Make sure students have enough space to move around as they pretend to be different animals in the forest.

Since there’s so little prep for this activity, we recommend you also do one of the activities in the Extensions section. To understand what animals need, it’s important that children have a chance to observe them. You can provide that opportunity by attracting birds with a bird feeder, taking your class on a nature walk or field trip, or having your students observe animals through videos.

As an optional activity, we suggest having your students view a one-minute video of animals at home and then discuss what they noticed.

The video is on the Nature Nuggets site, which offers a combination of videos and activities created by the makers of the documentary film series Nature. Preview it here.

Here are some possible questions for discussion:

• What animals did you see in the video?
• Where do the animals live? How do you know?
• If the animals could talk, what would you ask them?

Make sure students have enough space to move around as they pretend to be different animals.

Since there’s so little prep for this activity, we recommend you plan on doing one of the activities in the Extensions. To understand how animals seek safety, it’s important that children have a chance to observe them. You can provide that opportunity by keeping pet snails, exploring a grassy lawn, going for a nature walk, or watching videos to learn what animals make their homes in a hole in a tree.

As an optional activity, we suggest you go on a nature walk. It doesn't have to be far from your classroom or home. You can find animal homes in a playground, a grassy lawn, a city park, or a small yard. Look for ant hills, spiderwebs, birds in the trees, and insects in the grass. We suggest bringing a notebook so that you can make a list of the animals that everyone sees.

This is a two-part activity. We recommend that you allow at least four days (up to one week) in between Part One and Part Two of the experiment to give the radish seeds time to germinate. (To speed germination, soak the seeds in water overnight.)

You will need access to water and a sunny windowsill where the radish seeds can grow.

We recommend students work in pairs for this activity and share some supplies with another pair. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Prep Radish Seeds

For each group of four students, put a pinch of radish seeds (at least 15 seeds) in a Dixie cup.

Prep Dixie Cups

For each student, fill a Dixie cup halfway with moist potting soil. Or if you are using peat pellets, place one pellet in each cup, fill the cup with water, and let the pellet soak up the water for at least 30 minutes.

Prep Spray Bottles

In each spray bottle, mix about 1 cup of water with about ¼ teaspoon of baking soda. Adding baking soda will inhibit mold growth in the soil, but won’t affect the plants.

Prep Root Viewer

To give your students a way to see what their radish seeds are doing underground, you can make a root viewer. Here’s how:

*Fold paper towels and put them in a Ziploc bag. *Add water until the towels are saturated. *Place three seeds on top of the wet paper towel. *Squeeze the air out of the bag and zip it closed. *Tape the bag to a wall or window and encourage your students to check each day for roots growing from the seeds.

Plan Your Time

After students complete Part One of this activity, they will need to wait at least four days for the seeds to sprout. Each day, encourage your students to watch the seeds in the root viewer as a way to see what is happening to their seeds under the soil in the cup.

When most of the leaves have come up, show Part Two of the activity. If you like, you can have your students draw the plants as they grow and change.

As an optional activity, we suggest having students discuss what they could put in a yard or park to attract animals. We include videos that show birds in a birdbath, at a bird feeder, and in a bird house, reinforcing the idea that animals are are attracted to spots that offer food, water, and shelter.