Art Activity: Winter Adaptations

Which wintery animal adaptation is your favorite?

Activity best for children age 2 and up

The snowy, winter months are a great time to observe some of the best animal adaptations. Adaptations are any features that help an animal survive in its environment. See if you can spot these three changes that happen in the winter: migration, habitat camouflage, and hibernation. Migratory animals have adapted to travel short or long distances to places with better food sources and warmer weather. Other animals make changes to their physical appearances and will camouflage with their snowy habitats to stay away from predators (or, even become better hunters). Finally, there are some creatures who have adapted to stay warm and safe without traveling or changing their fur – those are the hibernators. Hibernation is a state of very little activity to help warm-blooded animals stay alive during the long cold months. Choose your favorite animal adaptations in this wintery art activity.

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Materials You’ll Need:

Construction paper

Paper fasteners

White felt

Scissors

Glue

Something to draw with

Guiding Questions:

What are the three animal adaptations?

How do each of these help animals survive the cold winters? 

Directions

STEP 1

Draw and cut out your animals and their winter adaptations. Use white felt as your snowy landscape.

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STEP 2

Glue your hibernators in the dens and burrows that they will be sleeping in all winter. 

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STEP 3

Glue your animals that are camouflaging with their snowy habitats. 

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STEP 4

And glue your migratory animals as they’re on their way to a warmer climate!

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STEP 5

To see how well your animals have adapted in the winter, cut out a half circle and attach to the landscape with a paper fastener. Swivel your “snow” around! You can also fasten snow around your camouflaged creatures.

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Grown Ups-Are you looking for more ways to extend your child’s learning? Check out these extension activities to build upon today’s STREAM activity!

Reading Connections:

“A Warm Winter Tail”, written by Carrie Pearson and illustrated by Christina Wald

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Science Connections:

Winter adaptations are a wonderful way to think about patterns in nature. Ask your little ones what other patterns they observe all year round.