Animal Habitat Diorama Games for Science Learning Centers: Free printable animal classification and taxonomy lesson plans

Hello my Omschooligans! Teacher Omi thinking today about ways to make all our activities more engaging and interactive. Over 40 years ago, I started teaching in a Montessori school and created these hands-on activities for preschool and elementary classroom learning centers. I'll share a series on ways to create preschool learning centers in classroom or homeschool settings. Today we focus on ways to explore animal habitats and biomes in preschool social studies and science learning centers. 

Social Studies/Science learning center connections

When studying different countries or cultures in social studies build in biology and zoology by showing in hands-on ways which animals and plants live in the locations you are studying. Cover classroom walls with educational maps, charts, diagrams and posters. Activity Village is a great resource for free printable world maps, coloring pages and lesson plans from around the world. Here are free printable animal habitat diorama coloring pages and charts. Here are more free printables. 

🌍 Free Printable Habitat Dioramas

• 3D Triorama Templates: Teachers Pay Teachers offers a free 3D triorama set that includes printable backgrounds and animal cut-outs for Arctic, Forest, Savanna, Ocean, Desert, Pond, and Rainforest habitats.

• Taiga Biome Project: Little Bins for Little Hands has a dedicated free printable for a Taiga (Boreal Forest) diorama, including trees and specific animals like moose and snowshoe hares.

• Rainforest Shoebox Background: If you are using shoeboxes for your learning centers, this free rainforest background provides a four-piece printable (left, back, right, and ground) designed specifically to fit.

• Animal Habitat Sorting: For younger "Omschooligans," this free sorting activity allows children to color and then cut-and-paste animals into their correct environments (Desert, Jungle, Ocean, Arctic).

🔍 Discovery Prompt: Habitat Match-Up

Look at the animals in this diorama. Can you find one that has fur? One that has scales? Why do you think that animal needs that covering to live in this habitat?

🌍 Recommended Free Printable Dioramas

These are excellent, ready-to-use downloads that fit the "hands-on" Montessori style you mentioned:

• The 3D Triorama Set: This is a fantastic "all-in-one" freebie that includes templates for Arctic, Savanna, Ocean, and Rainforest biomes.

• Taiga Biome Project: A beautiful, specific printable for the Boreal Forest that includes native animals like moose and snowy owls.

• Shoebox Habitat Assignment: If you want your students to do a deeper dive, this freebie includes a research page and a rubric for a shoebox project.

• Habitat Sorting Activity: Perfect for your younger learners, this cut-and-paste set helps them categorize animals by their environment.

Must Love Books! 

It goes without saying that all learning centers should have a bookshelf or basket of books appropriate whatever unit you're studying. DK--Dorling Kindersley makes excellent science reference books and field guides so use those in learning centers. 

📖 Omi's Book Research Challenge

---

Pick a book from our habitat basket. Can you find a picture of an animal that lives in the Tundra? Now check the Taxonomy Chart in the back of the book. Does that animal have fur or feathers?

📚 Recommended Animal Habitat Bibliography

DK Reference & Field Guides

• DK Eyewitness: Animal by Charlotte Uhlenbroek. A classic visual guide that covers anatomy, behavior, and habitats across the animal kingdom.

• DK First Animal Encyclopedia. An ideal "first look" for younger Omschooligans, featuring clear photography and simple facts about where animals live.

• DK Smithonian: Animal!. A massive, spectacular visual encyclopedia that organizes animals by taxonomy and habitat—great for your KPCOFGS games.

• DK Nature Guide: Animals. A portable field-guide style book that is easy for children to handle while they explore their learning centers.

Habitat & Biome Explorations

• Habitats (Learn About Series) by William B. Rice. This book breaks down the differences between rainforests, deserts, and tundras in a way that is accessible for Early Childhood Education.

• Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner. Part of a beautiful series (including Over and Under the Snow and Over and Under the Rainforest) that explores the hidden ecosystems of different biomes.

• National Geographic Kids: Animal Habitats. A high-interest reader that pairs perfectly with the free printable maps and charts you are using.

• The Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth by Rochelle Strauss. A fantastic resource for explaining the five kingdoms and how every living thing fits into the global "neighborhood."

🧬 Animal Classification (KPCOFGS) Guide

To help your students visualize the hierarchy, you can use this simple breakdown:

• Kingdom: The big group (e.g., Animals vs. Plants).

• Phylum: Does it have a backbone? (Chordata).

• Class: Is it a mammal, bird, fish, or reptile?

• Order/Family: Narrowing down by specific traits (like "Carnivores").

• Genus/Species: The "First and Last Name" of the animal (e.g., Panthera leo for a Lion).

Getty Images

Interactive games and hands-on activities for science learning centers. 

🦴 Class vs. Phylum: The Backbone Test

When playing the KPCOFGS game, remember the "Backbone Test":

• ✅ Vertebrates: Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Fish, and Amphibians are all in the Chordata Phylum.
• ❌ Invertebrates: Insects have no backbone; they belong to the Arthropoda Phylum!

• Stuffed Animal Sort: Assemble realistic stuffed animals from different animal habitats and biomes in the cultures or countries you're studying. Stuffed animals aren't scientifically correct, but they at least help children understand which creatures live in different animal habitats and regions.

🎲 Animal Classification Bingo: Teacher Calling Cards

• Cut these out and pull them from a jar, or call out the "clue" to see if children can identify the group!

  • Mammal: "I have hair or fur and feed my babies milk."

  • Bird: "I have feathers and lay eggs in a nest."

  • Reptile: "I have scaly skin and am cold-blooded."

  • Amphibian: "I spend part of my life in water and part on land."

  • Fish: "I use gills to breathe underwater and have fins."

  • Insect: "I have six legs and usually have wings."

• Animal habitats bingo: Play this game by sorting stuffed animals according to taxonomy class . Make a bingo grid on the floor and label the top with the animal classification. Mammal, reptile, fish, insect, amphibian, bird. Bingo caller calls out an animal and children place it on the chart. You can print animal bingo cards too. 

  🐾 Animal Bingo! 🐾

  Place a marker on the animal group Omi calls out!

  Mammal	Bird	Reptile
  Fish	FREE SPACE	Amphibian
  Insect	Mammal	Bird

  Print this card for your Omschool Science Center!

• VAKT play: Set out small plastic or resin animals for children to explore using visual, kinesthetic and tactile skills. The ideal kind will have simulated body coverings. Find a book the plays animals sounds and place it with the toy animals so children can connect animal sounds. There are some very realistic toy plastic animals available from local toy and craft stores. Place animals in the biology area where children can sort critters into animal habitats or play KPCOFGS--Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species--animal classification bingo games, by sorting these animals into their bingo cards. 

🌍 External Bingo Resources

If you prefer a full-page PDF with photos of real animals for your center, these are high-quality free options:

• Animal Group Bingo: Search these results for free sets that specifically feature photos of mammals, reptiles, and birds to help children practice identification.

• Habitat & Class Bingo: Check the printable biomes project at Little Bins for Little Hands for board games that combine habitats with animal types.

1. The Five Classes of Vertebrates

• The most common groups people refer to belong to the Phylum Chordata (animals with backbones). Within this phylum, they are divided into these specific Classes:

  • Mammalia (Mammals)

  • Aves (Birds)

  • Reptilia (Reptiles)

  • Amphibia (Amphibians)

  • Agnatha/Chondrichthyes/Osteichthyes (The three classes of Fish)

2. The Exception: Insects

• Insects are not in the same phylum as the others. They belong to the Phylum Arthropoda.

  • Insecta is the name of their Class.

🧬 Omi’s Taxonomy Challenge

---

Can you find the animal’s "address"? Choose a plastic animal from the center. Use our reference books to find out:

• 📍 Class: Is it a Mammal, Bird, or Reptile?
• 📍 Order: Does it eat meat (Carnivore) or plants (Herbivore)?
• 📍 Species: What is its "Scientific Name"?

• Taxonomy games: In preschool and ECSE (early childhood special education) learning centers, students can play animal taxonomy games that organize animals by body covering and how they give birth to identify class (mammal, fish, bird, insect, reptile, amphibian). 
• 
  

  🧬 Animal Class Reference: Body Coverings & Birth

  Animal Class	Body Covering	How They Give Birth
  Mammal	Hair or Fur	Live birth (mostly)
  Bird	Feathers	Hard-shelled Eggs
  Reptile	Dry Scales	Leathery Eggs
  Amphibian	Moist, Slimy Skin	Soft, Jelly-like Eggs (in water)
  Fish	Wet Scales	Soft Eggs (usually in water)
  Insect	Hard Exoskeleton

• Plant Species and Samples: Collect several plant species, either living or artificial, from different regions for students to explore in the science learning centers. Gather tree bark, seed pods, seeds and seed carriers, leaves and evergreen needles, mushrooms and other plant life. Sort plants by region, biome and animals habitats (woodland, desert, tundra, rain forest, deciduous forest, coastal wetlands, marsh). Students can place appropriate plants within animal classification groups and taxonomy categories. 
• Rocks and minerals. Collect rocks, geological specimens, minerals and shells from the regions you study in biology and life science. Rock, mineral and shell specimens look best when viewed in water. Put them in an old dishpan in science learning centers or biology area. Provide brushes for the children to clean the samples and provide magnifying glasses for children to explore with. It isn't necessary for children to have expensive, high powered magnifying glasses; cheap, plastic ones are actually better as they get lost and knocked about in classroom use. 
• Aquarium. Put an aquarium with specimens of plants or animals or animals body parts in science learning centers. Cruelty-free fur samples, exoskeletons, feathers, animals shells, bones, scales, shed snake skin; empty hives and nests, egg shells; many people collect these things and may share them. Identify items by plant biology, taxonomy and animal classification. 
• Classroom pets: Different schools have different rules for keeping animals in the classroom. Most allow a fish tank or small rodent pet. A fresh and saltwater aquarium, as well as different species of birds, small mammals, fish, reptiles, insects and amphibians would be ideal for a science learning centers. Students create animal habitats for pets. Be sure to post animal classification or taxonomy charts for reference. 

🎨 Omschool Pro-Tip: Layering Learning

"When building dioramas, encourage students to add 'texture' using the items we collected: real tree bark for the forest floor, or sand and small rocks for the desert center. It turns a flat printable into a true sensory experience!"

Recycled trash crafts for Earth Day: Book-based endangered animals and habitats

 

April turns our minds to Earth Day, which has expanded into Earth Month. Build awareness of conservation and reduce, reuse, recycle and repurpose with these recycle bin trash crafts. Today's trash crafts for kids feature book-based animals and habitats, student-designed from the recycle bin. 

Said it before and I'll say it on autoloop, the recycle bin is a teacher's /homeschooler's best friend. Making book-based animals and habitats from the recycle bin teaches students several important lessons about ecology. First, children explore animals and their habitats. If you swing these lesson plans toward endangered species, kids learn how and why animals become threatened or endangered. These earth science lesson plans have social studies connections too. 

Second, making recycled trash crafts teaches kids to reduce, reuse, recycle and repurpose. Making book-based endangered animals and habitat dioramas extends lesson plans to include art, literature, measurement math and inventiveness. Throw in Earth Day poem writing or have students compose a story about the endangered animals and you've got creative writing as well. 

For preschool students, I recommend using any of the Mousekin (Edna Miller), Leo Lionni or Eric Carle books for your book-based animal habitat diorama crafts. Research with children which of the animals is endangered or threatened and why. Both children's authors feature animals in habitats with simple drawings that can easily be created by children with items from the recycle bin. Leo Lionni illustrated his books to look like patterned pieces and scraps. 

Here are some free printable Eric Carle coloring pages and crafts to spur creativity. Here are links for free Leo Lionni resources. Not all work but some are still available. Here are free printable animal habitat activities. 

To make the animals, put out an assortment of paper and cardboard scraps, plastic, metal and glass packages, cardboard tubes, packing materials, mesh produce bags, foil, plastic lids, etc. Add fabric scraps, buttons, yarn, string and other nifty recycled items. Give students free reign to invent as they wish. 

Happy Earth Day and Earth Month! (The cats shown above are not endangered but they were just too cute not to share). 

Recycle bin crafts: sensory "touch and feel" animal habitat books for hands-on animal lesson plans

Want to make animal lesson plans more hands-on and interactive? Here are lesson plans to make sensory or "touch and feel" animal board books to provide tactile stimulation. Use these for preschool and special education for students with autism and special sensory needs. 

Start with my blog posts on free printable animal habitat lesson plans. You'll find loads of animal coloring pages, cut and paste habitat dioramas and zoology printables. After coloring and assembling, attach animal habitat pieces to recycled cardboard from recycle bin. I suggest cereal and food packaging weight cardboard for ease of use with scissors. Value added: these recycle bin crafts and science activities are perfect for Earth Day to practice ecology and environmental awareness. 

Next, hit up that recycle bin and fabric scrap basket for various textured materials to simulate animal habitat structures, nests and body coverings. Depending on age, have students cut or cut for them, pieces to attach to habitats and animals. What you're going for are the multisensory "touch and feel" animal board books such as babies like. 

Here are some suggested multisensory materials to use for different animal body coverings and habitat structures:
 

fake fur or carpet pieces for furry mammals (cats, tigers, rabbits, squirrels)

polar fleece for lambs, sheep and goats

felt for animals with hide, hair or short fur (primates, monkeys, dogs, horses and giraffes)

feathers for birds

straw or twigs for nests

rough sandpaper for habitats pebbly surfaces 

soft sandpaper for beach habitats

wood chips or bark for woodland and tree animal habitats

foil for snakes or fish with skin

sequined fabric for fish with scales

satin ribbon or soft plastic pieces (such as from milk jugs or dairy containers) for frogs, dinosaurs, amphibians and mammal fish (dolphins, whales, seals). Look for appropriate colors. 

straw for nests

cotton balls or stuffing for snowy arctic regions and polar habitats

corrugated cardboard for trees

burlap for toads, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, turtles, pigs and animals with rougher skin

construction paper, canvas or bumpy fabric for dens and caves (also sandpaper would work)

yarn, string, brush bristles (any kind) for lion, goats, giraffe, zebra, mule, donkey or horse mane or tail

You don't need to cover the entire surface, just a bit as multisensory "touch and feel" books do. Try include as many sensory elements in the animal "touch and feel" books for optimum VAKT lesson plans. Assemble pages in book format by punching three holes along the edge and tying together with shoelace, for added tactile stimulation. Use these for preschool, students with autism and special sensory and tactile needs. 

Cage-free Zoo Animal habitat lesson plans with free printable animal activities

I've been a teacher for 40 years and today I was going to share preschool lesson plans to make a zoo animal circus train from my early days. And I realized that lesson plans that feature animals behind bars are not really ethically, environmentally or animal friendly. Piggyback on this, a discussion with my oldest homeschooling daughter (second gen homeschool <3) how she was rethinking what she was teaching, taking kids to on zoo field trips, with animals locked in tiny, non-habitat appropriate cages. This includes aquariums and marine zoos, especially. If we learned anything from the film "Blackfish" about Tilikum the "killer" orca whale, it was the damaging effects cages have on animals. So here are cage-free zoo animal habitat and animal classification lesson plans with free printable activities. 

Visit animal friendly zoos. Happily, many zoos are redoing structures to move away from tiny cages to wide, open more habitat appropriate spaces. The Detroit Zoo and Toronto Zoo are examples. John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, Mich., still has cages but new structures are more open. And even if you don't want to visit the zoo, check their website for free printable animal lesson plans. JBZ and the Detroit Zoo and probably all zoos have lesson plans and printables on animal classification, animal body coverings, adaptation, habitats and more. 

Research petting zoos. Maybe they've improved over the years, but we've had some unpleasant experiences at petting zoos. Tired, uncomfortable and even neglected animals forced to interact with mobs of people who aren't always respectful of the animals is a recipe for disaster. Pun intended, "vet" petting zoos before visiting. This includes any zoo day camps or zoo school experiences. 

Visit animal sanctuaries, nature centers, wildlife preserves and animal hospitals. Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., is a good example. Yes, animals are in cages, but that is for their protection. All have been injured, maimed or in some way damaged by interaction with humans. Our youngest daughter was sensitized, then incensed seeing a bobcat that had been taken captive for a wildlife circus and declawed. He is literally helpless. It's a sad but relevant object lesson on why animals should be protected, not endangered. Blandford has a beautiful wildlife preserve, nature center and animal hospital that rehabs injured animals for reintegration to the wild.  Visit any nature center or wildlife preserve near you. Most all will have free printable animal lesson plans and activities to further study. 

Make animal habitat dioramas. Use my lesson plans to make animal habitat dioramas and here are free printable animal habitat diorama cut and paste coloring pages. Teach biodiversity, animal classification, body coverings, animal tracking and more! Make animal activities VAKT and special education friendly, by adding "touch and feel" elements to habitats. Use straw, fabric, fake fur, bumpy and textured surfaces to simulate animal body coverings and nest or dwelling materials. More on that later! 

Free printable deer themed unit lesson plans, coloring pages: Frozen, Bambi, Rudolph story party ideas

Our backyard bird feeder attracts a lot of feathered and furry friends. And last night, I had a new guest, that pretty mama deer in the photo left! This was surprising because we live in a city but also exciting. We often visit our "deer friends" in their habitat by the lake and it was nice that they came to see us in ours! And being a teacher, what's my first thought? To make any cool experience into lesson plans! This summer, I've been writing a series on story party ideas based on favorite kids books. Today I'll share a deer themed book party and lesson planner, in honor of our deer friend (whom I've named Fauna) and our newest grandson Ezra whose spirit animal is a deer. I'll include cross-curricular lesson plans, book party crafts, games, snacks, free printable deer coloring pages, plus famous literary deer such as Bambi, Sven from Frozen and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! 

Deer-themed story party books and literature-based activities

Stranger in the Woods (Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick) Several inquisitive whitetail deer meet up with a snowman dressed as a bird feeder and happily sample his wares. This book is part of a series of pictures books of animal photography. Here are free printable snowman crafts from the book. Have kids make deer crafts (listed below) and act out the story. 

Bambi, a Life in the Woods and Bambi's Children (Felix Salkin) provided the basis for the Disney cartoon Bambi. Read the books at your story party or view the film (warning: it's quite sad and may  not be suitable for some viewers--raising hand here!) For followup activities, make a woodland animal habitat diorama. See my blog post for habitat diorama crafts and printables. Visit Coloring-Book.info for free printable Disney Bambi coloring pages. 

Disney Frozen Read the book version or enjoy the Disney Frozen or Frozen 2 movie. It's not exactly reindeer themed but Sven the reindeer certainly plays an important role! Here's an article with free printable Frozen coloring pages. You could make a Frozen diorama, too. 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Read the Little Golden Book version at your deer themed story party. Next, use these free printable Rudolph coloring pages, from the book and also the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas cartoon. Have kids make up their own book of Rudolph adventures. You can do the same with Frozen or Bambi. Or make up a Frozen, Bambi or Rudolph board game. 

Deer themed phonics, vocabulary and reading lessons

Earlier I made the pun about our deer (dear) friend. Use that in phonics lesson plans on word families and homonyms, which include homophones (words with the same pronunciation but different spelling and meaning) and homographs (words with same spelling regardless of pronunciation and meaning). Here are vocabulary/ spelling words from the unit.

deer, bear, woods, snowman, prey, rabbit, bird, feed, Frozen, reindeer

Here are homonyms to explore from our deer unit:

deer/dear

bear/bare

reed/read

here/hear

red/read

rein/reign/rain

wood/would

fawn/fawn/faun (a baby deer, to bow and scrape, a mythological woodland creature)

book/book (something to read, to plan something)

feed/feed (to give food, a live broadcast)

prey/pray (animals that are food for others, to honor a deity) 

Deer and reindeer themed science and math craft snacks for story party

I always like lesson plans that involve hands-on, interactive activities for kids. And craft snacks (aka edible craft projects) make great hands-on lesson plans. Involve kids in counting and measuring for craft snacks, for preschool and elementary math activities and lesson plans. 

Pretzel deer snack craft: Give each child one small braid pretzel, two broken pretzel halves (antlers), one red M&M (nose) one slightly melted Hershey kiss or Rolo and two edible eyes. Child places kiss on pretzel and presses M&M and eyes into kiss for face and pokes broken pretzels in on top. If it won't stick, use a little chocolate frosting. Or you can omit kiss and just use frosting for face. 

Antler Apples (deer feed and bird seed craft snacks): Our deer friend was drawn to our bird feeder, so why not make bird and deer snacks for animals and kids to enjoy together. Have children dip small pretzel sticks in peanut butter and poke into an apple. Stick raisins to peanut butter on tops of sticks. For bird snacks, mix bird seed, peanut butter or suet, oats, apple peels and raisins and mold into balls. Place in recycled plastic mesh orange bags. Or mold into squares and place in suet feeder. Best of all, attach balls to pretzel rod and poke into the ground. For the kid snack version, substitute bird seed and apple peels for mixed nuts and apple cubes. Add coconut, dried cranberries, dates to taste. 

Science lesson plan extenders, keep a nature journal noting and drawing pictures of who visits your feeder! 

Deer themed games

Animal Antics: Discuss food chain and predator prey relationships. Animals, like deer are "prey animals" and they rely on camouflage to stay hidden from predators. Use these free printable animal camouflage worksheets to make matching games. Then have kids discuss how deer protect themselves in the wild. Children might camouflage costumes and play hide and seek outside, at dusk. 

Free Printable Earth Day lesson plans on ecology, environment, poverty, world hunger

Looking for Earth Day science lesson plans? How about social studies lesson plans to teach students global awareness? Here are activities to show how poverty is rooted in habits that are unfriendly to the environment like pollution, deforestation, destruction of natural resources and rainforest exploitation. . The Hunger Site offers free printable lesson plans to build global awareness. The Hunger Site and partner sites support the rainforest, animals, literacy, diabetes, autism, Alzheimer's and veterans. Clicks and purchases at fair trade stores enable The Hunger Site to donate to those in need around the world.

The Hunger Site and partner sites provide free printable global awareness resources for teachers and homeschoolers. Click the tab "literacy and education." Get free printable ecology and environment lesson plans to teach students about the dangers of global warming, rainforest exploitation, expansionism, imperialism, urban sprawl, pollution, deforestation, water shortage, poverty and hunger. These activities are perfect for Earth Month or Earth Day lesson plans. 

Here are more free printable ecology and environment lesson plans help students explore world hunger, poverty, disease and famine from a social justice perspective. Smithsonian Education offers free printable conservation, ecology and environment activities on pollution, world poverty, famine and disease.  Why Hunger has free activities on natural resources, world hunger, distribution of wealth and poverty.

Feeding Minds helps teachers and students explore world hunger and poverty inside out and provides many free printable educational resources. Rain-tree has free printable rainforest, ecology and environment activities. Students learn about deforestation, wildlife preservation, pollution, depletion of natural resources and more. Eduweb offers students online games and free printable resources to explore the Amazon rainforest and the environment. There are lessons on food webs and natural resources. Teach students about world hunger and poverty in a proactive ways, by building global awareness of natural resources, ecology and environmental science

Free Printable Animal Habitat Activities

For hands-on science lesson plans, you can't beat dioramas. Students explore concepts interactively, making 3-D scenes. Shoebox dioramas (scenes set up inside boxes tilted on their sides) are a good medium. Dioramas help students visualize content. Diorama activities work very well for literature, social studies, animal habitats and life science lesson plans. Use animal habitats dioramas in life science lesson plans to help students understand how creatures interact with their environment.

Animal habitat dioramas can be made with found objects and recyclables. Or here are free printable animal habitats dioramas. Use free printable animal habitat or biomes dioramas for biology and other science lesson plans. Students color, cut and paste and assemble dioramas. Printable dioramas give the added benefit of high success and low failure. Special needs and easily frustrated students can create great looking projects and feel proud of their work.

The American Museum of Natural History has free printable animal habitats dioramas for different biomes. Click each Ology site for different science lesson plans. Look for "make it" and "coloring pages" links. From there, print backgrounds and creatures. Check out printable games and puzzles and lesson plans, too. Crayola has free printable dioramas that are simple enough for preschool lesson plans. Here are free printable animal habitat dioramas of the ocean. Exploring nature hasfree printable animal habitats coloring pages. Students can color and cut out and arrange in 3D shoebox dioramas. Or that could be the backdrop and they could glue plastic animals and plants in the shoebox base.

First Palette, a great teacher/homeschool website, has free printable habitats dioramas: Habitats or biomes include coral reef, African savanna, polar biomes, rainforest and paleolithic dinosaur habitats. Free printable animal coloring pages are available at First Palette too. There are insects, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians in different biomes. Have kids color and place in the proper environment. This teaches sorting, classifying and symbiotic relationships. Have kids explore KPCOFGS--kingdom, phyllum, class, order, family, genus and species--concepts too. Perfect for K-8 science, preschool, homeschool, Montessori and special education.

Free Printable Rango Coloring Pages, Desert Craft Activities

Archaeology is one of the most fascinating branches of science and caves are one of nature's most alluring geological landforms to explore. Caves are a separate biome all their own. They've been used as habitats by animals and people. Bats are cave dwellers and dinosaurs dwelt in caves. Mystics have sought divine enlightenment living as hermits in caves. Ancient people left hieroglyphics on walls of caves, like those at Lascaux, France. Caves yield up a treasure trove of fossils and teach valuable lessons in archaeology and paleontology. Teachers and homeschool families, if you're planning a unit on caves (and you really should) here are free printable lesson plans on cave-related subjects of fossils, bats, archaeology, paleontology, habitats, geology, spelunking and earth science.

The National Parks Service has free printable lessons on the U.S. national park at Carlsbad Cavernsin New Mexico. There's curriculum for elementary school in the free printable booklet About Bats, Caves and Deserts. For middle school students, the NPS Carlsbad Caverns website features free printable archaeology lessons on Caves, Canyons, Cactus and Critters. High school students explore geology, spelunking, Global Positioning Systems and orienteering in the Chihuahuan Desert Lab school. Materials are designed to be used with interpretive visits but some may be used as stand-alone lessons in class. Check out the cool activities on fossils, bats, paleontology and other cave phenomena.

Also from the NPS, are free printable materials on Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. There are free coloring pages, word games, puzzles and lesson plans in the Junior Ranger section. Kids will love the printable Trog Tour booklet (trog is short for super cool fossils called troglodytes) The Making Connections series from Mammoth Cave National Park features books for grades K-3, 4-5 and 6-8. There are 83 pages of free printable paleontology lesson plans for teachers and homeschool parents. And be sure not to let young archaeology students miss the free printable Fossil Identification Guide with coloring pages of fossils to label.

Lascaux Culture has interactive lesson plans on Lascaux cave drawings. Explore paleontology and archaeology with the prehistoric paintings, There are cave maps, images, videos and timelines. The website has interpretive information detailing the images, their purpose and their significance. You can access the site in several languages including English, but the educational "resources" link is available only in French.

Easy Fun School has free cave diorama lesson plan. The diorama is easy to make and uses cheap, household materials.has free printable animal habitat coloring pages. Students can research which animals live or hibernate in caves. This site has other free printable habitats dioramas. Crayola offers a free craft template to show interior cave rock formations.

Cave stalactites grow downward from the ceiling. The word comes from the Greek "to drip" (stalactites resemble icicles). Stalagmites grow up from the cave floor and look like upside down icicles. In Greek, the word means "trickling." Use these activities to demonstrate how stalactites and stalagmites grow. Crystal Cave in Wisconsin offers tours and family activities to explore this famous cave. Here are free printable geology lesson plans on archaeology, paleontology, bats, and fossils.

Free Printable Animal habitats, migration, biodiversity, science lesson plans

To teach students about different animal species, biodiversity, symbiosis, predator-prey relationships, biomes and habitats,  here are free printable animal habitat dioramas.

For hands-on science lesson plans, you can't beat dioramas. Students explore concepts interactively, making 3-D scenes. Shoebox dioramas (scenes set up inside boxes tilted on their sides) are a good medium. Dioramas help students visualize content. Diorama activities work very well for literature, social studies, animal habitats and life science lesson plans. Use animal habitats dioramas in life science lesson plansto help students understand how creatures interact with their environment.

Animal habitat dioramas can be made with found objects and recyclables. Or here are free printable animal habitats dioramas. Use free printable animal habitat or biomes dioramas for biology and other science lesson plans. Students color, cut and paste and assemble dioramas. Printable dioramas give the added benefit of high success and low failure. Special needs and easily frustrated students can create great looking projects and feel proud of their work.

The American Museum of Natural History has free printable animal habitats dioramas for different biomes. Click each Ology site for different science lesson plans. Look for "make it" and "coloring pages" links. From there, print backgrounds and creatures. Check out printable games and puzzles and lesson plans, too. Crayola has free printable dioramas that are simple enough for preschool lesson plans. Here are free printable animal habitat dioramas of the ocean. Exploring nature has free printable animal habitats coloring pages. Students can color and cut out and arrange in 3D shoebox dioramas. Or that could be the backdrop and they could glue plastic animals and plants in the shoebox base.

First Palette, a great teacher/homeschool website, has free printable habitats dioramas: Habitats or biomes include coral reef, African savanna, polar biomes, rainforest and Paleolithic dinosaur habitats. Free printable animal coloring pages are available at First Palette too. There are insects, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians in different biomes. Have kids color and place in the proper environment. This teaches sorting, classifying and symbiotic relationships. Have kids explore KPCOFGS--kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species--concepts too. Perfect for K-8 science, preschool, homeschool, Montessori and special education.