10 Ecosystem Project Ideas

When you think about ecosystem project ideas, do you immediately think
about dioramas in a shoebox, like this one I found on Pinterest?

source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/445152744394614800/

Don’t get me wrong, dioramas are a great way for students to demonstrate
their learning but it’s also the most common way. If you are like me, you
are always looking for unique ways for students to express what they
learned. That’s why I have a variety of ecosystem project ideas!
10 ECOSYSTEM PROJECT IDEAS

Create Your Own Ecosystems or Habitats.

Have your students work in groups, research, and then create an

ecosystem together. It can be something as simple as collecting pond
water, organisms, and plants. You could also have students create
individual habitats instead of an entire ecosystem. We created our own
habitats and the students really enjoyed it. Together we discussed the
importance of meeting our living things’ needs and a healthy environment.
We had a habitat for ants, fish, worms, and so much more.
 Create a Flap Book.

Provide students with a 12 x 9 strip of construction paper and several

index cards (one per ecosystem you are studying). Have students name,
draw, and color the ecosystem on the outside of the index card, and on the
inside provide valuable information about the ecosystem inside. When you
are done, it will look like this:

Create an Imaginary Ecosystem.

Have students create their own ecosystem but still requiring the
characteristics of ecosystems such as needing to have both living and
nonliving factors, populations, communities, and so on. Have students
determine the food chains and much more. It will definitely require some
creative thinking on their part, but it will definitely be fun!
Create an Ecosystem Mobile.

Students love creating mobiles and they make for a cute display. If you
can’t find hangers to make mobiles, you can easily use other materials
such as sticks (yes, sticks from trees.), dowels (found in craft stores), or
paper towel rolls. When creating an ecosystem mobile, you can have
students again use index cards like in the example above, designing the
outside and describing the ecosystem on the inside. You could also have
students get creative and design something that represents that
ecosystem, such as a raindrop for the rainforest. Students will love this
ecosystem project idea!

Read Around the

Room.

Set out many books about ecosystems around the room and students are
sure to get excited! Have different locations representing different
ecosystems and then move students around from station to station. If you
want, you can have a student record in a chart or on one big piece of chart
paper what they learned about that ecosystem. There are many great
books out there on ecosystems.
Create a Scavenger Hunt.

What student doesn’t love a scavenger hunt? To create an ecosystem

scavenger hunt, you would just place information about each ecosystem
around your room in different locations. For instance in one spot you may
have information about deserts and in another location information about
grasslands. Then create a few questions for students to answer regarding
each ecosystem. Students move around the room reading about each
ecosystem and hunt for those questions. It’s a great way to sneak in some
reading and just another ecosystem project idea.

Create an Accordion
Book.

Can you tell I’m a crafty, foldable kind of gal? I just love hands-on activities
and foldables. I think I wrote about this a little in my Going Wild for
Ecosystems post. Drag out some construction paper or copy paper and
have students fold it in half. Then have them draw the ecosystem at the
top and write about its characteristics at the bottom of the half sheet. (See
image below).
Do this with each half for however number of ecosystems you are
studying. Then connect them all by gluing them (or taping) side by side.
(see image above).

Create a Circle Book.

Are you looking for an ecosystem project idea that is easy-peasy?
These circle books have been my latest obsession. I’ve even got some
created that I haven’t uploaded yet! But just like any of the above, you
don’t have to head to my store to purchase them, you could easily create
them yourself! Provide each student with one circle per ecosystem you
would like them to represent. Then on each circle have them illustrate the
ecosystem on the top and describe its characteristics on the bottom.
(Sensing a theme?) Then fold each circle in half back to back and glue
them together to form your ecosystem circle book.

Project Based Learning.

Are you looking for a way to get in a little PBL? Why not have
students design their own ecosystem zoo? (This is a shameless
plug!) This project integrates area, perimeter, geometry, and STEM
learning in your science classroom. Students work through a series of
steps, including research, to design and build a model of their own
ecosystem zoo! It’s differentiated and can easily be adapted!

Triboard Display.

Why not have your students create a display similar to a science fair? In
this display, students would take a regular file folder (see image below)
and attach pieces that describe the landscape, climate, plants, animals,
and food chain/web of the ecosystem. Then have students place a world
map in the middle and color all the locations in the world where their
ecosystem can be found. This can also be done on a larger scale with an
actual tri board.
I actually have these tri board materials (minus the file folder) for you to
download FREE! Just click here to download it.

This is just a small sampling of some ecosystem project ideas. If you’re

looking to save time, you can find many of these items inexpensively
prepared for you in my store here, though you can also create them easily
yourself.

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