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A few months ago my husband found a small turtle that we decided to keep as a pet. It has been a wonderful opportunity to learn about caring for an animal. Plus it’s been great for learning what is needed for different habitats. This river small world habitat is a great way to learn about life in and around the rivers.
Materials needed for a river small world habitat:
Dirt
Water
Grass
Sticks
Aluminum foil or heavy duty plastic
To create the river small world we first started by creating the river bed from the aluminum foil. I did a double layer of the foil to ensure that it was sturdy and wouldn’t leak if it got a small puncture.
I put the “river” in the middle of our plastic tub and then let the kids take total control of the rest of the project.
We did some brainstorming of things that would be needed in a river habitat. This is what they thought of:
Water
Rocks and small pebbles
Dirt
Grass
Trees
Sand
Fish (Jaida wanted real ones, I politely declined)
Sticks
Then they went out to the backyard to assemble the small world.
They ended up digging a hole in the yard (mental note to tell hubby to fill that in…) and gathering some of the weeds from the garden.
They also used some leaves from the random small trees that line our yard and picked up some small sticks from the burn pile.
After they filled in the sides of the river to create the river banks, they decided that the river needed a dam, so they started building one out of mud only discover that it needed more reinforcement.
They added some sticks to the dam to help hold it together and then filled the upper portion of the river. With some manipulation, they were able to get the dam to hold for a little while.
After that they were able to see a great example of erosion!
We didn’t have it on hand today, but you can add this river animal TOOB for more fun. We’ll be playing with this over the next few days and I’m excited to see what they’ll think of next!
Learning about Habitats? We’ve done all the lesson planning for you!
We now have interactive thematic lesson plans for toddlers (18-35 months) AND preschoolers (3-5 years)! Get ready for fun and learning with unit lesson plans for your HABITAT THEME. Explore a variety of themed hands-on activities! Easy to follow lesson plans include activity modifications and adaptations to meet the needs of all learners. For more information, click on the graphics below:
This post is part of the Small World Pretend Play Ideas from A to Z series hosted by Still Playing School. You can check out the other ideas by clicking the image below.
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Heather @ A Nurse's Wildflowers says
Hello! Love this idea! And the pictures look great! I have featured you in my portion of the A Little Bird Told Me link up. 🙂 I will definitely be on the look out for more great ideas from you!
Kim says
Thanks for the feature!
Alison says
What a great activity! Thanks for sharing on the Thoughtful Spot Blog Hop!
Life Breath Present says
I think this is such a great idea! I am quite impressed with how well their river habitat turned out! And, how neat that they thought of building a dam and then had the lesson in erosion after! 🙂
Kim says
Yes, I love how well they showed their knowledge of the river habitat! It was a lot of fun to watch!
Devany says
The biologist in me just LOVES this!
Kim says
I’m so glad! It also proved to be a good way to let our turtle escape! It was a good pet for the summer.