Fun, Hands-On River Small World Habitat Exploration
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.
Recommended Grade Level:
Materials for the River Small World Habitat
- Dirt
- Water
- Grass
- Sticks
- Pretend Nests
- Aluminum Foil
- Deep Bin
To create the river small world habitat we first started by creating the river bed from 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 river small world habitat.
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 them on hand today, but you can add river animal figurines 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!
Do you love this activity?
Pin it for later!
More Sensory Ideas:
More Activities You’ll Love:
Search All Activities
Looking for more? Find exactly what you need here:
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!
Thanks for the feature!
What a great activity! Thanks for sharing on the Thoughtful Spot Blog Hop!
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! 🙂
Yes, I love how well they showed their knowledge of the river habitat! It was a lot of fun to watch!
The biologist in me just LOVES this!
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.