Plants & AnimalsNGSS* K-ESS3-110–15 min

Habitat Match-Up

A habitat model: who lives where, and why. A narrated life science lab for kindergarten.

Open the lab Try the free lab

“Habitat Match-Up! Find out where animals and plants live, and why.”

A model of four habitats on a table: forest, meadow, pond and desert

In the lab

What your child does

Explores a model of four places; places eight plants and animals where they can get what they need and hears why; uses the model to explain the deer's choice and to predict what happens to pond animals if the pond dries up; and chooses where a family should build a home.

1
Wonder
The model: four real places (forest, meadow, pond, desert) on a classroom table. Tap each to hear what it offers.
2
Guess
Where does a frog live?
3
Match
Eight living things, one at a time on a card. Tap the place where it lives. It flies into the model, and the narrator gives the reason from its needs: "Deer eat leaves and buds, so they live in the forest." "Grass needs lots of sunlight, so it grows in the meadow." A wrong tap gets a hint about needs.
4
Think with the model
Why does the deer live in the forest? (Leaves to eat.) Then the pond dries up into cracked mud and the frog and fish droop. Could they still live there? (No. They need water.) The pond fills back up.
5
People
Where should a family build its home: by the meadow and pond (water, land for food) or in the desert?
Badge
The big ideas in a sentence, a badge, and a printable lab record.

A model with four habitat photos: forest, meadow, pond and desert — Wonder: four places on a model

A deer card next to the habitat model — Match: where can a deer get what it needs?

The pond in the model dried to cracked mud, with yes and no buttons — Think: what if the pond dried up?

A house placed between the meadow and the pond — People: where should a family build a home?

The standard

K-ESS3-1*

Children use a model to show how the needs of different plants and animals (including people) relate to the places they live. For example, deer eat buds and leaves, so they usually live in forests; grasses need sunlight, so they often grow in meadows.

Core idea: Earth and Human Activity
Science practice: Developing and Using Models
Grade: Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

Read K-ESS3-1 on nextgenscience.org

For grown-ups

Talk about it

"Why couldn't a fish live in the desert?"
"What does our neighborhood have that people need?"
"Where do the birds near us find food?"

Try it for real

Build a shoebox habitat with your child (sand, a dish of water, moss or grass) and place toy animals where they could get what they need. Ask them to explain each choice.

Plants & Animals