Habitats

The children in Pine and Mulberry are learning to identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats and they are beginning to understand that most living things live in habitats they are suited to. Today we investigated habitats and micro-habitats around our school. Luckily we have some amazing new facilities which made this a very fun experience as our playground now features bug hotels, grassy areas and even a small pond! 

We had great fun pond-dipping to explore an aquatic habitat. The children were able to identify midge fly larvae (blood worms), diving bettles and we even found a small water snail amongst many other creatures! We made a figure of 8 very slowly and gently tipped the net into a tray before studying the creatures with magnifying glasses.

 It was amazing to see that the plants and creatures in a pond form a small community together. We discovered some interesting facts, for example, we learnt that water snails hide in plants for shelter but also rely on the plants for a food source as it is a herbivore.