Teacher sheet · Ages 6–7 · about 45–50 minutes
Life in the desert
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/deserts/ages-6-7/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/deserts/ages-6-7/print/
Learning aims
- A desert is a place with very little rain.
- Deserts can be hot or cold, and many are rocky rather than sandy.
- Hot deserts are hot by day and cold at night.
- Plants and animals have ways to save water and avoid the heat.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Starter: show a photo of a sandy desert and an icy desert. Are both deserts? Why? |
| 10 min | Read the text together; act out a fox hunting at night and a kangaroo rat sleeping in its burrow. |
| 10 min | Set up the towel experiment (check after 2 hours). |
| 5 min | Desert survivor? game. |
| 5 min | Quiz. |
| 10 min | Worksheet drawing. |
Materials for the experiment
- Two paper towels of the same size
- A cup of water and a spoon
- Two plates
- A sunny windowsill or a warm spot
Safety: Use only water. Mop up spills so no one slips. Do not climb to reach a windowsill; an adult places the plates.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| All deserts are hot. | Some deserts are cold; the largest deserts are the icy polar deserts. |
| All deserts are full of sand. | Many deserts are rock and gravel; only about a fifth of desert areas are sandy. |
| Nothing lives in a desert. | Many plants and animals live there, with clever ways to save water. |
Worksheet answers
- A drawing of a desert with a cactus and an animal that hides in a burrow, comes out at night or rests in the shade.
- No.
- The rolled one (the 'cactus').
Quiz answers
- What is a desert? A place with very little rain. Deserts are the driest places on Earth.[1]
- Are all deserts hot? No, some deserts are cold. The biggest deserts are the icy lands near the poles.[3]
- Where does a cactus keep its water? In its fat stem. Cacti store water in their stems and use it slowly.[2]
- When does the fennec fox go hunting? At night. It hunts after dark, when it is cooler.[3]
- What happens in a hot desert at night? It gets cold. Dry air lets the heat escape into the sky.[2]
Going further
Look at a cactus in a pot (without touching the spines). Compare it with a leafy houseplant. Which one looks like it stores more water?
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] Deserts: Geology and Resources – What is a desert? (U.S. Geological Survey (General Interest Publication)): reliability High
- [2] Mission: Biomes – Desert (NASA (Mission: Biomes)): reliability High
- [3] Deserts explained (National Geographic Society (Education resource library)): reliability Medium-high
- [4] Deserts (Joshua Tree National Park) (U.S. National Park Service): reliability High
- [5] Animal fact sheet: Merriam's kangaroo rat (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/deserts/sources/
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