Read

Some animals have colours and patterns that help them hide. Then hungry animals do not see them so easily. This is called camouflage.

A stick insect looks just like a twig with leaves. Can you spot it?

A baby deer, called a fawn, has spots. The spots look like the light and shadows on the forest floor.

The snowshoe hare is brown in summer. In winter its fur turns white, just like the snow.

Experiment: Hide and seek with paper caterpillars

1. Cut out 15 small paper caterpillars: 5 green, 5 brown and 5 bright ones.
2. Guess: which colour will be hardest to find?
3. While the finders close their eyes, the teacher hides all the caterpillars in the grass. Do not cover them up!
4. The finders have one minute to pick up as many caterpillars as they can.
5. Count how many of each colour were found. Which ones were left in the grass?

Colour	How many found?
Green	Which is hardest to find?
Brown	Which is hardest to find?
Bright	Which is hardest to find?

Questions

1. Draw an animal hiding in its home. Colour it so that it is hard to see.

   🍎

2. Is a snowshoe hare white in winter?

   yes / no

3. Why do some animals have bright red, yellow and black colours?

Sources for every fact on this sheet: echoesof.science/school/camouflage/sources/

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