Quick & Easy Habitat Education Activities
Cycle of Renewal Drawings
©Starflower
Foundation
Developed by Heidi Bohan/ Starflower Foundation
Description: Students learn that the habitat area is a complex system, through
drawing, imaginative role playing and exploration. They gain an appreciation for tiny
organisms and soil, as well as for larger plants and animals. Students develop
appreciation for the habitat components which will be important as they conduct other
activities in the habitat area.
Objectives:
• Students gain understanding that all components of an ecosystem are important
• Students recognize natural processes and components in a natural habitat area.
• Students gain appreciation for non-living components of the habitat area (such as
soil, and decaying matter).
Print Materials:
• ‘How-to-do Activity: Terminology & Definitions’
• Image: ‘Cycle of Renewal’ poster
• Master: ‘Cycle of Renewal Drawing’ (for overhead and student worksheets), ‘Cycle
of Renewal Diagram’ graphic organizer
Teacher supplied:
• Copies of ‘Cycle of Renewal Drawing’, and ‘Cycle of Renewal Diagram’ graphic
organizer: 1 per student
Fourth Grade
20-30 Minutes
Outdoors/Indoors
4-4
Vocabulary
Cycle: an interval of time in which a
repeated sequence of events is completed
Habitat area: a natural area that provides habitat for plants and animals
Washington State EALRs
Science 1.1 Categorize plants and animals
into groups according to how they
accomplish life processes. 1.2 Describe
the life cycles of plants and animals;
Know that energy can be transferred
between various forms. 1.3 Recognize that
living things need constant energy
supplied from food or light and that, in
ecosystems, substances such as air, water,
nutrients, and the chemicals in food are
continually recycled. Describe how an
organism’s behavior and ability to survive
is influenced by its environment, other life
forms, and availability of food and/or
other resources. Know that humans and
other living things depend on the natural
environment, and can cause changes in the
environment that affect their ability to
survive.
Science Kits: Ecosystems
Activity:
• In class, show image (or overhead) of ‘Cycle of Renewal’ poster. Tell students that the poster represents the natural cycle
of life in the habitat area. Share what students know and recognize in this poster about life cycles of plants and animals.
Use words, such as deciduous, scat, photosynthesis, sprout/germinate, decompose, humus, and nutrients which should be
familiar to students.
• Pass out ‘Cycle of Renewal Drawings’ and have students color in the components as you discuss them (see ‘How-to-do
Activity’). Point out and discuss the following boldface terms, adapted to student’s knowledge:
o Sun: Provides energy (warmth, photosynthesis)
o Producers: Plants (which ‘produce’ their own food). Producers provide food for all animals, either
directly or indirectly.
o Consumers:
ƒ Animals that eat plants for food/energy’ (herbivores),
ƒ Animals that eat animals for food/energy’ (carnivores and omnivores)
o Animal and Plant Waste: Leaves, animal excretions (poop, scat) and remains (carcasses, body, fallen
tree). Point out and discuss Decomposers; small animals and plants that get their food/energy from plant
and animal waste. What does it turn into? (soil). Share examples of decomposers (slugs, termites) “Has
anyone seen a…? Point out and discuss Soil and Nutrients for New Growth. New plants get their food
from the soil (nutrients), air (carbon dioxide) and sun (energy to make food).
• Go to habitat area. Show students image: ‘Cycle of Renewal’ poster. Ask students to locate examples of each major
component.
• How is each of these components important? Are dead or non-living things important? (yes, they provide nutrients and
minerals necessary for plant growth, the primary producers).
• Discuss “What is the most important component in the cycle of renewal? Conjecture, “What if there was no sun? What if
there were no decomposers? Plants? Animals? Soil? Are they all important? (yes).
• Pass out ‘Cycle of Renewal Diagram’ graphic organizer: Ask students to draw an example of a component of the cycle of
renewal in each oval, making sure they use an example from the habitat area (not a zebra, lion, etc.)
• Summarize: “All components in the cycle of renewal are important, and should be treated with respect and care while
visiting the habitat areas”.
Terminology & Definitions
Teacher background information, suggested terms and definitions for elementary grades (K-5). Review this prior to presenting ‘Cycle of Renewal’ activity to the class. Determine the terminology and discussions appropriate for your class maturity and knowledge level. Present in a clockwise manner starting with the Producers.
Producers: “Makers” An organism that makes its own
Sun
er
gy
to
pr
od
uc
er
s
food from the energy of the sun, and nutrients in soil, air and water. All green plants are producers, as are algae.
En
Fact: 90% of plants in Pacific
Northwest forests grow on
decomposing forest debris.
4-4a How-to-do Activity: Cycle of Renewal
How-to-do activity- Cycle of Renewal
Feeds
Consumers
Remains
of plants
Feeds decomposers
Consumers:“Eaters”
An organism (from tiny to large) that consumes producers or other consumers for food. Consumers are
made up of two groups: First consumers (herbivores),
and Second consumers (carnivores). Omnivores, organisms that feed on both plants and animals, sometimes act as first consumers, sometimes as second.
First Consumers
Herbivores: “Animals that eat plants”
Omnivores: “When they eat plants”
Soil and Nutrients for New Growth.
New plant growth comes from food
(nutrients) in the soil and water, air (carbon
dioxide) and sun (energy). Nutrients in the
soil, water, and air are available to plants
through the process of decomposition. Many
minerals (from rocks) in the soil are only
available to plants through soil organisms.
dec
om
pos
ers
Dead Matter
The “remains of
plants and animals”
and “animal waste”
Fee
ds
Decomposers
“Breakers”
Decomposers are tiny organisms
(from insects to bacteria to fungi)
that are involved in the process
of breaking down dead plants
and animals into tiny matter,
which is eventually converted
into nutrients and gases that become food for producers.
Remains
and waste
of animals
Second Consumers
Carnivores: “Animals that
eat animals” also called
predators.
Drawing by Heidi Bohan
Omnivores: “When they eat
animals”.
Forest Floor Decomposers and Consumers
Scavengers: Organisms such as earthworms, slugs, larvae of beetles, termites
and flies, that break down larger dead
matter (woody debris, animal remains,
dung, etc) into smaller matter (usually
known as humus).
Microscopic decomposers: Usually microscopic bacteria and fungi that break
down the smaller matter created by the
scavengers into minerals and gases
(nutrients).
Predators: Tiny animals that eat decomposers. These include ants, centipedes, sow bugs, and some bacteria.
in the westside lowland forest
Producers
Solar
energy
Pla
nt
gro
wth
Primary
Consumers
Nutrients
Secondary
Consumers
Anim
al w
aste
& de
ad a
nim
als
Plant waste & dead plants
From
soil,
air and
water
nic
ga
Or
ma
r
tte
Decomposers
Illustration by Heidi Bohan
Producers
(Organisms that store the suns
energy)
Green Plants
Algae, moss, ferns, horsetail,
conifers, flowering plants.
Primary Consumers
Secondary Consumers
(Animals that eat producers)
(Animals that eat other animals)
Herbivores, Plant Parasites &
Omnivores (when they feed on plants)
Vertebrate Grazers and Seed Eaters:
Deer, elk; mice, beaver, moles, rabbits,
squirrels; seed– and fruit-eating birds.
Invertebrate Grazers and Seed Eaters:
Herbivorous insects such as bees, butterflies, aphids.
Parasites on Plants: Fungi, bacteria,
parasitic flowering plants; insect galls,
nematode worms, some protozoa.
Carnivores, Animal Parasites,
Scavengers & Omnivores
(when they feed on animals)
Vertebrate Carnivores: Coyotes, bats,
bobcats, weasels, mole shrews; many birds
(owls, flickers, hawks, warblers), etc.
Invertebrate Carnivores: Many insects such
as beetles and wasps.
Vertebrate Omnivores: Black bears, raccoons, crows, etc.
Animal Parasites: Worms, bacteria, etc.
Scavengers: Crows, many invertebrates
Decomposers
(Organisms that feed by breaking down
dead organic matter)
Bacteria, Fungi, Invertebrates
Bacteria: numerous
Fungi: Bracket, cup, spore fungi;
lichens, chantrelles, gilled mushrooms,
etc; Slime molds, water molds, etc.
Invertebrates: Banana slugs, snails, millipedes, termites, grubs, pill bugs, etc.
4-4b Cycle of Renewal Poster
Cycle of Renewal
in the westside lowland forest
Producers
Solar
energy
Pla
nt
gro
wth
Primary
Consumers
nim
ad a
& de
Secondary
Consumers
nic
ga
Or
Anim
al w
aste
From
soil,
air and
water
als
Plant waste & dead plants
Nutrients
r
tte
ma
Decomposers
Illustration by Heidi Bohan
Producers
Primary Consumers
(Organisms that store the
(Animals that eat producers)
sun’s energy)
Herbivores & Plant Parasites
Green Plants
Vertebrate Grazers and Seed Eaters:
Algae, moss, ferns, horsetail, Deer, elk; mice, beavers, moles, rabbits,
conifers, all flowering plants. squirrels; seed and fruit-eating birds.
Invertebrate Grazers and Seed Eaters:
Herbivorous insects such as bees,
butterflies, aphids.
Parasites on Plants: Fungi, bacteria,
parasitic flowering plants, insect galls,
nematode worms, some protozoa.
Secondary Consumers
Decomposers
(Animals that eat other animals)
Carnivores, Animal Parasites &
Omnivores (which feed on plants and animals)
(Organisms that feed by breaking
down dead organic matter)
Bacteria, Fungi, Invertebrates
Vertebrate Carnivores: Coyotes, bats,
bobcats, weasels, mole shrews; many birds
(owls, flickers, hawks, warblers), etc.
Invertebrate Carnivores: Many insects such
as beetles and wasps.
Vertebrate Omnivores: Black bears, raccoons,
crows, etc.
Animal Parasites: Worms, bacteria, etc.
Bacteria: numerous
Fungi: Bracket, cup, spore fungi,
lichens, chanterelles, gilled mushrooms,
slime molds, water molds, etc.
Invertebrates: Banana slugs, snails,
millipedes, termites, grubs, pill bugs,
etc.
4-4c Master: Cycle of Renewal Drawing
Cycle of Renewal
Draw and label an example of the habitat component listed in the oval.
Producer
New growth
Consumer
Decomposer
4-4d Master: Cycle of Renewal Diagram
Cycle of Renewal Diagram