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Create a Creature

In this activity, students create their own specialized animal that lives in a specific imaginary environment.

Where an animal lives often effects how it lives, and behaves. An animal won't live successfully in a place where its features are poorly adapted for survival.

A mountain goat with webbed feet would have a hard time climbing a rocky slope! On the other hand, webbed feet on a duck make swimming in a lake easier and faster.

Objectives

  • Assess survival needs and interactions between animals and the environment.

Materials

  • Per Group of 3 students:
    11 x 17 sheet of paper
    tape
    white glue or hot glue guns
    markers/crayons
    scissors
    a variety of different craft materials, such as:
    pipe cleaners
    balloons
    styrofoam
    egg cartons
    feathers
    yogurt pots
    CDs
    wire
    popsicle sticks or wooden stir sticks
    cloth scraps

Key Questions

  • What special features does your animal have?
  • How do those special features help the animal find food? Move around?
  • Can you think of a real animal that has the same or a similar features?

What To Do

  1. Divide the class into small groups.
  2. Use the paper and markers/crayons to create and draw an imaginary environment. This environment should include such factors as temperature, light, water, food, and predators.
  3. Use the craft materials provided to create a model of a creature (or draw a creature) that is specialized to live in its environment. Students should include how the animal moves in their environment, what the animal eats, and how it catches its food.
  4. Name your creature with a name that suits its appearance, lifestyle, or environment.
  5. Take turns presenting your creature to the class, explaining how your creature survives in its environment.
  6. Hang the creatures from the ceiling against a wall so that it is hanging in front of its imaginary environment.

Extensions

  • For a simpler variation, give each group a description or image of a real environment. Then have students imagine and create an animal that lives in this environment.
  • Look at some extreme environments around the world and discuss how animals survive in these environments.
  • Examine the environments on other planets in our solar system and imagine what special features animals would have in order to survive there.

Other Resources

French version of this resource | Créer une créature

About the sticker

Survivors

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

Egg BB

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

Comet Crisp

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

About the sticker

T-Rex and Baby

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Buddy the T-Rex

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Geodessy

Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

About the sticker

Science Buddies

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

About the sticker

Western Dinosaur

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

About the sticker

Time-Travel T-Rex

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.