Pond Activities -- PreK-2

Pre Visit

Life Forms – Identify life forms in and around a pond. (plants, ducks, turtles, fish, frogs, etc.)  

Activity: Categorize pond life

1. Have the children list plants and animals that live near or in ponds.
2. Break the class into groups who will separate the  listed species into categories.
3. If you have time, allow the children to draw the species in one category and describe why the plants or animals belong to that category.
4. Make a pond life bulletin board out of the creations.

Activity: Write about a day in the life of a frog

1. Read a story of Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.
2. Discuss the differences between frogs and toads (frogs usually live in water, toads have bumpy skin, etc.).
3. Have the children write a letter to Toad from Frog explaining what they did that day, keeping in mind what real frogs and toads can do.  

Post Visit

Pond life – Recognize the micro and macro life forms that live at a pond  

Activity: Pond water tray "Times New Roman""

1. Give each child a clean styrofoam meat tray, collage materials, natural materials such as leaves and twigs, paper, and crayons.
2. Ask the children to recreate what they found at the pond.  They can draw the creatures or use materials to represent the animals.  When they are finished, ask them to describe what they saw and what the created. (Most things will be described as "bugs," but they will need to describe their "bugs."

 

Pond Activities -- Grades 3-5

Pre Visit

Life Forms– Identify life forms in and around a pond.  (plants, ducks, insects, insect larvae, frogs, etc.)

Activity: Categorize pond life

1. Have the children list plants and animals that they expect to see near the pond.
2. Break the class into groups who will separate the  listed species into categories.
3. If you have time, allow the children to draw the species in one category and describe why the plants or animals belong to that category.

Examples of species: frogs, toads, fish, ducks, cormorants, snapping turtles, painted turtles, water snakes, dragonflies, dragonfly larvae, mosquito larvae, predaceous diving beetle, etc.

Activity: Design a pond

1. Ask the students to list what would be necessary if they were going to reconstruct a pond. List their answers.
2. Set aside a section of bulletin board or a few sheets of poster board as the pond.
3. Assign different groups of students to make the living (animals and plants) portion and the non-living portion (rocks, water, soil) of the pond. 
4. When the pond is put together, leave it up for further study.  After you return from the pond, ask the students if they need to add anything to their habitat. (Many students will initially forget micro-life forms such as bugs (daphnia, worms, springtails, various insect larvae, etc.) because they are concentrating on the macro-vertebrates.

Post Visit

Pond life – Recognize the micro and macro life forms that live at a pond  

Life Cycles – Understand the life cycles of dragonflies and frogs 

Activity: Life Cycle Poster

1. Give each child scrap paper for practice and a large piece of paper for the final project, as well as drawing materials.
2. Ask the children to design a poster that will explain the life cycle of a dragonfly or a frog to other children. (Maybe for children a year or two younger than themselves.)
3. Make sure that the poster includes a written description as well as pictures (or photographs).