Activity And Project

Go Wild with Webcams!

Grades
3 - 5
Activity Time
20 or more minutes a day, as often as desired
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Activity Description

Can't make it to a zoo? After reading a book about animals, observe animal habits and habitats using one of the many Webcams streaming from zoos and aquariums around the United States and the world. Simply watch and wonder, or invite children to use a notetaking form or notebooks and participate in discussions and questioning. This activity can also lead to research on animals and their habitats.

Why This Is Helpful

Children seem to have a nature interest in animals. By looking at Webcams and watching animal behavior, children learn to look closely and think like scientists.  They learn to record their observations. Children then ask questions and want to find the answers.  This simple activity can lead to many other exciting projects!

What You Need

  • Book about animals like Ape Adventures or Eye Wonder: Horse
     
  • Computer and Internet access

  • Sites with Webcams

  • Notetaking form

  • Art and drawing supplies

  • Install RealPlayer and/or Windows Media Player on the computer being used so the Webcams can be viewed. The page for the site chosen will indicate the plug-in that is needed to view the animals. These plug-ins are free downloads, but it may take extra time to install the programs.

Here's What To Do

  1. Read together a book about animals, like Ape Adventures or Eye Wonder: Horse, paying special attention to the pictures, captions, definitions and glossary. Take notes as needed. Discuss the facts that were learned about apes.

  2. While reading about an animal helps us learn, seeing one is even better! Take a look at the Ape Webcam from the San Diego Zoo or the Horse Webcam from Green Tree Horse Farm.

  3. Choose together another type of animal to learn more about by viewing their habits and behavior on a webcam.

  4. Explore the Sites with Webcams, and choose the ones that will work best with your children. Note when the zoo indicates that the animals featured on the camera are typically active. Be prepared to choose an alternate camera if no animals appear within a reasonable length of time or if the Webcam is unavailable for some reason.

  5. Once a site is selected, gather children around the computer monitor so that everyone is able to see.

  6. Ask them to explain what they see on the Webcam display:
     
    • What is the animal doing?
    • What do you notice about the animal's habitat?
    • How does the animal move?
    • How does the animal interact with others?
    • What else do you think the animal does in this habitat?
    • What do you notice when you look closely at the images?
    • What would a scientist notice about this animal?
  7. View the scenes from the Webcam once a day or several times during the day.  Compare what is the same and what is different. If children are viewing multiple locations, compare how similar animals act differently in the different places. Ask the child what questions s/e has about the animal.

More Ideas To Try

  • An option instead of Webcams is for children to complete similar activities by observing a pet, animals at home or the zoo, or a birdfeeder or squirrel feeder outside the window or at a nearby park.

  • Invite children to draw pictures of what they have observed.

  • If the children are interested in writing about what they have seen, encourage them to write it down in a notebook or using the Animal Webcam Observation Worksheet.

  • Watching the animals can lead children to ask questions about the animals or their habitats.  You can introduce nonfiction books and videos that children can use to look for additional information. Working together, you could search online, visit the library or search the resources you have available at home.

  • To conclude the project, invite children to write all they learned about the animals in a notebook, on paper or using the Animal Webcam Observation Summary.  Children can also create their own recording forms that match the animals they are observing.

  • Take virtual fieldtrips to other places of interest, such as museums and galleries that have online exhibits.

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