Observing Animal Homes

In your child's science class, we've been studying animal homes. You can help your child understand how animals make their own shelters in nature.

What You Need

• sketch pad or drawing paper
• colored pencils
• library books, magazines, Internet access

What You Do

With your child, go on a hunt for animal homes around your house or at a nature site you can visit. (If the weather is bad, you can hunt around the house for pet and insect “shelters,” and expand your hunt in books or on the Internet.) When you find an animal home, identify the kind of animal and the material or materials the home is made of. Help your child to draw a picture of the animal home and its occupant.

Back at Home

You and your child can make one or more models of the animal homes you found. You may want to do research to learn more about the animal and what, exactly its home is made of. Your child can take the model to school to share, or display it in a room at home.