What is a Habitat?
Essential Questions:
What is a habitat?
Why is a habitat important?
What do animals need to survive?
Lesson Objectives:
At the end of the workshop, students will be able to:
Explain how animals’ habitats vary, but all animals need food, water, and shelter
Understand how animals change their habitat
Explore our resources
Click on the images to access each resource (available as a PDF or webpage)
Take-Home Guide
Information for parents & legal guardians (available in English and Spanish).
Información para padres de familia y tutores legales (disponible en Inglés y Español).
Standards Alignments
Explore the ways our program aligns with CCSS + NGSS standards.
Vocabulary
Review these words with your students from our lesson!
Activity
Build Piper’s habitat in your classroom!
Infographic
Learn more about the different types of habitats found all around the world.
Social Emotional Learning
Bringing together the worlds of social and emotional learning (SEL) and STEM, this book teaches us about animal habitats, and human’s habitats!
Reading Resources
Explore our staff picks for your students!
Video Resources
Additional learning videos to watch!
Read-Along
Read along with our Change is Simple educator Kylie!
Background Information
A habitat is an animal's home. It's where it gets all the things it needs to survive. Animals need food, water, and shelter to survive, but different animals in different habitats gets those things in a variety of ways. Animals that make their habitat in the arctic may make their shelter in a snow den, while those that live in the forest may nest in trees. Food could be plants or other animals, and water can come from lakes, streams, or even rainfall.
In order to make a habitat more suitable for themselves, some animals may alter the places where they live. Beavers turn running water into a still pond by building a dam. People turn forests into neighborhoods by building homes and paving roads. Even squirrels change their habitat by digging for and burying nuts! Many animals, large or small, change their habitats to fit their needs and help them survive.