Plants and Animals

Discover the diversity of living things, how they survive, and what we can do to protect them.

Connect your classroom with nature

Living organisms, from the most delicate flower to the toughest coyote, have a lot to teach us. Observe how all kinds of living creatures adapt to and interact with environments and each other. Learners will deepen their understanding of concepts like food chains, migration, and ecosystems. With lesson plans, games, and more, our resources help connect your students to the natural world, both in the classroom and at the museum.

In-museum activities with Plants & Animals

See life science up close with the Field’s diverse specimens.

  • Everything Has a Purpose | Exploring the Field Guide

    Examine why plants and birds have certain features to uncover the relationship between structure and function.
  • Relationships in Ecosystems | Exploring the Field Guide

    Investigate an ecosystem by observing the individual organisms as part of a larger structure—a food web.
  • Survival of the Birds | Exploring the Field Guide

    Infer whether a bird can survive in a specific environment by observing physical features such as beak, feathers, legs, and feet.

Early Elementary Resources On Plants & Animals

  • Animal Survival Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

    Act as consultants to the City of Chicago and assess their relocation plan for urban coyotes.
  • Mapping and Monarchs Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

    Learn how to analyze and interpret maps by studying monarch butterfly migration.
  • Pollination Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

    Interact with various models to explore the structures of plants and animals related to the process of pollination.

Explore animal adaptations

Why are eggshells so brittle? What can we learn from how animals move? Investigate these questions and more with the Biomechanics Toolkit.

  • Structure Function Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

    Design a shoe appropriate for the icy, wet, and cold conditions of Antarctica using different types of bird feet as inspiration.
  • BIOlympics Game | Biomechanics Toolkit

    Jump into BIOlympics events to see how animals achieve amazing feats. Use that knowledge to choose competitors for different events.
  • Dome Strength | Biomechanics Toolkit

    Discover how much force a seemingly brittle object like an egg can withstand when it’s dome-shaped.

Plant and Animal resources

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    Showing 71 resources

    • Pterosaurs and Tape Measures

      Investigate the acutal sizes of these famous flying reptiles who lived side by side with dinosaurs.
    • Rapid Inventory: Home Edition | Science Hub at Home

      The Field Museum's Rapid Inventory helps conserve and protect the planet. Learn how to conduct your own rapid inventory at home.
    • Who Lives Here? | Science Hub at Home

      Try to match each unique home to the animal that made them. Can you find any animal homes in your neighborhood?
    • Make Your Own Field Guide | Science Hub at Home

      Identify the plants and animals that call your ecosystem home.
    • Make Your Own Field Journal | Science Hub at Home

      Document your next adventure with a homemade field journal.
    • Life All Over | Science Hub at Home

      Even cities are filled with nature. What will you find when you take a closer look?
    • The Birds and the Trees

      How do all birds fit on the avian tree of life?
    • Specimen Spotlight: Purple Coneflower | Science Hub at Home

      Examine the Purple Coneflower to learn why native plants are important to any ecosystem.
    • Bird Calls and Songs | PlayLab at Home

      Listen to different songs or calls made by local Illinois birds.
    • What do you Hear? | PlayLab at Home

      Find a listening spot to hear the world around you and make a sound map.
    • Herbarium Sheets | PlayLab at Home

      Learn about scientists who study plants and create your own herbarium sheet.
    • Monarch Guide | Home FIELD Advantage

      Write and draw to observe monarch butterflies.
    • Specimen Spotlight: Peregrine Falcons | Science Hub at Home

      Meet Chicago's peregrine falcons and learn how our collections helps the population thrive.
    • Furiously Fast Falcons | Science Hub at Home

      Figure out how fast you can run and how that compares to some of the fastest and slowest animals on the planet.
    • Animal Observations | Science Hub at Home

      Learn how scientists observe and track animal behavior and how you can do the same with your pets at home.
    • Birding 101 | Science Hub at Home

      Discover the birds of Chicago with these birding techniques.
    • Wheel of Function | Science Hub at Home

      Learn how animals evolved to display the color blue. Then print your own game wheel to play with others!
    • Specimen Spotlight: Japanese Giant Salamander | Science Hub at Home

      Meet the Japanese giant salamander.
    • Lizard or Salamander | Science Hub at Home

      Learn how to tell a lizard from a salamnder then challenge to do the same friends and family with a puzzle.
    • Spot the Animal | Science Hub at Home

      Can you find the camouflaged animal? Inspect how reptiles and amphibians hide in their environment.
    • Specimen Spotlight: Indigo Bunting | Science Hub at Home

      Meet the Indigo Bunting bird.
    • Prolific Pigment | Science Hub at Home

      Here's a recipe for your own blueberry "paint." Use it to study and color a blue morpho butterfly.
    • Jump Like a Frog | Science Hub at Home

      Can you leap like a frog? Investigate how frogs jump then compete in a jumping contest.
    • In Your Backyard | Science Hub at Home

      Track down reptiles and amphibians by exploring your own natural spaces.
    • At Home Collections | Science Hub at Home

      Create your own museum collection at home.
    • What are Fossils Primer | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Explore how fossils form and discover how scientists know where to find them.
    • Who were Dinosaurs? Primer | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Uncover the features that all dinosaurs share, and determine whether a mystery species is a dinosaur.
    • Rock Clocks Primer | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Discover how scientists determine the age of rocks and fossils and use those processes to develop a timeline of Earth's history.
    • SUE's World | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Use fossils as clues to rebuild a North American landscape from the past and imagine the world where SUE the T. rex lived.
    • Plate Motion Past and Present | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Analyze and interpret data about the structures of Earth’s crust and the fossil record.
    • Giants from the Past | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Analyze and interpret data about sauropods and build a nonfiction narrative about how this group of dinosaurs evolved over millions of years.
    • Exhibition Investigation Guide

      Investigate a museum exhibition using the claim, evidence, reasoning cycle.
    • Mission to the Mesozoic

      Find plants and animals across the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous time periods in this online game.
    • Muscle Model | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Explore factors affecting muscle strength using simple models.
    • Specimen Observation Guide

      Encourage close examination of a single specimen—a collected example of a particular species or type—using observations and inferences.
    • Artifact Observation Guide

      Encourage close examination of a single artifact—an object produced by humans—using observations and inferences.
    • Mapping and Monarchs Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

      Learn how to analyze and interpret maps by studying monarch butterfly migration.
    • Animal Survival Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

      Act as consultants to the City of Chicago and assess their relocation plan for urban coyotes.
    • Pump it Up | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Learn how the giraffe’s super-pump of a heart delivers blood seven feet up to the brain.
    • Being Big on Land

      Learn why being big isn’t always an advantage and find out how mythic creatures like Godzilla and King Kong could never have carried their own weight.
    • The Brain Scoop: The Taxonomy of Candy

      Scientists use a system called taxonomy to group and categorize living things. What happens when you try to apply taxonomy to candy?
    • Today's Dinosaurs | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Explore evidence in the physical features of living animals and dinosaur fossils to learn what living animal is most closely related to dinosaurs.
    • Structure Function Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

      Design a shoe appropriate for the icy, wet, and cold conditions of Antarctica using different types of bird feet as inspiration.
    • Pollination Unit | Early Elementary Science Partnership

      Interact with various models to explore the structures of plants and animals related to the process of pollination.
    • Plants of the World Exhibition Guide

      Observe intricate plant models to determine the functions of their unique structures.
    • From the Field to the Field Museum

      Prepare for a field trip or object study by learning how the Field Museum collects and studies specimens and artifacts from around the world.
    • The Brain Scoop: Tully Monster Mystery Solved!

      Learn how researchers discovered the Tully Monster, long believed to be an invertebrate (similar to worms), is actually a vertebrate and more closely related to fish.
    • The Field Revealed: Tully Monster

      Discover the Tully Monster, the state fossil of Illinois.
    • Mammal Phylogeny

      Discover how scientists classify the diverse mammals found on Earth.
    • Island Evolution

      Discover why islands contain so many unique species.
    • Forces Design Challenge | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Use animal structure and function to design a way that humans can reduce the force felt and/or energy absorbed by an object.
    • Senses Design Challenge | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Use animal senses as inspiration to design a way for humans to use their senses differently or use a new sense.
    • Locomotion Design Challenge | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Use animal movement as inspiration to design a new vehicle for traveling via land, water, and air.
    • Thermoregulation Design Challenge | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Use animal thermoregulation as inspiration to design an eco-friendly dwelling that stays warm in the winter and/or cool in the summer.
    • Giraffe Heart Dissection | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Go behind the scenes in our mammals wet lab to watch the dissection of a giraffe heart.
    • Advantages of Levers | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Test basic lever types and explore the trade-off between a force advantage and speed advantage in the animal world.
    • Bergmann's Rule | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Uncover how an animal’s size affects its ability to regulate temperature.
    • Dome Strength | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Discover how much force a seemingly brittle object like an egg can withstand when it’s dome-shaped.
    • Survival of the Birds | Exploring the Field Guide

      Infer whether a bird can survive in a specific environment by observing physical features such as beak, feathers, legs, and feet.
    • Conservation in Action | Exploring the Field Guide

      Examine different ways that scientists and community members conserve the environment, then analyze the results.
    • Relationships in Ecosystems | Exploring the Field Guide

      Investigate an ecosystem by observing the individual organisms as part of a larger structure—a food web.
    • Hominid Adaptations | Exploring the Field Guide

      Investigate fossil remains of hominids to learn how humans and our relatives evolved over time.
    • Protecting Earth's Ecosystem | Exploring the Field Guide

      Analyze methods used to address environmental issues and design strategies to protect local ecosystems.
    • Everything Has a Purpose | Exploring the Field Guide

      Examine why plants and birds have certain features to uncover the relationship between structure and function.
    • Diversity of Life | Exploring the Field Guide

      Observe animal dioramas to compare and contrast organisms and explore the diversity of life.
    • What Do Animals Eat? | Exploring the Field Guide

      Investigate the relationship between an animal and its environment by identifying possible food sources in each habitat.
    • BIOlympics Game | Biomechanics Toolkit

      Jump into BIOlympics events to see how animals achieve amazing feats. Use that knowledge to choose competitors for different events.
    • WhyReef

      Dive into a virtual coral reef to discover marine life and connections between these sea creatures and what they eat.
    • Rise of Dinosaurs | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Analyze data from a mock fossil dig to determine the differences and similarities between multiple fossil dig sites.
    • Dinosaur Family Tree | Dinosaur Toolkit

      Examine dinosaur physical traits to identify similarities and differences in their features and construct a system of classification.
    • Monarchs Legend Story and Coloring Book

      Read The Legend of the Parákata or color your own version of the story!
    Media for Science & Education

    N. W. HARRIS LEARNING COLLECTION

    BRING PLANTS AND ANIMALS TO YOUR CLASSROOMBrowse Specimens