Animal Habitats For Kids: Cold Desert (Antarctica)
Fun Hands-On Science Activities with Kids
Activities for Kids to Explore icy and Dry Animal Habitats!
Main Idea
Explore the cold and icy cold desert habitat by drawing its scenery and adding animals! The cold desert we focused on was the Antarctica.
Activity Prep
Download & print the PDF below
Drawing & coloring tools (crayons, colored pencils, markers, paints & brush etc)
Scissors (*Please help with scissors as needed.)
Glue or Tape
Books or videos about the cold desert of Antarctica (*Our worksheet focuses explicitly on Antarctica)
Two Main Types of Deserts
There are two main types of deserts: hot deserts and cold deserts. The defining characteristic of a desert is its extremely low level of precipitation, not temperature.
Is Antarctica Desert?
The Largest Desert in the World
I want to share what I learned and what surprised me: The world's largest desert is Antarctica! It's larger than the Sahara Desert. Although ice and snow cover Antarctica, it is dry and has little precipitation, making it a desert. I used to imagine deserts as hot, dry, and sandy landscapes, but my perspective has changed!
Observation and Discussion
Take a moment to look at these pictures of the Antarctica. What do you see? What do you think about them?
How to Use
Step 1: To learn about the animal habitat of the cold desert or polar desert , start by reading books or watching educational videos. There are many options available. We focused on Antarctica, and these videos are excellent examples.
Step 2: Download and print the PDF.
Step 3: First, observe the animals on the printout. If you don’t recognize some of them, ask what they are!
Step 4: Look at books or images of a cold desert (polar desert) of Antarctica, then draw a cold desert of Antarctica on another sheet of paper.
Step 5: Carefully cut out the animals. (*Please help with scissors as needed.)
Step 6: Attach animals to your habitat drawing using glue or tape.
The animals that live in deserts vary by region. We created a material focused on the animals that live in Antarctica.
Disclaimer
The videos we watched have been sourced from YouTube channels.
National Geographic Kids / BBC Earth / SciShow Kids
Full credit goes to these original creators for their excellent content and creativity. This site aims to provide educational materials while respecting contributors' intellectual property. For the original videos and more resources, visit these URLs.
