Activity: Building a Beaver Dam — Can you build a beaver dam that can stop the flow of water?
What do you already know about beavers and their homes?
What materials do beavers use to build their dam?
Materials:
- Natural materials such as, sticks, rocks, mud, etc.
- Plastic tub
- Container, such as a pitcher filled with water
What to do:
- Go outside and collect the materials you think would work best to build a beaver dam.
- Next using your materials, build your beaver dam in the center of the plastic tub, dividing it half. Try your best to allow water not to pass through your dam.
- Test it out. Pour water on one side of the dam and tilt the container up to see if water will flow through your dam.
- If it didn’t work, try to fix it and try again. Or you can gather new materials and see if something else works better.
Writing Prompt: What makes the best beaver dam?
Using the form below, state your opinion on what materials make the best beaver dam.
- Beavers are nature’s ecosystem engineers and build dams to create beaver ponds. Beavers want their dams to create a large pond to keep lots of water in and keep them safe. When I built my beaver dam, I found that the best materials to build it were
- I think these were the best materials because
- When beavers build their dams in nature these materials help them create their beaver ponds by
- Therefore, these are the reasons why
- Draw a picture of your beaver dam and label your materials:
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