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Backyard Explorer 3 to 5 / Week 02 / Monday
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Week 02 · Map Your Habitat

Monday

What a habitat gives
// Food, water, cover and space, drawn from above
⏱ about 15 min

Monday: What a Habitat Gives

Rocket drags a wooden crate into the yard. "Behold! A luxury bug hotel!"

Raven walks around it. "What do the guests eat? Where do they drink?"

Rocket opens his mouth, then closes it. "I did not think about that."

Nova projects a cyan checklist in the air. "Four things," she says. "Every living thing needs all four. Can you name them?"

Rocket and Raven kneel over a hand-drawn habitat map while Nova projects it in light.

The four needs

A habitat is the place where a living thing gets what it needs to survive.

Every habitat has to supply four things.

Food gives energy. Water keeps the body working.

Cover is a place to hide, rest and stay safe from weather.

Space is room to move, find food and raise young.

A yard, a sidewalk crack and a creek bank are all habitats for something.

Rocket's crate gave cover. It gave nothing else. No bug would stay long.

NeedWhat it meansWhere a yard might supply it
foodEnergy to live and growSeeds, leaves, flowers, smaller animals
waterSomething to drinkA puddle, dew on grass, a dripping faucet
coverA place to hide and restA bush, a rock, a leaf pile, tall grass
spaceRoom to move and raise youngThe whole yard, a tree, a patch of soil
WHICH NEED IS IT?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A bird hides inside a thick bush during a storm. Which need is the bush meeting?
A squirrel drinks from a puddle. Which need is that?
A bee visits flowers for nectar. Which need is that?
A tree needs room for its roots and branches to spread. Which need is that?

Plants have habitats too

Plants cannot walk to find what they need. Their habitat has to bring it to them.

Plants need light, water and air. They need soil to hold their roots.

Their cover is the soil around their roots. Their space is the ground and the air above it.

A seed that lands on a sidewalk has no soil. It cannot grow there.

The same seed in a sidewalk crack might find soil and water. That crack is a tiny habitat.

The place where a living thing gets what it needs is its ____.
A bush where a bird hides gives the bird ____.
How many needs must every habitat supply?
StatementTrue or false?
A habitat only needs to give food.?
Cover means a place to hide or rest.?
A sidewalk crack can be a habitat for a plant.?
Plants do not need space.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEA habitat has to supply all four needs, even for plants in a crack.
Which of the four needs did Rocket's crate give?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe crate was cover only. Without food, water and space, it was not a habitat.
Try it
Stand at your sit spot. Turn slowly in a full circle.
Point to one thing that could be food. Then point to water, then to cover.
Tell your grown-up which need was hardest to find.
Safety first
Stay with your grown-up.
Look with your eyes. Never touch a wild animal, insect, nest, egg, mushroom or unknown plant.
Some insects sting and some plants itch. Wash your hands afterwards.
Fix Rocket's bug hotel. Draw the crate with food, water and space added around it.

Four needs, found! Tomorrow you start a map and track where the sun falls.