BIO: Ecology - Creating Mini Biomes

It would be awesome to have the budget to travel to every single biome in the world during a unit on biology/ecology. You can fake that with a trip to some top notch zoos or aquariums (14 thumbs up and a van-full-loud "Huzzah!" for Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Nebraska in that respect--plus, it's just our favorite zoo).

You can also get up close and personal with identifying and matching plant and animal life to their proper biomes by creating miniature ones at home. 

For our unit, we created two:  a desert and a rainforest. Our local Walmart had an impressive variety of plants from all over the world, many of them identified by country. I had my kids go through all their old toys to find plastic animals and separate them into like ecosystems. (There were a few that we weren't sure exactly what they were so that made for some bonus research.) 

For the desert we used an old, large glass bowl. We put a layer of rocks on the bottom for drainage, then used some soil especially for cactus and succulents. No one wanted to chance touching the cacti, so I got to sacrifice for science. Lo and behold, some cactus plants have spines even in their roots, so this proved trickier than I thought. I did end up with bits of spine stuck in my fingers, but I lived.

The cool thing about creating a mini rainforest is that if you do it right, you get to watch the water cycle in action and you really do have a rainforest. I purchased a medium-sized, inexpensive glass aquarium to do this in but you could use anything clear that you can seal off, including a soda bottle. I just wanted it on a larger scale. Select your plants based on type, but also find varying sizes to represent the forest floor, the understory, the canopy, and an emergent tree. Again, we put a layer of rocks on the bottom for drainage, then I used just regular potting soil with fertilizer in it. We planted our flora, placed the fauna, and then thoroughly watered the soil. After that we put the cover over the aquarium. (Depending on the type or fit of your cover, you may need to use packaging tape to help seal it better.) We put it near a sunny window.

We didn't have to wait long for evaporation and transpiration to begin. That was followed by condensation... and "rain."

After a few days it's a good idea to take the top off and let some fresh air circulate. When you do this, let your kids get their faces and hands inside. It will smell and feel like being in a jungle!

Look! Raindrops on our plants!

We let ours air out for a while then we put the cover back on and watched it happen all over again.