Activity: Stay Dry
Theme: Animals
Ideal Group Size
Grade Level
Set Up/Clean Up Time
Activity Time
Small (up to 10)
All
2 min / 5 min
5 minutes
Math/science questions addressed: How can warm-blooded animals stay warm and dry in water?
Overview: Participants use paper and petroleum jelly to test out a real-life adaptation that helps animals stay dry.
Materials: 2 plastic bowls, scissors, 2 - 2x4” strips of construction paper (choose a color that will look different
when wet), 1 petroleum jelly packet, water.
Setup: Add water to both bowls, and cut strips of construction paper.
To do:
1. Coat most of one piece of paper in petroleum jelly, leaving the other uncoated.
2. Ask participants what they think will happen when you dip the papers in water.
3. Dip both pieces of paper in water for 15 seconds.
4. Remove and compare.
Ask: Why is the coated dipped paper still dry?
Explain: Oil and water do not mix, and petroleum jelly is oil. Water cannot penetrate the oil to reach the paper.
Ask: How does staying dry equal staying warm? Has anyone ever gone swimming and gotten cold, even though
the water was warm?
Explain: Water exchanges heat faster than air, causing an accelerated loss of body heat. Most people think 80
degrees Fahrenheit is toasty warm, but most people get cold if they don’t move around in a swimming pool, even
though pools are generally around 80 degrees! By keeping dry, animals spend less energy keeping warm!
Tips for Stay Dry: 1) Leave a section of coated paper uncoated, to keep fingers clean. 2) If allowing older
participants to do this on their own, provide paper towels or tissues.
Activity extensions: for older participants
A) Ask participants to come up with other ways animals could stay dry.
B) Ask participants to name other adaptations animals (or even plants!) use to survive in harsh environments
(blubber-whales, hibernation-polar bears, losing leaves-deciduous trees, fast metabolism-otters, spines
and waxy coatings – cacti, etc.)
(over)
C) Allow older participants to try with their own paper strips (just provide tissues or paper towels to clean
hands).
Background: Warm blooded animals such as birds and mammals need to maintain a certain body temperature to
survive. While in water, animals lose heat faster, presenting an extra challenge to marine mammals (whales,
seals, sea lions, otters), and waterfowl (ducks, diving birds). To stay warm, these animals must adapt! Ducks and
birds produce oil on their feathers to repel water. Whales and other similar animals have blubber to insulate their
internal organs from the cold. Without blubber or oily feathers, sea otters have many strategies. They have a fast
metabolism that produces heat, they trap a layer of air under their outer fur that acts as an insulating layer and
they have the densest fur (number of hairs per square inch) of any animal. These are all examples of (long-term)
adaptations to cold water.
Behavioral (short-term) adaptation is a change in behavior, such as putting on an extra jacket when chilly.
Examples in the animal kingdom may include bears learning how to get into trash cans or sea birds following
fishing boats.
Long-term adaptation takes a long time and happens over many generations of offspring. Behavioral adaptation
may happen only in individuals or the behavior can be passed on to others who observe the modified behavior.
This process is much faster and can occur within one generation.
These 2014 Summer Learning science activities were developed by Pacific Science Center