Below are 25 highly-engaging activities that help you create the best curriculum content when studying biomes and ecosystems. Biomes are large, natural areas of flora and fauna; normally occupying major habitats such as a desert or rainforest. The following activities will immerse your students in the fabulous and ever-changing world of biomes and help keep them interested and wanting to learn more.
1. Video Time Fun
Show your children the following video and ask them to make basic notes while watching. There is a pause after each ‘chapter’ so you can review and evaluate what your learners have discovered about different biomes.
Learn More: YouTube
2. Interactive Biome Viewer
This fantastic resource explores biomes, climate, biodiversity, and human impacts around the globe. Students can zoom into different continents, find out information related to each biome, and view climatic data, wildlife facts, and other engaging content!
Learn More: Bio Interactive
3. Reading Activities
Reading passages are a great way to introduce or delve deeper into various biomes. They allow your students to explore the content and collect new information.
Learn More: Easy Teaching
4. Choice Boards
Choice boards are a great way of displaying several activities to your students and giving them the freedom of choice to decide which learning activity suits their style. Activities may include; word-based activities, drawing tasks, or more practical activities.
Learn More: Science Interactions
5. Biome Crossword
Check students’ knowledge of various biomes across the globe with this fun crossword puzzle! This resource provides clues to help low-level learners fill in the missing words and is a great resource for checking collective learner understanding.
Learn More: WordMint
6. Create A Biome Leaflet
This activity requires students to ‘advertise’ their favorite biome by describing its main features, world positioning, key animals, and climate details.
Learn More: Creative Educator
7. Create Biome Zones In The Classroom
‘Zone off’ your classroom and create a mini biome in each corner. You could have books, photographs, or even objects that link to the specific biomes to complement the information provided and make it even more engaging. Students will have the opportunity to visit each biome and complete the corresponding activities.
Learn More: Elementary School Science
8. 3D Biome In A Box
Your students will love this super creative activity whereby they’ll need to design their very own biome inside a box! They can incorporate all the features they have discovered about their chosen biome by adding labels, specific animal species, and more!
Learn More: Pinterest
9. Biome In A Bag
Biome in a bag is a simple game that you can play in the classroom or at home to revise the names, characteristics, and inhabitants of different biomes. Each bag contains different facts and animals that you could find in all major world biomes. The students are tasked with sorting them into the correct bags based on the information they are given.
Learn More: JumpStart
10. Who And What Lives Where?
This interactive lesson will give students the opportunity to learn the basic species features of the plants and animals that live within the world’s major biomes. This would work well with upper elementary students to spark some extra curiosity. Students are all given a card with a plant or animal on it; containing information and clues that link to biomes. Students are required to converse with each other and match up the biomes with the plants and animals they may find there.
Learn More: gen.uga.edu
11. Concept Map
A concept map is a great visualization tool to display information in a simple and easy-to-read way. The information can be grouped in sections and students can then make links between the different ideas on the ‘map’. This activity would be useful to consolidate prior learning, as a quick recap, or for students that need a little more support. This digital copy could also be used as an example to develop a whole class map.
Learn More: Biology Corner
12. Biomes At A Glance
Students are required to revise core knowledge on this easy-to-use biome grid. This would be a great resource for a quick recap or introduction lesson about the basic features of a biome.
Learn More: Worksheet Place
13. Feature Creature
This Wild Kratts activity provides students with a template to identify a creature from a chosen biome. It’s a great way to allow them to learn more by identifying special traits, food sources, sleep habits, size, and life span.
Learn More: Google Docs
14. Rainforest Tower Diorama
This activity links specifically to the rainforest biome. Upper-level elementary students can build this incredible multi-level diorama tower as they learn all about the layers of the rainforest; from the forest floor to the emergent layer.
Learn More: A Faithful Attempt
15. Make A Biome Terrarium
Nothing will inspire students more than creating their very own biome inside a jar. They can add in their favorite plants and animals, add labels and share their findings with their friends.
Learn More: Natural Beach Living
16. Biome Bingo
A very simple, yet effective way of checking students’ knowledge is to play a quick game of bingo. Create or print ready-made bingo cards with keywords or pictures from the world’s major biomes.
Learn More: Bingo Baker
17. Online Puzzle
This great resource is a free, online game about the location of terrestrial biomes around the world. It is a fun drag-and-drop activity where players are asked to put the habitat pictures in their correct places. It’s a useful consolidation activity for upper elementary students.
Learn More: planeta42
18. Biome Board Game
Task your students with creating a board game to show their knowledge of biomes. Allow them to choose a theme based on a popular board game idea and bring it to life. Help by setting key goals by including keywords, species, and climate specifics.
Learn More: PBS Kids
19. Create A Creature
Students will love creating their own creatures especially suited to live in a given biome. You could create a list of instructions or adaptations that they must include, and then leave the rest up to them! You could then create a fun display in the classroom to show off their wonderful creations.
Learn More: Animal Adaptations Task
20. Bird Beak Science Activity
A fun and interactive way to show your students how certain birds are adapted to different biomes around the world. Why do birds have beaks? Students will find out that birds with differently shaped beaks suit different habitats and enjoy different food, and; this is why they are specially adapted to suit different biomes around the world.
Learn More: Mystery Science
21. Arctic Tundra Mobile
Students can create a mobile of Arctic animals that depicts how they all depend on each other for food. This activity perfectly introduces the idea of food chains. This could also be adapted for other world biomes.
Learn More: Windows2universe
22. Biome Coloring Pages
These exciting and engaging coloring sheets will spark curiosity and interest in your students as they learn different facts and statistics about a range of different world biomes. Each page focuses on a different animal area such as the tundra, desert, marine, wetland, and rainforest. The added bonus is they will learn about different plant and animal facts as they do so.
Learn More: Kindergarten Worksheets And Games
23. Biome Hot Seat Game
Check out the following YouTube video for full instructions but very simply, one student sits in the ‘hot seat’ and other students describe a word/theme/place to them without using the specific biome word. The person in the ‘hot seat’ must then guess which biome is being described. A great way to consolidate all of that biome vocabulary knowledge!
Learn More: YouTube
24. Biome Spinner
This is an effective and visual way of displaying biomes and their characteristics for younger students. Students can illustrate and add keywords to show the differences between the various biomes they have studied.
Learn More: Schooling At Home Happenings
25. Quiz Time
Inject a bit of competition into your classroom with a few biome quizzes. Have the students compete with each other, in small teams or against you, for even more fun!
Learn More: Biomes Quiz
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