Lesson Assessment : After watching the videos, ask students to draw an animal having lunch.
Read-aloud books online: These nonfiction books will get your students thinking and talking about the animals they met in this lesson.
Videos: Watching these videos will let students figure out what caterpillars, cows, toads, and pandas eat.
Activity: A simple bird feeder can give students a chance to observe birds up close.
Activity: Take a nature walk or a field trip.

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

# Read-Aloud Books

Epic offers books online for teachers to use for free. Just click “Get Started” to register.

With photos and basic text, these books expand on what students have learned about these common woodland animals. Each book includes a glossary of vocabulary words.

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

# Simple Bird Feeders

A feeder filled with birdseed can attract finches, sparrows, and chickadees for your class to observe. If you have the budget for it, buy a clear plastic feeder that attaches to your window, like this or this. Check your hardware store for other options.

If you’re feeling crafty, transform an old soda bottle into a seed feeder with the instructions here or the gadget sold here.

Insect-eating birds, like woodpeckers, nuthatches, juncos, and jays, like high fat food. To attract them, you can get a suet cake from a hardware store, along with an inexpensive suet holder like this one. Or you make your own with a recipe from Birds & Blooms and pack it in an old cup like this. The birds will be happy either way.

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

# Field Trip Possibilities

Visit a pond where students can feed the ducks. Though many people feed ducks bread, that’s not the best food for them. We recommend uncooked rolled oats or birdseed. (Both are available in most grocery stores.)
Visit a farm where they can learn about several animals (including chickens, which scratch like quail).
Walk in the park or the woods and watch for animals, just as Doug did. Even an urban park is likely to have squirrels, sparrows, pigeons, and maybe a few gophers.

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

# Video Discussion: What Do Animals Eat?

Ask your students what each animal eats and then watch the videos to discover the answers.

After watching the videos, have students complete the drawing prompt assessment .

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

animal

1 of 12

a living thing that needs to eat other living things

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

beak

2 of 12

the part of a bird that it uses to eat

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

wing

3 of 12

a body part used for flying

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

Video trouble?

forest

4 of 12

a place with lots of trees

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

footprint

5 of 12

a mark left behind when a foot presses into soft ground

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

food

6 of 12

something that animals eat

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

needs

7 of 12

things an animal or plant must have in order to live

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

survive

8 of 12

to stay alive

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

Video trouble?

behavior

9 of 12

what an animal does

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

Video trouble?

different

10 of 12

not the same

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

similar

11 of 12

somewhat the same

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

pattern

12 of 12

something that happens again and again and again in a way that can be predicted

Full Screen

Exit Full Screen

Image & Video Credits

Mystery Science respects the intellectual property rights of the owners of visual assets. We make every effort to use images and videos under appropriate licenses from the owner or by reaching out to the owner to get explicit permission. If you are the owner of a visual and believe we are using it without permission, please contact us—we will reply promptly and make things right.

Other

portrait of boy by Hogan Imaging

quail head by Nico Giuliani

video of quail scratching for seeds by Don Desjardin

video walking through forest by Zenvision TV

woodpecker on tree branch by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Mircea C

baby raccoon head on top of Pat's body by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Seregraff

raccoon by pool of water by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: eddtoro

treehouse by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: AfriramPOE

video walking through forest by Zenvision TV

hand by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: aloneman13d

quail head by Nico Giuliani

video of quail scratching for seeds by Don Desjardin

video of woodpecker pecking wood and demonstration by Benjamin Slade

video walking through forest by Zenvision TV

boy standing (1) by Hogan Imaging

boy standing (2) by Sergey Novikov

close-up video of quail in wilderness by Phooj Vaj

girl standing by Sergey Novikov

raccoon walking in pool of water and staff demonstration by darlaz2b

seeds in palm of hand by Jcomeau ictx

video of woodpecker pecking wood and demonstration by Benjamin Slade

quail scratching for seeds by Don Desjardin

video of foraging raccoons and staff demonstration by Mossy Oak

video of quail flapping wings and Pat demonstrating by Texas Parks and Wildlife

video of quail scratching for seeds by Don Desjardin

video of woodpecker pecking wood and demonstration by Benjamin Slade

video of foraging raccoons and staff demonstration by Mossy Oak

video of quail scratching for seeds and Pat demonstrating by Don Desjardin

video close-up of foraging raccoons by Mossy Oak

video of foraging raccoons and staff demonstration by Mossy Oak

video of quail pecking for seeds and Pat demonstrating by Barbara Weaver

baby raccoon by Sonsedska Yuliia

pond snails in palm of hand by Water Garden Plants

video of quail sprinting and Pat demonstrating by Texas Parks and Wildlife

California quial by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: cynoclub

video of woodpecker pecking wood by Benjamin Slade

wood-boring insects by Charlotte Simmonds

video of woodpecker pecking wood by Benjamin Slade

squirrel eating acorn by Image used under license from Shutterstock.com: Mircea C

Credits

“The giggles from the kids during the activity, and at the end of the day the kids were leaving the school pretending to be like a quail! OH OH and at the end of the lesson, they were so enthusiastic about answering the question, "What do animals need to live?" "FOOD!"”

“Please keep adding lessons! I love your program. It is wonderful for children with special needs because you incorporate different learning styles. I like that fact the books are read aloud for students who cannot yet read. The videos are fabulous. Thanks for adding standards and an assessment section. ”

“This was our first Mystery Science lesson. I LOVE how the it incorporated getting up to act out the characteristics of the animal and addressed the phonics skills to sound out the word (qu- ail). I also enjoyed the video repeating the quail's action while we stopped to discuss what the bird was doing. Still frames are difficult for students with disabilities to infer the actions. We love Mystery Doug, but this was way more interactive! Thank you!”

“My students loved the kinesthetic opportunity to pretend to be the animals! I loved that you put the words on the screen for them to read and say with you. My kids really need to practice reading and integrating it into Science is awesome!”

“I teach a multi-disabled, multi grade classroom and this lesson was great! We broke it up into 4 days and I made a cut and paste activity to go with it as their assessment. The students loved following Miss Pat as they pretended to be birds. I recommend this to any teacher trying to engage their students in science! ”

“I loved the flow of the lesson. Students had opportunities to observe, talk with partners, and move. I also appreciate the notes provided for the teacher on how long the lesson would take and extensions. ”

“My kindergarten class watched 1/2 of the forest floor show before lunch. I was planning on watching the second half the next day. When we got back from lunch they asked if they could finish it. I’m sure that’s one we’ll watch again ”

“it was awesome that the kiddos got to get up and move, they loved acting like animals!! and by the time they were comparing all three animals at the end, most of they kids thought all of the animals were eating, because they were all using their mouths. ”

“Engaging- encouraged good discussion from students. They made great connections. Of course I loved that there was NO prep on my part. Thank you for pointing that out on the description. It was great that I knew I'd be good to go and didn't have to spend time previewing the lesson. ”

“I just did the lesson with a special needs class - some students are functioning at a pre-school level, some are non-verbal, autistic, global developmental delay and so on. This lesson REALLY engaged them. Everyone was able to participate, even those students who needed assistance. They loved being able to get up and copy the animal movements. They were almost all totally engaged watching the videos. And they LOVED watching the videos of animals eating.”

“the video was awesome. I did this as a buddy activity with my fourth graders and their kindergarten buddy class. It worked well to have the older students model the expected behavior and thinking like a scientist. ”

“The kids loved acting out the different animals. They thought it was fun and very funny! They also really seemed to grasp the concept of the animals searching for food and are very excited for the next mystery.”

“My Special education class had a great time with this lesson and picked up on all the concepts. The movements were a great motivator for them and they did some great drawings of animals eating lunch.”

“This was our best lesson yet! I set clear procedures that we were scientists making observations, therefore, horseplay would not be a part of what we were doing and the students complied 100%! I was so impressed. They really learned a lot about using their senses and making observations. They also really enjoyed the extra activities watching animals eat and writing about how a certain animal would eat lunch!”

“The activity component, science and movement together. The children really started to think about animals differently, even though we had already talked about their need for food. We're looking forward to the next one.”

“The kids love to be able to move their bodies! It was a nice intermittent flow of movement. They could listen and also know that they would get their chance to act and wiggle. They also really understood the content!”

“I loved this lesson! It is a perfect mix of activities. The students loved learning about the different animals and had a blast with the movement pieces! The pacing was great, lessons easy to follow. Pat is priceless!”

“I did not teach it...reviewed it and LOVE the interactive component of pretending to be a quail, racoon, and woodpecker. Students will love it too. Like the penmanship type font for the vocab words too. Thanks! Marge”

“This was super fun and engaging for my students! They loved behaving like the animals and they totally got the idea of the lesson that an animal's behavior often tells you something about how they find their food. Really a huge success!”

“Having students make their own observations about the patterns in natural phenomena. Using videos to help them be a part of the "walk". Having actions to have them really think about the animal behaviors. Great connections! Thank you. I will continue with the other videos asking them what other animals eat. I added in the discussion of what types of animals (birds, mammal), how they move, and skin coverings too. ”

Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

Sign up now for tons of free lessons like this one!

Why do woodpeckers peck wood?

Vocabulary