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Learn why it is important to protect natural homes and how students can help.
Imagine you came home and found your bed covered in trash and your water bottle filled with dirt. You wouldn't like it, right? Animals feel the same way about their natural homes!
A habitat is a natural place where a plant or animal lives. Just like you have a house, animals have homes too! A good habitat provides three main things: food, water, and shelter (a safe place to sleep). When a habitat is clean, animals have everything they need to grow up big and strong. If a habitat becomes dirty or polluted, animals might get sick or have to leave their homes to find a better place to live.
Quick Check
What are the three most important things a habitat provides for an animal?
Answer
Food, water, and shelter.
Every animal has a life cycle. This is the way an animal grows from a baby to an adult. For example, a frog starts as an egg in a pond, turns into a tadpole, and finally becomes a frog. If the pond habitat is filled with trash, the tiny eggs might not be able to hatch. To finish their life cycle, animals need a safe, clean space to lay eggs or have babies. Protecting the habitat means we are protecting the next generation of animals!
Let's look at how a clean pond helps a frog: 1. A mother frog lays tiny eggs in clear water. 2. Because the water is clean, the eggs stay healthy. 3. The eggs hatch into tadpoles that find plenty of green plants to eat. 4. The tadpoles grow into strong adult frogs!
Quick Check
If a pond is polluted with chemicals, what might happen to the frog eggs?
Answer
The eggs might not hatch, or the babies might get sick, which stops the life cycle.
You don't have to be a grown-up to be a Habitat Hero! There are simple things you can do every day to keep nature healthy. Recycling helps because it keeps trash out of the woods and oceans. Conserving water (using less) means there is more water left for the fish and birds. Even planting a tree helps by creating a new home and fresh air for squirrels and birds. When we take care of the Earth, we take care of all the living things on it.
Imagine you have a pile of items. To help the habitat, you must sort them correctly: 1. Put the plastic water bottle in the Blue Bin (Recycling). 2. Put the apple core in the Green Bin (Compost). 3. Put the old candy wrapper in the Trash Bin. By doing this, you ensure that only item goes to the landfill instead of !
If you want to help birds in your neighborhood, you can create a 'mini-habitat': 1. Find a safe spot for a birdfeeder (Food). 2. Put out a small bowl of fresh water (Water). 3. Help your parents plant a thick bush (Shelter). Now you have provided all things a bird needs to start its life cycle!
Which of these is NOT part of a habitat?
How does recycling help animals?
True or False: A dirty habitat can stop a baby animal from growing into an adult.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, look out your window and try to name one animal you see and one thing its habitat provides for it.
Practice Activity
With an adult, go on a 'Litter Walk' around your block. See if you can find pieces of trash to pick up and put in the bin!