Small mammal study

Opening small mammal hotels

Learning objective

To understand reasons for the adaptations of different small mammals.

Overview

During this 2-hour session, the children will collect the ‘hotel rooms’ they put out the previous afternoon. A member of Stubbington staff will then open each room so that children can see their guests. A class record of each mammal covering species, body length, tail length and mass will be created. It will also be possible to identify the sex of each mammal referring to annotated diagrams (the level of vocabulary and discussion will be decided on collaboration with the lead teacher).

After a short break, the children will return to the classroom and carry out some work focused on looking closely at the mammals and their adaptations. This second part is led by the visiting staff, but worksheets and books are available.

This session is often preceded, on the previous day, by a Tracks and Signs Session and Mammal Hotel Set-up.

Key information

Two-hour session – whole morning

This is available for Key Stage 2 children

The key focus for this is Environment - Mammals