Camouflage
Grade Levels: K - 3
Objectives
Students will observe the important characteristics of camouflaged animals.
Materials
- White paper
- Crayons and paint
- Scissors
Procedures
- Ask the children to draw a picture of an animal they might see in the woods or on the playground.
- Have them color or paint the pictures and cut them out.
- Take the pictures outside and prop them up on trees or rocks.
- Walk back 20 feet. Can they see them?
- Walk back 40 feet. Can they see them now? Keep moving back from the pictures until they can no longer be seen.
- Turn the pictures over so they are white and prop them up.
- Walk back 20 feet. Can they see them?
- Walk back 40 feet. Can they see them better when they are white?
- Ask the children how animals' colors camouflage and protect them?
Challenges
- Think of other animals that are camouflaged. Why are horseshoe rabbits white in the winter and gray in the summer?
- Who might wear camouflage clothing for their jobs? Why?
- Would you wear the same clothes if you were trying to camouflage yourself in the desert or jungle? Why or why not?
- Which color would you wear in the desert? The jungle? The North Pole?
