Habitats: How Animals Adapt to Their Environments
Teacher’s Guide
Grade Level 3–5
Program Description
Explore key plants and animals that have adapted to survive and thrive in different habitats.
Teacher Support
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Coniferous Forest
Find out about coniferous forests in the U.S. and how animals have adapted to survive these
conditions.
o After watching all the videos on forests, encourage children to make a chart comparing
and contrasting the different forests and the animals that live there.
Deciduous Forest
Learn about the different seasons in the deciduous forest and how animals adapt to these
frequent changes.
o Have students split a piece of paper into five columns. Label the first column “animal”
and the other columns after each of the seasons.
o Pick an animal that lives in the deciduous forest then write about the adaptations each
animal makes during the different seasons.
Rain Forest
Explore the Hawaiian rain forest, and the unique animals that live there.
o Ask students to summarize what a Hawaiian rain forest is like.
o Then, help students find out about other rain forests in more tropical parts of the world.
o Ask: How are the moist forests in Hawaii different from those in more tropical location
around the world? Explain.
Desert
Explore the desert environment and learn about the adaptations animals have to make to
survive the hot, dry climate.
o After watching the video, direct a discussion to explore the main reasons why the desert
is one habitat where animals have had to make many adaptations in order to survive.
o Have students work in pairs to list other ways animals might adapt in the desert.
Grasslands
Find out about the grasslands regions, and how the change from open fields of grass to
commercial farmland affects wildlife.
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Discuss the different animals found on grasslands. Ask students to speculate: What are
some ways that the growth of farms is making it difficult for these animals to survive?
What do animals have to do to survive?
Mountains
Find out about the diverse areas of mountains, and how a single mountain can be made up of
different habitats.
o Encourage children to think about the different habitats found on mountains.
o Discuss why some animals live in one area and not in another.
Tundra
Learn about the cold tundra and how animals adapt or migrate to survive this harsh climate.
o Ask students to describe life on the tundra.
o Explain that the tundra in North America is found in Alaska as well as parts of northern
Canada.
o Encourage students to write about an imaginary trip to the tundra. What was it like?
What animals did they see? How did they and the animals survive the climate?
Lakes and Ponds
Explore lake and pond habitats and some of the animals that live there.
o Ask students to make a list of animals that inhabit lakes and ponds. Have they ever been
to a lake or pond? What was it like? What did they see?
Oceans
Explore oceans, the largest kind of habitat on Earth. Learn about the adaptations animals have
made to survive the different climates found in the oceans around North America.
o Encourage students to investigate why some animals stay in the warmer ocean climates
while others stay in the colder.
o What adaptations have they made to survive the different climates?
o After watching the “Lakes and Ponds” and “Oceans” videos, have students create a
Venn diagram comparing lakes and ponds with oceans. How are they different? How are
they similar?
Wetlands
Learn about different types of wetlands and what can be found living in and around them.
o Have students name two animals that live in the wetlands and explain how they have
adapted to their environment.
o Ask students to choose a wetland animal to research and create a poster to share more
information about that animal and the importance of protecting the wetlands.
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