) you can receive your
next clue. If anyone has trouble they can receive help from their team members.
Clue #4: We raise these kinds of babies in another drying bed.
(Baby oysters in drying bed to get next task)
Task: Collect a water sample from the marsh drying bed. Carefully take water sample to the open part of
the dock (area going towards the kayak launch) and prepare slides. Look to see what creatures you can
identify from the sheet given. Write the name of a creature or plant that you find and use clay to make
what you see. After you make 3 different plants or animals, place what you made on the table to receive
the next clue. Everyone needs to have a turn looking at the microscopes.
Clue #5: Take a stroll on the boardwalk, a lot of animals call the marsh home. Find the blue crab to
receive your next task.
(there will be pictures along the boardwalk, find the blue crab)
Task: It is time for lunch! Head back to the learning center for lunch (12:00- 12:30pm). Upon finishing
lunch, you will receive your next clue.
Clue #6: Make your way to this fun area next to an old landfill. Once there, look for your task “on the
top”.
(Head to the playground. Task will be taped to the top of one of the slides.)
Task: Play on the playground or relax for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you will receive your next clue.
Clue #7 There is a wide open space out over the water. Here we spend time crabbing and watching the
wetland animals.
(Large open area where we crab at the end of the dock)
Task: As a group, name 4 animals that live in the wetlands (can be anything from insects to birds).
Clue #8 We don’t make music with these black drum, we feed them!
(Black drum are in the big tank in the admin building, task will be taped on the tank)
Task: It’s time to relax and do something fun! Make some bubble solution and see who can hold a
bubble in their hand. Do this outside of the main building. Once, everyone has made several bubbles you
will get your next clue.
Clue #9 The game is almost over; this has been a blast! Now head back to your classroom for your last
task!
Task: Enjoy some popsicles.
2:45pm – 3:00pm – Prepare for dismissal
Spring Break Lesson Plans - Wednesday
9 – 9:30am – Arrival/Check-in
Check-in students outside of the building.
Once everyone has checked in measure and chart the wetland plant activity.
9:30 – 10:30am – Salt Marsh in a Pan Activity
Review what a salt marsh is from Monday.
Students, in small groups, will create a model of a salt marsh to discover the impact of pollution and
human activities on the habitat.
Salt marshes help to protect our estuaries from the impact of nature and humans. The special grasses
that grow in the marsh can tolerate flooding from salt water. These plants are effective storm buffers
because they lessen wave energy and soak up water from the tides. Salt marsh plants also have deep
roots which help to hold the soil in place and prevent erosion. They help to trap pollutants which helps
to improve water quality. Where do you think the pollution comes from that we see in salt marshes? We
are going to build a salt marsh out of clay and complete an activity to demonstrate how salt marshes
work.
Materials
Paint tray
Modeling Clay (enough to fill 1/3 of pan)
Sponges (to fit across width of pan)
Supplies to make houses, roads, trees, animals
Watering can/jar
Red food color
Oil
Bits of paper
Ground coffee
Chocolate sprinkles
Spray bottles (filled with water)
Steps:
1. Divide students into small groups. Give each group a paint tray and come modeling clay. Tell
them to place the clay on the top (shallow) part of the tray to about 1/3 of the way down. The
layer should be about ½ inch thick. This represents their salt marsh. The bottom part will
represent a body of water (bay or estuary).
2. Once the salt marsh is built explain to students that you are going to give each group different
stuff to build in their marsh. One group will add just houses. One group will have farms. One
group will have wetland plants (sponges to be placed all along the water’s edge). Once the
wetlands are done. Let the clay dry. We will come back later and revisit the activity.
10:30-11:00 – Snack time
11:00am-12:00pm – Grow a crystal wetland plant
Materials
Cardboard (one large square for each student)
Pencil
Scissors
Food coloring
Water
Salt (1tbsp for each)
Bluing (1 tbsp for each)
Ammonia (1/2 tbsp for each)
Plastic bowl (1 for each student)
Steps:
1. Give each student 2 pieces of cardboard and have them draw two plants/trees and cut them
out.
2. Cut a slot down the middle of one tree shape (from bottom) to the middle of shape. Then cut a
slot from the top of the other down to the middle (lines to cut pictured above). Slide the two
shapes together creating a three-dimensional shape that can stand by itself
3. Add drops of food coloring to the edges of the cardboard and let it soak into the cardboard
4. Using a bowl have each of the student’s mix: 1 tablespoon of water, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1
tablespoon of bluing and ½ tablespoon of ammonia.
5. Stand your tree in the middle of the bowl containing the magic tree solution. Over the next 10 to
12 hours, the crystal plants will grow. They can take them out of the solution tomorrow if they
are finished growing.
You probably have us figured out… that Magic Crystal Tree isn’t magic at all! You’re right, but do you
know the science behind the crystalline growth of the cardboard tree?
The main principles at work here are capillary action, evaporation, crystallization, and saturation.
Capillary action is the same process that enables plants and trees to take water and nutrients from the
soil up through their stems or trunks and into their leaves, branches, flowers, and fruit. The cardboard
tree uses the same process to draw the magic solution up through its entire shape until the cardboard
has soaked itself in the solution.
After the magic solution has been drawn throughout the tree by capillary action, the solution begins to
evaporate. The evaporation process is accelerated by the ammonia, which evaporates more quickly than
water. As the magic solution evaporates off of the tree, the crystals are left behind on the branches of
the tree.
The magic crystals that are left behind are a combination of the Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing and the table salt.
The solution that you created is supersaturated by the bluing and salt that you add to the water. The
bluing is a colloid, with many tiny particles suspending themselves within the water. It’s just like when
you shake up a snow globe, except the particles of bluing are much smaller than the snow. As the bluing
and salt water make their way up the tree, the water begins evaporating. These means there is less
water able to support the bluing particles and dissolved salt. This evaporation allows the salt and bluing
particles to crystallize, resulting in your beautiful tree.
12:00p – 1:00pm: Lunch and Recess
1:00pm – 1:30pm Salt Marsh in a Pan (continued)
3. Now that the marshes have had a chance to sit and dry for a little bit. Each group is going to get
different contaminants to place on their wetland. Students will place the contaminants on their
marsh wherever they would like.
a. Houses: Pet waste, litter, oil from cars, sediment (chocolate sprinkles, paper bits, oil,
coffee grounds)
b. Farms: Fertilizer, sediment (red food color, coffee grounds)
c. Wetland plants: Animal waste, litter, oil (chocolate sprinkles, paper bits, oil)
4. Once the contaminants are placed ask: What do you think will happen to the water when it rains
on your wetland?
5. Have students begin to spray the wetland and observe where their pollutants go.
1:30pm – 2:00pm - Wetland Surprise
Review wetland information from the past two days.
During this activity, students will:
* learn to use their sense of touch and smell to explore
wetland species.
•
be introduced to the functions of marshes and the wide variety of their inhabitants
Materials
•
Two large brown paper bags or two pillow cases
•
Bird or duck feathers
•
Small pieces of fur (beaver, muskrat)
•
Mussel or clam shells
•
Crab shells or pieces of claw, crayfish
•
Cattail heads
•
Toy ducks, frogs, snakes, insects, fish
•
A bird’s nest--either made or one that has fallen to the ground
•
Two small bags of marsh mud (smells like a bad egg)
•
Some marsh plants—reeds, grasses, etc. (not scarce ones)
•
Two small containers of tap water
Divide the above items between the two bags.
Steps:
Warm Up
Demonstrate the purpose of a wetland marsh by taking a large bunch of unused fluffy cotton and
making a pile of it on a flat impervious surface. Take a water soaked sponge and slowly squeeze it onto
the cotton so that it absorbs and gradually leaks off the water. On another impervious flat surface with
nothing on it, squeeze the same sponge again filled with water. Ask the students what was the
difference in the way the water flowed between the first and second examples.
The Activity
1.
Ask two children to volunteer for the game. Blindfold both and have them reach
into their separate bags and take out one object.
2.
Ask them questions like: what does your object feel like (have them use as many
words as they can think of); what does it smell like; if they move it around does it make any sounds.
3.
After they remove their blindfolds and identify what they were holding, have
them explore whatever relationship that the two objects may have with each
other. For instance, is one dependent on the other for food, shelter, cover from predators, or liquid?
4.
Repeat the exercise as many times as there are objects left in the bags.
2:00pm – 2:45pm - Finish hermit crabs from Monday
2:45pm – 3:00pm – Prepare for dismissal
Spring Break Lesson Plans – Thursday
9 – 9:30am – Arrival/Check-in
Check-in students outside of the building.
Once everyone has checked in measure and chart the wetland plant activity
9:30am – 10:00am – Basic Needs of animals
Introduction - All animals need the same basic things to survive. See if students can name these basic
needs.
food, water, shelter, air, space.
Food—Food gives animals energy and nutrition to survive. Different animals have different dietary
needs:
Carnivores—eat mostly meat
Herbivores—eat mostly plants
Omnivores—eat a mix of plants and meat
Can they give examples of each?
Water—Animals bodies are made of water, and need it to survive. Animals get water through their diet
and freshwater sources.
Air—Animals need clean air (oxygen) to breathe. Some animals have lungs to help them breathe
(mammals, birds and reptiles), and some animals breathe using gills (fish), and some animals even
breathe through their skin (amphibians like frogs and salamanders).
Cover/Shelter—Animals need shelter for several reasons. It provides shelter from adverse weather
conditions (winter or thermal cover), and it provides protection from predators (screening or escape
cover).
Space—Animals need adequate space to survive. They need enough space to roam, to find food, and
raise young. Different animals need different amounts of space. Large mammals like dolphins and
elephants travel huge distances, while smaller animals need much less space to be comfortable.

Animal Discussion - Show the students 2- 3 different types of animals (puppets) and discuss the
needs for each. Make sure they are animals that the kids know about.

Design-an-Animal - Students can transform into zoologists who have discovered a new species of
animal! Students can create their own new animal out of clay, use your imagination! They should:
Name the animal, be able to say where it would live and what it would eat.
10:00am – 10:30pm – Animal Tracks
Campers will get a chance to make plaster tracks of their own to take home.
Preparation (before activity)
1. If doing this inside put down brown paper over tables.
2. Place brown paper on top of white cabinets and write each student’s name on the paper spaced
apart so that they can place their molds while drying.
Activity
1. Each student will receive one track mold. If enough to go around they can receive the front and
back track of the same animal. They will also receive a plastic cup and a popsicle stick.
2. Have them fill the cup halfway with plaster. Then have them pour ½ cup of water on their
plaster and stir. Make sure they stir all the way to the bottom. The consistency needs to be like
thick pancake batter. If to runny add more plaster and vice versa. Once it is thick enough pour it
into the mold covering the entire mold to the top.
Post Activity
1. Have students carefully place their track on their name on the brown paper.
2. Allow them to dry until the next day.
3. Put all cups, sticks, and brown paper in the trash.
10:30-11:00 – Snack time
11:00am – 11:30am – Basic needs of plants
Introduction
 Nutrients (food)
 Water
 Sunlight
 Air
 Space
Food: Plants, like animals, need food to survive. Plants get nutrients from soil, just like you get nutrients
from the food you eat. Plants are also special because they can make their own food, through a process
called photosynthesis! Plants have a special pigment called chlorophyll, which captures sunlight. Using
sunlight and water, plants make their own food. In photosynthesis, when plants take in carbon dioxide,
they let out oxygen, which is what we breathe. This is how we always have fresh air.
Water: Plants, like animals, are made mostly of water. What happens to a plant on a hot day, or when it
doesn’t have enough water? It wilts! Plants can actually close the openings on their leaves to keep water
inside. Plants also use water to make their own food!
Air: Plants “breathe” in CO2 and “breathe” out oxygen through openings in their leaves. Their roots
breathe the way we do—they take in oxygen for respiration, which is the break down of sugars into
energy. At night when there is no light, plants stop photosynthesizing (making sugars from light) and
their leaves start respiration; or using up the sugars they stored during the sunny part of the day. In
lakes and oceans, plants generally get plenty of CO2, which they use to make oxygen.
Sunlight: Plants use sunlight to make their food source. This helps them to grow and to make more
plants.
Space: All plants need soil, but not all plants need soil to survive—although many plants get nutrients
from the soil, they can survive if they get nutrients elsewhere. They just need some medium to deliver
water and nutrients and provide stability. Different plants need different amounts of space (tree vs.
dandelion).
Plants also need space so they can pollinate to make more seeds, and thus more plants. Pollinators (like
bees and butterflies) and seed dispersers (like birds) can help plants make more plants.
Life Cycle of a Plant and Theatre Activity
Plants have a life cycle, just like animals. Review the different stage of the life cycle with students:
Plants start out as seeds. With their basic needs met, the seed germinates. As time goes on, the sprout
grows roots and shoots. As the plants grows taller and becomes more established, it grows leaves and
fruit (the fruit isn’t always like the fruit we eat—it can be an acorn or a pod of seeds). This helps the
plant make food and gives energy to its fruit. The plant eventually drops its fruit (or animals disperse the
seeds). The plant eventually dies and provides the soil with nutrients, which the seeds can grown in to
start the life cycle again.
The students can become plants themselves and live through the life cycle. They will need to spread out in
the room so they have enough space. Mention the basic needs of plants with respect to their life cycle.
 Become a seed: Ask students: how are trees born? (from a seed). Students curl up in a tight ball to
become a seed.
 The seed germinates, and a small part of the plant breaks through the outer part of the seed (stick out
one leg)
 Become a sprout: Ask students: what happens to a germinated seed? (it sprouts). Start to slowly uncurl
yourself. Stand on your knees.
 Grow branches: Ask students: what are the parts of trees that leaves are attached to? (branches). Slowly
stick out one arm with your fist clenched so you’ve grown one branch. Stick out another arm. Your tree
now has two branches.
 Grow taller: Stand up tall putting your feet together. Your tree is growing taller and older.
 Grow leaves: Wiggle your fingers to represent leaves. Rub fingers together—listen to the leaves.
 Grow fruit: Spread out your hands to hold fruit. The fruit holds the seeds to make more plants.
 Spread your roots: Spread feet apart. Now your tree has lots of roots. Wiggle your toes—you grow lots
of little roots.
 Sway with the breeze: Hold arms up and gently move and sway arms side to side.
 Get attacked by insects: Scratch all over as insects attack you.
 Get struck by lightning: Bang—a bolt of lightning strikes a branch. Everyone loses a branch (one arm to
the side).
 Get pecked by woodpeckers: Make a hammering sound and shake. woodpeckers peck into your dead
wood. Another branch falls off. (Put another arm down.)
 Get blown over in a storm: Make a creaking noise, lean to side and fall to the ground. You blow down in
a storm.
 New seed sprouts: Gradually raise one arm. A new seed from the fruit slowly sprouts from your old
rotting wood.
Make seed necklaces
1. To begin, gather an unbleached cotton ball, a piece of
ribbon or string, a small sealable plastic bag, and a bean
for growing in the garden.
2. Wet your wool or cotton, place your bean in the center,
and wrap the wool/cotton tightly around it.
3. Place it into the plastic bag, remove the air and seal.
Punch a hole in the top of the bag, and tie it around the
students’ necks. In about two days, the bean will sprout
and can be planted in the garden.
11:30 – 12:00 - Cattail Investigation
One plant that has adapted to living in the wetlands is the cattail. Cattails are emergent plants, meaning
they stick up out of the water. The part that looks like a cat’s tail or a hot dog is the female flowering
structure and there is a thinner male structure above it during the early part of the growing season. If
you pull the flower apart, you will find thousands of fuzzy white things that blow around. If pollinated,
these become the seeds.
Long, narrow leaves are attached at the base of each plant, surrounding them stem. The bundle of
leaves and stem near the cattail’s roots form the shoot, the white part of it which is edible and tastes a
like a cucumber.
The leaves have vertical channels that is part of the vascular system of the plant. They contain xylem and
phloem, which transport water and nutrients during growth.
Investigation (pg. 97 in Wonders of Wetlands)
1. Give each group of students a cattail. Explain that they are going to do a dissection of the cattail
to find all of the parts.
2. Give each group a worksheet. You may have to walk them through the dissection and
worksheet.
12:00pm- 1:00pm – lunch and recess
1:00pm – 1:30pm - Wetland Food Webs
All living things need to feed to get energy to grow, move and reproduce. But what do these living things
feed on? Smaller insects feed on green plants, and bigger animals feed on smaller ones and so on. This
feeding relationship in an ecosystem is called a food chain. Food chains are usually in a sequence, with
an arrow used to show the flow of energy. Below are some living things that can fit into a food chain.
 Snake
 Plant



Owl
Frog
Caterpillar
A food chain is not the same as a food web. A food web is a network of many food chains and is more
complex. See the food web illustration below—you can pick out a basic food chain from the web:
Green plants Grasshopper Frog Bird Hawk
In the diagram above, arrow shows the direction of energy flow. It points to the animal doing the eating.
Food Web Activity
This activity is called the Wetland Food Web. You need to take yarn and roll it onto a ball ahead of
time. Print the wetland script. There will be pictures of each animal and plant glued it to a card. Using a
clothespin, attach the animal and plant cards to the children (one per child). Then we read the script.
Rules
1. Each student will represent an organism.
2. The first student will hold the yarn in their hands and pull out some and let what they pulled out
fall to the floor. Make sure that they hold onto part of the yarn so that you begin to form a web.
(You will need to demonstrate this with yourself and the volunteers)
3. As the teacher reads the script when they hear an animal they will need to find the person
representing the animal and toss the ball of yarn to that person.
4. That person will then hold the yarn and listen for the next animal.
5. At the end of the story each student should have a section of the yarn and a web should be
formed.
1:30pm – 2:30pm – Paint/Decorate Animal Tracks
2:30pm – 2:45pm – Clean up and prepare for dismissal
Spring Break Lesson Plans – Friday
9 – 9:30am – Arrival/Check-in
Check-in students outside of the building.
Once everyone has checked in measure and chart the wetland plant activity.
9:30am – 10:30am – Wet n’ Wild: Building collection equipment (pg. 102 of Wonders of Wetlands)
A habitat is a place where an animal finds food, water, shelter, and space that suits its needs. Different
animals often require different habitats. A habitat for a fish is water: a bear is the woods: a whale is the
ocean, and an earthworm is the soil. We are going to focus this morning on animals that live in the
wetland habitat.
Creatures living in wetlands are ones we need, enjoy, and want to protect. What kinds of animals can
you name that live in a wetland? The kinds of animals in a wetland depends on the type of wetland, the
plants that grown there and the quality of the water (fresh or salt, clean or polluted).
Today we are going to collect different animals that live in different areas of the wetlands around
Sturgeon City. We are going to use different equipment to collect these animals that we are going to
make out of the supplies given. Students will work in groups to make the three different types of
collection equipment.
Collection equipment and Materials
Insect net/plankton tow: You will need, heavy wire or old coat hangers, old broom handles or 1-in
wooden dowel rods, duct tape. Cut the legs off the nylons and save. Bend the wire to form a circle and a
straight “neck.” Tape the neck securely to then end of the stick. Stretch the stocking over the loop, roll
the edges to encase the wire and tape. Use this net to catch insects on land, or scoop it lightly along the
edge of the water to catch tiny water animals.
Water viewer: You will need coffee cans with both ends removed, rubber bands, plastic wrap, and duct
tape. Stretch plastic wrap tightly over one end so it is taut and smooth and you can see clearly through
it. Use a rubber band to hold the wrap in place, then tape it to the can. Hold the viewer with the
wrapped end in the water. Look through the top and you’ll be able to watch what goes on under the
surface.
Sieve: Stretch metal screen on an embroidery hoop. Secure edges with duct tape. Make several of these
using different gauges of screen. Scoop mud and leaf litter in to the sieve, rinse thoroughly with water,
and see what you find! Run a sample through a stacked sieve (sieves with larger mesh on top) to catch
as much as you can. Pick out critters and place in observation pans.
We will build the equipment first and then let them sit in case some need to dry.
10:30-11:00am – Snack Time
11:00am – 12:00pm – Collection time
Explain that animal identification is valuable, but the observation if animals’ behavior and location may
be even more important. Tell the students they will be going outside to investigate a wetland habitat
and the animals that live in it. Review habitats if needed.
We will be going to the wetlands and collecting animals in our teams. Each team will use the collection
equipment that they built. Each team will be given ice cube trays for small animals as well as jars and/or
buckets for the larger animals.
-
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Approach the area quietly and slowly so the animals won’t be scared away.
Begin searching for animals around the edges of the wetland then work your way in. Look high
and low, behind and under, all around.
Be gentle when holding animals or moving them from the collection equipment to the holing
jars or trays.
Place animals in containers appropriate to their size and behavior. Ice cube trays filled with
water work nicely for many aquatic insects. A shallow pan with water will hold small fish or
larger insects. Use a deep bucket for holding frogs. Jars with holes punched in the lids will work
for terrestrial insects and other small land animals.
Identification materials will be available to use if needed.
12:00pm – 1:00pm – Lunch/Recess
1:00pm – 2:00pm – Seed Bombs
Seed bombing on a larger scale is done by introducing new vegetation to land by throwing or dropping
(usually from an airplane) compressed bundles of soil containing seeds. This aerial revegetation dates
back to the 1930s and is still used today to treat areas burned extensively by wildfires. On the
homefront, and a much smaller scale, seed bombs are fun to make and you can carry them about in
your pockets and throw them wherever you want on the ground!
Materials:
• Air Dry Clay (available from craft stores)
• Compost or potting soil
• Seeds (easy-to-grow, native varieties)
 Water
 Containers for soil, seeds, and clay
 Plastic bags (for storage)
Proportions:
• Large marble sized piece of clay
• 3 pinches soil

5-7 seeds per student
1) Form a ball of clay about the size of a large marble. Add a few pinches (3) of soil. Add a little
water if your mixture is dry. The mixture should be moist but not dripping wet.
2) Add the seeds to the clay and compost. Thoroughly work the materials together with your
hands.
3) Shape the mixture into a ball.
4. Students should place their seed bomb into a plastic bag. When they get home, they can set it
in a window to dry. Once it is dry, it can be tossed into an empty lot, backyard, or school. As long
as it is watered (either manually or by rain) once it’s planted, the clay will break down and the
seeds will grow.
2:00 – 2:45 – Ice cream Party
2:45pm – 3:00pm – Prepare for dismissal