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Color Me Green

This hide-and-seek game shows how coloring can help animals survive in their habitats.

What you need:

What you do:

Print out enough of these frog patterns to cut out 5 to 10 frog shapes from green construction paper.
Print out the same number of these polar bear cutouts from white construction paper. Show your child the green paper frogs and white paper polar bears. Then ask your child to close his or her eyes and count to 10 while you hide the animal shapes in a grassy area near a pond.
Give your child one minute to gather as many paper animals as possible.

What you talk about:

Ask your child:

How many green frogs did you find?
How many white polar bears did you find?
Which animal was easier to find? Why? (The polar bear was easier to find because it "stuck out," or did not blend in, with its surroundings.)
How do you think being green helps a frog? (The frog can hide from enemies by blending in with its surroundings.)
What other color might help an animal survive near a pond? (Possible answers include brown and tan.)
What are some other pond animals and their colors? Do these colors help them blend in near a pond? If so, how? (Answers will vary.)
What if I hide the green frog and the white polar bear in a snowy place? Which animal do you think would be easier to find? Why? (The green frog would be easier because it would not blend in with the white snow, and the white polar bear would.)
Polar bears live near the North Pole where it snows a lot. They don't have many enemies to hide from. When they hide, it is usually for another reason. When do you think polar bears hide? (When they want to sneak up on animals they hunt.)