Activities

We have tried to find some activities that we have enjoyed doing or ones that we plan to do and we hope that you will have fun.

You will find the following activities on this page:

Arctic Scrimshaw
Arctic Scavenger Hunt
Animal Carvings
Blubber Mitten Activity
Owl Pellet Activity
Animal Quiz
Arctic Adaptations
Freebies

Arctic Scrimshaw

Try your skill at an ancient craft

Grade Level: 4-6tanogram_sheep2.jpg (5447 bytes)

Subject: Language Arts, Art, Science

Skills: Observation, visualization, research

Duration: 2 classes

Objective:

    Students will begin to understand and appreciate some of the skills necessary to do scrimshaw.

Teaching Strategy:

    To supplement the study of the Walrus and the use by Arctic peoples of ivory, students draw pictures to replicate scrimshaw work on ivory.

Materials:

    One bar of soap (Ivory works well) for each student, tools that would could be used for cutting the soap.

Procedure:

  1. Have students draw onto the bar of soap an arctic scene or animal that want to do in scrimshaw.
  2. Use the tools to scratch or lightly cut the picture into the soap. Remember scrimshaw is worked onto the soap, it doesn't change the shape of the soap.
  3. To make the carving stand out go over the work lightly with shoe polish or furniture scratch cover. After it is down in the cut areas wipe it off of the face of the soap.

Evaluation:

  1. Have students evaluate the skills necessary to be good at scrimshaw work. Let them think through how they can apply some of these same skills to their own work and interests.
  2. Give a writing assignment to the students. For this assignment have them tell why they think arctic people would do scrimshaw work.

 

 Arctic Scavenger Hunt

See what you have learned from our site

Grade Level: 2-6

Skills: Observation, identification, following directions                                                 

Subjects: History, Science

Duration: 1 class

Objective: To reinforce what the students have learned from this web site.

Teaching Strategy: Review of the material covered in this web site will be accomplished as students look for different items or pieces of information on the site. You can print out this hunt activity sheet.

Procedure:

(Note: As each item is found have students place a stamp on their papers to show they have found the items. Let students work together in groups of 2-3 to verify the work and help each other.)

Find the following items and/or pieces of information on the different pages of "Arctic Animals":

    a. A picture of two dall sheep.

    b. Some items made from ivory.

    c. What narwhal's use their tusks for.

    d. What does "gulo gulo" mean?

    e. How far does an arctic tern fly each year?

    f. Why are snowy owls white?

    g. What is the difference between a hare and a rabbit?

    h. How much does an adult polar bear weigh?

    i.  Does a caribou have horns or antlers?

    j.  How long is an arctic fox? Find the answer in the picture.

    k  What is Qiviut?

    l.  What is the Latin name for the lynx? 

Extra Credit: Listen to one of the sound clip stories on the page and summarize what the story was about.

   

Animal Carvings

Grade Level: 4-6

Skills: Listening, visualization, art, observation, identification.tanogram_walrus2.jpg (4624 bytes)

Subjects: Science, Art

Duration: 2 classes

Objective: Give students the opportunity to carve one of the animals they have been studying.

Teaching Strategy: After studying the web site students will use plaster of paris blocks to carve one of the animals they have been studying.

Materials: One pint milk cartons, or equivalent size container, for each student, plaster of paris, sand, water, carving tools. The tools can be plastic knives, table knives, old dental files, wood working files, etc. Anything that the student can scrape and "carve" with will work. Need not be very sharp to work.

Procedure:

  1. Fill each one pint container ¾ full with water.
  2. Pour the water into a separate bowl for mixing and add plaster of paris and an equal amount of sand and mix well. Students may use their hands for this. Make sure all the material is mixed well. Consistency should be smooth and like thin oatmeal.
  3. Pour mixture back into one pint container and allow to harden.
  4. Remove the milk carton paper from block.
  5. Have student draw one of the animals they have been studying on a piece of paper.
  6. After the carving block of plaster is hard have students trace their pictures onto a side of the block .
  7. Let student then carve their animal.
  8. Remember: Turn the animal while carving to get a more accurate carving.
  9. Finish the outside of the carving by taking equal parts of glue and water mixed together and coating the carving with it. After it dries the animal may be stained, painted, or allowed to remain as it is.

Evaluation:

  1. Discuss with students some of the skills needed by a carver to achieve a carving that reflects what he is trying to achieve.
  2. Review some of the different materials that carvers would use from the Arctic region.

 

Polar Bears

Blubber Mitten Activity

To find out what it's like to have a layer of blubber to keep warm, try this easy Blubber Mitten experiment. you'll need:

Crisco (or other fat)
2 zippable sandwich bags
A bowl of ice water with ice cubes

   Procedure:

  1. Fill one of the zipper bags about 1/3 full of shortening, then turn the remaining zipper bag inside out. Place it carefully inside the bag with the shortening so that you are able to zip the one bag to the other. This creates a "blubber mitten" for you to put your hand in.
  2. Put your bare hand in the bowl of cold water and see just how cold it is!

  3. Next, place your hand in the "blubber mitten" and now place your mittened hand in the ice water. How cold does the water seem with the "blubber mitten" on? Do you think a nice layer of blubber would be great protection against cold? Walrus, whales, and seals also have wonderful layers of blubber which help to keep them warm.
    ­Used with permission from Susan .

Snowy Owls

Owl Pellet Activity

Grade Level: K-12tanogram_hare1.jpg (3492 bytes)

Skills: Dissecting, observation, listening, and identification.

Subjects: Science

Duration: 2 classes

Objective: Students will identify what an owl has eaten by examining the bones left in an owl pellet.

Teaching Strategy: Students will dissect owl pellets, pull out the bones of the prey that the owl has eaten and determine what kind of animal it was.

Materials: Owl pellets, bone identification chart, tweezers or toothpicks, data sheet.

Procedure:

  1. Have students pair up in groups of two to dissect the pellets.
  2.  Divide responsibilities among the group. eg. who will dissect, who will identify, who will record.
  3. Have the students dissect the pellets.
  4. Record findings on a sheet of paper.

    5.  

Contact one of the following sources or write or go to your local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to obtain owl pellets.

See if you can tell what the owl had been eating.

Sources for owl pellets:

Caroline Biological Supply Co., 2700  York Road, Burlington, NC, 27215
Nasco West, 1524 Princeton Avenue, P.O. Box 3837, Modesto, CA 95352-3837
Pellets, Inc., 3004 Pinewood, Bellingham, WA 98225 (206)733-3012
Your local Bureau of Land Management Office.
Data Sheet and addresses for owl pellets obtained from and used with permission of:
      Alaska Project WILD Coordinator
      Alaska Department of Fish & Game
      Division of Wildlife Conservation
      333 Raspberry Rd.
      Anchorage, AK 99518-1599
      907-267-2168

Animal Quiz

Find out exactly what you have learned

 

Grade Level: K-4

Skills: Recall and identification.

Subjects: Social Studies, Science

Duration: 1 class

Objective: Students will test their knowledge of the animals they have been studying by taking this quiz. and to have fun.

Teaching Strategy: Copy the quiz and make it available for the students to take when they have finished going through the Arctic Animals site.

Check the answers on the answer page.

 

Arctic Adaptations

Why Do Tundra Animals Have Shorter Ear, Tails, Noses and Toes?

Grade Level: K-7

Skills: Observation, listening, and identification.

Subjects: Science

Duration: 1 class

Objective: Students will identify what adaptations arctic animals have that makes them suite to live in the cold.

Teaching Strategy: Students will perform the following experiments to come to conclusions concerning ways that arctic animals can survive the cold habitat in which they live.

Materials: A pair of latex gloves, rubber bands, two thermometers, warm water, a measuring cups, two containers, refrigerator, and goggles.

Directions:

  1. Think about what will keep your hands warmer; a mitten or a glove?
  2. Close off each finger of one glove with rubber bands, this must be very tight. This will be the mitten.
  3. Leave the other glove intact.
  4. Pour an equal amount of warm water in each glove.
  5. Measure and record the water temperature making sure it is the same for each glove.
  6. Close the top with rubber bands. Make sure they will not leak.
  7. Place both gloves in a cool place; nest to one another but not touching.
  8. Wait 30 minutes.
  9. Pour the water from each glove into seperate container.
  10. Measure and record the temperature.
  11. Which had the greatest decrease in temperature? (It should have been the glove).
  12. Apply what you have learned to the size of tundra animals ears, tails, noses and toes compared to their temperate counterparts.
Used with permission of: Alaska Project WILD Coordinator
                               Alaska Department of Fish & Game
                            Division of Wildlife Conservation
                            333 Raspberry Rd.
                            Anchorage,AK 99518-1599
                            907-267-2168

Freebies

If you or your students contact the following sources you can get some free posters.

http://www.alyeska-pipe.com Alyeska Pipeline Service Company in Anchorage, Alaska the operators of the trans-Alaska Pipeline System has sent some of its wildlife poster titled, "Our Neighbors" that they produced showing the animals that live along the 800 mile pipeline in the Alaskan wilderness down to their office in Washington, DC. If you go to this site and e-mail them requesting a poster(s) and tell them how you were directed to them they will send you a free poster(s).

http://www.mms.gov/alaska This is the site for the U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service. This site has a downloadable activity book, a downloadable photo gallery of Alaska images, and more.

Original Tanogram pictures by Samuel

Animals Activities Guestbook Resources

©Copyright 1998 ERCHA