A Home That Fits

Science · Ecosystems & Habitats · ages 6-8

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Which of these is a habitat?
- A dry road with no food or water
- A pond with water, bugs, and plants
- An empty glass box with nothing inside
Which of these is something every good habitat gives the living things there?
- Roads and cars
- Food and water
- Toys and games
Which living thing would feel most at home in a wet, buggy pond?
- A bee, which needs flowers with nectar
- A frog, which needs water and bugs
- A polar bear, which needs ice and seals
What does a pond give a frog?
- Sand to dig in and cactus to eat
- Snow to walk on and seals to hunt
- Water to swim in and bugs to eat
Which of these shows two living things in a habitat helping each other?
- A frog eats a bug and gives nothing back
- A polar bear naps alone on the ice
- A bee sips a flower's nectar and carries its pollen to the next flower
A polar bear's thick fur would help it stay cool in a hot desert.
Circle one: True False
A bee moves pollen so a flower can grow seeds. What does the bee get in return?
- Extra fur to stay warm
- Sweet nectar to eat
- A place to hide from rain
How does a polar bear's white fur help it hunt?
- It helps the bear hide on the white snow so it can get close to seals
- It helps the bear slide on the ice like a sled
- It scares the seals away from the bear
Sam says the desert is a bad habitat because it is hot and dry. What is wrong with Sam's idea?
- Desert fits a cactus just fine
- Nothing is wrong, hot places are bad for every living thing
- Deserts have no living things at all
Maya finds a habitat with lots of food and water but no place to hide. Why might it still not be a good habitat?
- Food and water are the only things that matter
- A habitat with food is always a good habitat
- A good habitat needs to give everything a living thing needs, and shelter is missing

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

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A pond with water, bugs, and plants · A habitat has to give a living thing food, water, air, and shelter. Only the pond does that.
Food and water · Every good habitat gives food, water, air, and shelter. Toys, games, roads, and cars are not things a living thing needs from its home.
A frog, which needs water and bugs · Each habitat fits the living things that need what it gives. A pond gives water and bugs, which is just what a frog needs.
Water to swim in and bugs to eat · A frog's body and habits fit a wet place. A pond gives it the water and food it needs.
A bee sips a flower's nectar and carries its pollen to the next flower · Helping each other means both sides gain something. The bee gets food, and the flower gets help making seeds.
False · Thick fur traps heat. That is great in the cold Arctic, but in a hot desert the same fur would make the bear far too hot.
Sweet nectar to eat · The flower and the bee both gain something: the flower gets its pollen carried, and the bee gets food.
It helps the bear hide on the white snow so it can get close to seals · White fur matches the white snow, so the bear is hard to see while it hunts. Hiding helps it get close to seals.
Desert fits a cactus just fine · No habitat is simply bad. A desert does not fit a frog, but it fits a cactus, because different living things need different things.
A good habitat needs to give everything a living thing needs, and shelter is missing · A habitat has to give food, water, air, and shelter. If hiding places are missing, one big need is not met.