What you need:
Click here to print the pictures for your prairie (shown above)
A piece of stiff paper, like cardstock
Scissors
Glue
Crayons or colored pencils
How to make it:
Fold your stiff paper in half the long way. Along the folded side, cut a one-inch slot about two inches from one end of the page. Repeat on the other edge. Fold the tab that was created back and forth a couple of times. Open the page and press the middle of the cut section forward. This should create a small pop-out step.
Color in the animal and plant drawings and then cut them out along the dotted line. You can also color the background piece and add your own elements, like a sun or more prairie grass.
Glue the pieces with plant roots to the bottom of the step, and the other animals to the top of the step.
The prairie plants and animals include a bison, an American kestrel, a sand hill crane, a badger, a pocket gopher, big bluestem grass, Indian grass, butterfly weed, prickly pear cactus, and purple coneflower.
Jennifer Menken is the Touch and See Room coordinator at the Bell Museum of Natural History.
The Bell Museum
2088 Larpenteur Ave W, St Paul, MN 55113
612-624-7083
