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Students explore the concept of shelter and why animals need a safe place to live and sleep.
Imagine you are a tiny bird and a big rainstorm starts to pour. Where would you go to stay dry and keep your feathers fluffy?
Just like you have a house to live in, animals need a special place to stay too. This place is called a shelter. A shelter is a safe place where an animal can sleep, rest, and stay away from danger. It is their 'home base' in nature. Without a shelter, animals might get too cold, too hot, or be found by other animals that want to catch them. Every animal needs at least safe spot to call home!
Think about your own home to understand shelters: 1. When it rains, you go inside to stay dry. 2. When it is very hot, you go inside to stay cool. 3. When you are tired, you go to your bed to sleep safely.
Quick Check
In your own words, what is a shelter?
Answer
A shelter is a safe place where an animal lives and stays protected.
Animals build or find many different kinds of shelters. A nest is a home made by birds using twigs and grass. A den is a hidden place, like a cave or a hole in the ground, where animals like bears or foxes sleep. Some insects, like bees, live in a hive. Each animal picks a home that fits their body and their needs. For example, a big bear would never fit in a tiny bird's nest!
Let's look at how animals match their homes: 1. A bird uses its beak to weave nest high in a tree to stay away from cats. 2. A bear finds deep cave to use as a den for a long winter nap. 3. Thousands of bees work together to build hive for their honey.
Quick Check
Which animal lives in a den?
Answer
Animals like bears or foxes live in dens.
The world can be very hot or very wet! Shelters act like a shield. When the sun is too bright, a den stays cool and dark. When it rains, the thick roof of a hive or the leaves over a nest keep the water out. This keeps the animal's body at the right temperature so they don't get sick. Staying dry and cool is a very important job for any shelter.
Imagine a rabbit in a field: 1. The sun is very hot ( degrees!). The rabbit hops into its underground burrow (a type of shelter). 2. Inside the ground, it is much cooler than the outside air. 3. The rabbit stays safe and cool until the sun goes down.
What is the main job of a shelter?
Which of these is a shelter made of twigs and grass?
A shelter can help an animal stay cool when the sun is too hot.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, try to name three types of animal homes and one animal that lives in each.
Practice Activity
Go for a walk outside with a grown-up and look at the trees and the ground. Can you spot a nest or a hole that might be a shelter?