Evergreen Elementary

Environmental Education

Unit 4 – Ecosystem Interactions

Lesson 5 – Habitat Loss

Normally we are finished with our unit and ready to move on to the next subject, but this unit needs a little bit extra because I had to break the food webs and food chains lesson into two. If you’re new, welcome abroad, I make environmental science lessons for elementary age students.

The best part about my lessons is that you can complete them alone or use this website to have a complete curriculum of earth science STEAM projects for kids. If you are just jumping in, some great lessons that complement this lesson are the teaching science with salsa lesson with unit one or the pollution lesson with unit two.

Habitat loss is happening worldwide, affecting every animal category, from the birds in the sky to the mollusks in the sea. But what is habitat loss, and how do we explain it to children?

A habitat is a place where you live. We can consider our homes our habitats for sleeping for humans, but we usually do not only stay in our homes. We go to places like the grocery store (which is a habitat to buy food), schools (a habitat for learning), or stadiums (a habitat for sports). I know one thing quarantine has taught me is life is not fun when you are confined to your habitat for sleeping only. Habitat loss is a lot like quarantine; even though the extra space is there, it is not available to use at the time.

In the wild, habitat loss is caused by several reasons such as deforestation, desertification, pollution, or destruction (We will learn more about these in Unit 5). Animals will not be able to find or use the items they need to survive when facing habitat loss. If quarantine is not the LARGEST steam project for understanding habitat loss, I don’t know what is, but I know the most FUN (and edible) STEAM project for habitat loss.

 

Activity:  Guacamole habitat loss!

For this activity, we will make two batches of guacamole, the first batch will use all of our ingredients, and the second batch will randomly take one ingredient out. In this activity, the guacamole represents features habitats provide, and when we take one away, we no longer have that feature.

Supplies:

  1. Cups for ingredients
  2. Guacamole ingredients
    1. Avocado (mushed)
    2. Jalapeno
    3. Cilantro
    4. Onion
    5. Tomato
    6. Seasoning
    7. Lemon
    8. Lime
    9. Salt and Pepper
    10. Chips
  3. Paper
  4. A Chart Labeling what each ingredient stands for

Avocado (mushed) 

Shelter for sleep

Jalapeno

Playing area

Cilantro

Food source 1

Onion

Food source 2

Tomato

Baby Area

Seasoning

Bathroom

Lemon

Water

Lime

Friends

Salt and pepper

Clean Air

Chips

Shelter from predators

I wrote two food source areas because most animals do not just eat one food as we know from the food webs activity.

  1. Two mixing bowls/mixing spoons
  2. Science journal

Preparation:

  1. Prepare the ingredients in separate containers for the child to use later (if you have a more mature child, they can help you with this step)!
  2. Print out the ingredient representation chart OR label the containers you put your ingredients in
  3. Set up an area for mixing and tasting ingredients
  4. Write the different ingredients on a piece of paper and rip up the papers so there is one ingredient on each paper (we will draw from this pile)

 

Steps:

  1. Use the above text to explain habitat loss to your students, have them take notes in their science journal, or have them journal about how quarantine compares to habitat loss. Make sure to label the page “Habitat loss” for students to reference later.
  2. Explain to them what each ingredient represents
  3. Help your child make guacamole
  4. Draw one ingredient from the pile of papers. You just LOST that ingredient, which means whatever part of the habitat it represented is LOST too.
  5. Remake the guacamole without ingredient – compare the difference
  6. Have students write down comparisons in their journal and write down how they would survive if that piece of the habitat they needed for survival was taken away.
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