Activity A: Wild Brainstorm
Immediately after the PowerPoint program, brainstorm with your class about the meaning of a wild, natural place. (Is a golf course? A playground? A yard?) What makes a place wild? Discuss with them why wild places are valuable. (Provide homes for wildlife, provide a quiet refuge for people and a place to explore and learn, are attractive and visually appealing, etc.) What could be done in schoolyards and in yards at home to make them more useful to wildlife? (Provide plants that generate seeds and berries that birds can eat and/or provide good nesting sites, plant flowers that butterflies are dependent on for nectar or plants their caterpillars need for food, provide "cover" for wildlife such as brush piles, nest boxes, etc.) What ideas can they come up with? (Is it a good idea to feed wild animals?)
Activity B: It’s A “Sense”ation!
If you have attended one of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission’s Schoolyard Workshops and have a copy of their activity guide, see page 17 for a fun outdoor activity for your class.
Activity C: Create a Place for Wildlife
Do something in your schoolyard to make it more useful to wildlife or create/plant something that students can take home to their own yards. Set up bird feeders and/or drinking stations for birds and animals. Start native plants in cups. Seeds such as Butterfly Weed or Gallardia (also called Blanket Sunflower) can be purchased at Walmart or local hardware stores. Collecting and trying to germinate native seed from the wild could be a class project!
Activity D: Class Plant Collection
(Students need assignment one day prior to this activity)
Start a pressed plant collection. Encourage students to bring leaves from plants in their yard. Can they identify the plants? (Have plant guides from the library in your room.) Is it exotic or native? How might an animal use this plant? Look for diversity among all the leaves. Discuss the different plants, why diversity is important, what adaptations you might observe just from looking at and feeling the leaves.
Leaves can be pressed and labeled after you have discussed them with your class. Large books can serve as a plant press if one is not available. A small leaf reference book can be made by gluing leaves to stiff posterboard and laminating or covering them with contact paper. A single ring in one corner works well to bind pages together.
Activity E: Discovering Florida Scrub Unit One: Sand: Florida Scrub’s Foundation
Do one or more activities from the Discovering Florida Scrub Curriculum Unit One: Physical Properties of Sand. Experiment with sand and find out why small animal burrows don’t cave-in or discover what happens to sand when you build or dig in it.
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