School › Camouflage › Ages 6–7
Now you see me!
Some animals are brilliant at hide and seek. Find out how stick insects, hares and octopuses hide, and play hide and seek with paper caterpillars.
Read
Some animals have colours and patterns that help them hide. Then hungry animals do not see them so easily. This is called camouflage.[1]
A stick insect looks just like a twig with leaves. Can you spot it?[2]
A baby deer, called a fawn, has spots. The spots look like the light and shadows on the forest floor.[1]
The snowshoe hare is brown in summer. In winter its fur turns white, just like the snow.[6]
An octopus can change its colour in the blink of an eye to hide on a rock.[5]
Some animals do the opposite! Bright colours like red, yellow and black can say: “Stay away, I taste bad!”[1]
Try it: Hide and seek with paper caterpillars
You need
- Paper in green, brown and a bright colour (pink or yellow)
- Child scissors
- A patch of grass, or a large green and brown picture
- A timer
Safety
Use child scissors and carry them pointing down. Check the grass for nettles, glass and dog mess first. Wash your hands after playing outside.
What to do
- Cut out 15 small paper caterpillars: 5 green, 5 brown and 5 bright ones.
- Guess: which colour will be hardest to find?
- While the finders close their eyes, the teacher hides all the caterpillars in the grass. Do not cover them up!
- The finders have one minute to pick up as many caterpillars as they can.
- Count how many of each colour were found. Which ones were left in the grass?
What happens, and why?
Caterpillars with the same colour as the grass are hard to see, so they are found last. Bright caterpillars stand out. Animals that hunt with their eyes, like birds, also find well-hidden prey more slowly. Scientists do tests like this with paper caterpillars put out for birds.[1][3]
Play: Hide or warn?
Does this animal hide with camouflage, or warn with bright colours? Tap the right group.
Your best score is kept only on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Quiz
Other ages: Ages 10–11 · Ages 15–16