Upon completion of this activity students will be able to understand three different feeding techniques used by seabirds and wetland birds by identifying their beak shapes and demonstrating their feeding strategies. Upon completion of this activity students will be able to define adaptation and give examples of adaptations in birds and other animals. Upon completion of this activity students will understand the effect that trash, especially plastics, have on birds and other wildlife. This activity can be used strictly as a lesson on adaptations and feeding strategies or can be an additional art activity if the students create the beaks and fish in class. The first step in this activity is to create the beaks and fish used to play the Adaptable Mandibles game.
Beaks Use the sketches provided to trace beak shapes onto colored poster board.
Try to have an equal amount of each beak type. Cut out each beak and laminate them if you want to make them last several semesters. Each sketch has a tab at the back of the beak. Use this tab to attach the beak to the wooden clothespin. Leave a loop in whatever fish creation you come up with so the beaks have a place to hook onto.