A beetle that drinks fog. A flower that smells like rotting meat. A fish that “shoots down” its prey. Are these plants and animals for real? In this activity, your students will discover extraordinary plants and animals, and will gain insight on how they are uniquely adapted to environmental conditions.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Students will explore the amazing diversity of life on Earth and discover how plants and animals are adapted for survival. This activity provides a basis for understanding why there are so many different species and the value of biodiversity.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

In this activity, students will pretend they are visitors from outer space, viewing life on Earth for the first time. By describing, in minute detail, all the life they find in a small plot of land, they will become more aware of the diversity and abundance of life on Earth and will better understand its importance.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Through a read aloud, students will take a “shrew’s-eye-view” of life in the woods to gain an appreciation for the variety of living things that make forests their homes, and for the variety of habitats within forests.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

By becoming “habitat pen pals,” your students will learn about the diversity of habitats around the world and will write letters from the perspective of organisms living in these habitats.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Students learn about the diversity of life on Earth by looking at different pictures of plants and animals from around the world.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Writing and sharing poems gives students an opportunity to express their thoughts, values, and beliefs about the environment and related issues in creative and artistic ways. You can do this activity in combination with Activity 21, “Adopt a Tree,” to allow students to explore their adopted tree through poetry. You may also adapt the activity to explore parts of the environment other than trees and forests, such as art or architecture.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Our ears are constantly being bombarded with sound—so much so that we automatically “tune out” a lot of it. Some sounds are “music to our ears,” while others can annoy us and even damage the delicate structures in our ears. This activity helps students “tune in” to the sounds in their environment and helps them identify and lessen local noise problems. They also learn how different sounds in nature have inspired cultural stories.

This is Activity 4, one of 96 activities in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide (available in print or electronically).
To get the activity:

• Check out this online course with an E-Book (with an option to also purchase a printed guide for an additional fee)
• Contact your PLT State Coordinator. During COVID-19, PLT now offers remote professional development to model ways educators can work with students virtually, including adaptations to PLT activities.

Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

In this activity students will explore their sense of smell and discover why smell is important to animals, including themselves.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

By way of trees in the neighborhood and a mystery box, students will explore their sense of touch and discover different shapes and textures in nature.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity.