HIDE AND SEEK
INTRODUCTION This is an outdoor
activity, appropriate for younger elementary children. It is a nice
extension for A
Color of His Own.
PURPOSE This activity shows
children how animals use color to camouflage themselves so it is more difficult
for their predators to see them. It is also a good "counting" and
a simple graphing activity for the younger children.
MATERIALS Pipe cleaners, cut
into 3/4" pieces, 40 each of four colors:
PREPARATION FOR THE ACTIVITY 1. Cut the pipe cleaners into 3/4" lengths. Make two sets of pieces, each containing 20 pieces of each of the four colors (80 pieces total in each set). 2. Before the class starts, find a place outside that has a good grassy area next to a sandy dirt area. If necessary, you can use a sidewalk or blacktop for the second area. Form two 10-foot squares with your string or rope, one in the grassy area, and the other in the sandy area. 3. Sprinkle
one set of pipe cleaner pieces in one square, and the other set in the
second square.
PROCEDURE Choose six children
to find the pipe cleaner pieces in the grassy square, and another six to
find them in the sandy square. Have them start their "hunt" at the
same time. At the end of 30 seconds, stop the "hunt".
Only those pieces already found should be taken back to the classroom.
Take the pieces inside, and have the children separate them into piles
of the four colors, keeping the pieces retrieved from each square separate
from the other square. Have the children count their piles while
you or one of the children keep a record of the numbers of each color on
the chalkboard. While both squares will most likely yield similar
numbers of white and red pieces, there should be many fewer dull green
pieces found in the grassy square.
EXPLANATION The dull green, and
to some extent the bright green, pipe cleaner pieces are very similar to
the color of the grass, and thus are more difficult to find. If you
were to do this activity in a forest area, you might want to use more "earthtone"
colors of pipe cleaners, such as tan and brown to blend in with dead leaves
and humus, along with the bright red and white.
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS This activity is a good extension for A Color of His Own, an activity based on the book of the same name. In A Color of His Own, by Leo Lionni, a chameleon is unhappy because he doesnít stay one color like all the other animals. However, as he searches for a way to remain a single color, he learns an important lesson from a new friend. This is a good opportunity to have children practice making a bar graph by plotting number of a certain color on the vertical axis versus color on the horizontal axis. This will produce e a bar for each color, and the height of the bar will indicate the number picked up. REFERENCES This activity was adapted from an experiment written
up a few years ago in Science and Children. However, we have been
unable to recover the actual article. If you have the reference,
please email it to us. Thank you.
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