November 26th, 2012

I have been using an activity from The Institute For Earth Education, called ‘Home Sweet Home’ to study and compare three habitats – Forest, Field, and Marsh. It is a wonderfully creative and fun activity. The plants and animals in the activity are species that we find locally, but I am often providing the program when some of the species have packed it in for the year (ie. butterflies, grasshoppers, etc), and therefore never use those. I would like to make some additions to the plants and animals used.

During the activity the students receive a card of a real plant or animal that is found on the property. The card has the name of the species (see below), the jobs of the plant or animal, its needs, and a chart to fill out. We tour the habitats comparing and contrasting what each has to offer its living things and fill out our charts whether or not the habitat can meet the needs of the plant or animal you represent.

The one catch is, none of the cards have the plants or animals real name… they are cleverly disguised : )

A couple of examples… the Chipmunk is the ‘Racing-Striped Cheek Stuffer’, the Great Blue Heron is the ‘Long Legged Fish Nabber’, and the Sugar Maple is the ‘Sweet Jagged-Leaved Helicopter Launcher’.

I have begun working on some additions to the species list. Below is a list of species that I might incorporate, but my creative blockage has prevented me from coming up with some of the names… can you help me?? I have provided some of the names I have thought of, but maybe you are more creative and can even better them! Looking forward to reading your comments and suggestions : )

American Crow –
American Beech –
Eastern Hemlock –
Caddisfly Larva – Underwater Munchable Case-Maker
Raccoon –
White-tailed Deer – White Rumped Greenery Grazer
Striped Skunk – Black-and-White Odour Emitter
Eastern White Cedar –
Red-tailed Hawk – Rufous-Rumped Rodent Reducer
White-Breasted Nuthatch
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
Northern Cardinal – Crimson-Crested Seed Cracker
Blue Jay
Milkweed
Coyote
Wild Turkey