Milwaukee Public Museum

Your mission is to answer multiple-choice questions about what we have just learned. Then, use the letters from your correct answers to solve a scrambled letter puzzle and escape the room. Good luck!

Escape to the Outdoors!

Go out into your backyard and see if you can find something that fills each of these important roles. 

Biodiversity Bingo (Activity)

Why do polar bears live in the icy Arctic, and why don't we find fish in the hot desert? Let's discover why animals prefer different habitats! Let's learn with this slideshow and play a quick game. 

"Who Am I?" Game

Cut out or draw an arrow from pictures of animals and plants, placing them into the rectangle that matches their habitat: Arctic, Forest, Desert, or Grassland. Make sure to check if they are in the right home!

"Where Do I Live?" Activity

In the last section, we explored many different places. They can be called a habitat. But, what is a habitat exactly? Let's find out!

What is a Habitat?

In this activity, draw lines to connect pictures of forest plants and animals that need each other. For example, you might connect a tree to a squirrel that eats its nuts or the tree where it seeks shelter. This will help us understand how everything in nature is connected and relies on each other to survive!

Food Web Activity (Forest)

Let’s click around and explore different places where animals and plants live. Each place is unique and has special features that make it a perfect home for certain animals and plants. We'll learn about what makes these places special and how animals and plants survive there. These places are called habitats!

Where do plants and animals live? 

Now let's think about what all animals need to survive. Every animal, no matter where it lives, needs certain things to live and grow. What do you think these things are? How do animals find food, water, and shelter in their habitats? What helps them stay safe? What does this animal need to eat and drink? Where does it find shelter? How does it stay safe from predators? Choose one or more animals and draw what you think your animal's habitat looks like. 

Critter Card Activity (Forest)

Now that we've explored different habitats and observed the plants and animals living there, let's think about how they depend on each other to survive. 

What are the ways in which living things work together?

Explore the importance of biodiversity and the important role of bees in the ecosystem while reviewing some of what you already learned!

Buzzing with Biodiversity

This resource kit explores the wonders of nature and biodiversity in different land habitats. Learn how species interact in their diverse environments, and gain a deep understanding and appreciation of the natural world by learning more about how it works.


Get Wild Exploring Habitats - Educator Overview.pdf

Get Wild: Exploring Habitats

Life Science

Science

National Geographic - Symbiosis: The Art of Living Together

This plant is more than just a tree. It is a home for many for many living things.

A forest! Welcome to the Wisconsin Woodlands where many forest creatures dwell. 

is a community of plants, animals. and other living and nonliving things that live and work together in an area as a system. They help each other to live and grow.

Who else do you think is part of this ecosystem? What is 

Let's go on an adventure through the Wisconsin Woodlands and see this system at work.

Plants, like trees, use sunlight to make their food. They take in air and water from the environment and use sunlight to turn them into food. This process helps plants grow big and strong.

Look at this picture of a Wisconsin prairie! It's filled with grasses and wildflowers. How do these plants get what they need to grow? 

Animals, like deer and rabbits, eat plants for food. Then, other animals, like foxes and owls, eat those plant-eating animals. This is how food moves from plants to animals in the ecosystem.

Animals also interact with each other in different ways. 

When plants and animals die, decomposers, like worms, fungi, and bacteria, break them down into tiny pieces. This helps make soil healthy for new plants to grow. It's like nature's recycling team!

Let's look at a picture of the forest floor. Is soil the only thing you see on it? How might rocks help the soil and the plants that grow on it?

Everything in nature is connected in a big circle. Plants make food, animals eat the food, and when plants and animals die, decomposers turn them into soil. This circle keeps going, making sure everyone in the ecosystem has what they need to live and grow.

Take a look at the next activity to put what you learned into action!

Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Get Wild: Exploring Habitats

What are the ways in which living things work together?

Who calls this tree a home?