FOCUS: The shape and structure of skull and teeth are adaptations related to an animal’s food and way of life. The teeth and eye placement of carnivores differ from those of herbivores, omnivores, or insectivores. Much can be learned about an animal from its skull, for these are the bones that protect the brain and house the mouth, teeth, and sense organs – all of which are critical to its survival.
Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about teeth.
Have children smile at their neighbor and notice each other’s teeth. Are all the teeth shaped the same? What are some differences they notice and what questions do they have about them?
Materials: Skulls Set, magnifying lenses, paper or journals, pencils.
Objective: To observe our four different kinds of teeth and investigate how we use them.
Have children feel their teeth with a finger, noticing that some are flat-topped and some come to a point. Some have one point and some have several points. Some are narrow and some are broad. Show them a dental cast or diagram and point out the incisors, canines, premolars, and molars. Ask why we might have different kinds of teeth. How could we find out what the different teeth are for? One way would be to try eating different kinds of foods.
Pass out a napkin to each child and some popcorn, a carrot stick, and a piece of chewy dried fruit. Tell the children to wait for instructions before eating anything. Have them pick up the piece of popcorn first. At the count of three they must pop the popcorn into their mouths and chew it up. Ask which teeth they used to chew up the popcorn. (Molars.) These are “grinders,” needed for grinding up tough food.
Next instruct children to bite off a piece of carrot and chew it up. Which teeth did most children use to bite off the carrot piece? (Incisors.) These are used as “clippers” or “nippers,” for biting off hard foods.
Finally have children bite off a piece of the chewy dried fruit. Which teeth did they use? (Canines and/or premolars.) These are used as “rippers” and are important for tearing and eating meat.
Notice how our upper teeth work together with our lower teeth. What makes our jaw operate? Have children feel their cheekbones and temples while chewing to feel the jaw muscles working.
Materials: napkins, popcorn, carrot sticks, chewy dried fruit such as pears, mango; optional: plaster cast of human teeth.
Objective: To discover the connection between teeth and diet in carnivores, herbivores, insectivores and omnivores.
Perform the puppet show or have the children perform it for their classmates. Afterward, ask questions to review the key details and vocabulary in the story. What is an herbivore (plant-eater), carnivore (meat-eater), and omnivore (eats both plants and animals)? Which character was an herbivore (squirrel), a carnivore (weasel), and an omnivore (bear)? Which character was an insectivore (mole) and what does it eat (mostly insects)?
Objective: To notice some basic differences in the dentition of a carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, and insectivore.
In a separate location, list these five possibilities and ask the children to help you match the labels with the skull drawings. What kind of teeth would a gnawing mammal like a beaver need to have? (Chisel-like incisors and flat, grinding molars.) Ask students to pick out the grazing herbivore (ruminant) which lacks upper incisors, canines, and premolars. What kinds of teeth would an insectivore need? (Sharp needle-like teeth to pierce their hard-shelled insect prey.) What kind of teeth would a carnivore have (pointy canines, sharp molars and premolars) and how would an omnivore differ? (Both sharp canines and premolars for tearing meat and broad molars for grinding vegetation.) Notice that human teeth are very uniform compared to animals’ teeth as we are generalists, eating a variety of mostly soft foods.
Materials: Skull Silhouettes, tape, white board and dry-erase marker or chalkboard and chalk, sticky-notes or index cards.
Objective: To learn the parts of a skull and use observations and measurements to identify a variety of animal skulls.
Set out skulls at several different stations. Divide up the class, assigning each group to a different skull. Begin by having the children feel some of these different parts on their own heads and look at them on their animal skull.
*For 5th and 6th graders, use the scientific terms shown below in the Upper Grades challenge.
Why might skulls seem small compared to the size of the animal itself? (On a living animal the skull is covered with layers of muscles, skin, and fur.) Look at the teeth and compare to the skull silhouettes. Can they guess what kind of diet their animal might have had?
Have students rotate through all the stations, taking a few minutes to look at each of the skulls, until they are back at their first station. Now ask each team to investigate the skull at their station using the Mystery Skull Data Card below. Have teams compare the information they collect to the Skull Chart to help identify their skull. Provide a list of possible animals from which children can select the one they think matches their skull.
Measure the length of the skull. How long is it? ___________inches.
What are the molars like? Are they all about the same or are there different kinds?
Looking at the teeth and comparing to the silhouettes, do you think the skull is that of a carnivore (meat-eater), herbivore (plant-eater), insectivore (insect-eater), or omnivore (eater of many foods)? What makes you think so?
Compare your results (length, teeth count, diet, special features) to the chart.
What animal do you think this is? _______________________ Why do you think so?
*Note that skulls look smaller than you’d expect when the muscles, skin and fur are gone.
Materials: five or six skulls of different animals, Mystery Skull Data Cards, Skull Charts, rulers, clipboards, pencils.
Objective: To become familiar with some of the parts of a vertebrate skull and learn their scientific names.
Give each team of students a Parts of a Skull sheet with numbered arrows pointing to its basic features. Provide students with the following list of names and descriptions for each of these parts. Have the students study the descriptions and try to identify each of the structures in the skull diagram and on an actual skull.
Afterward, review the parts of the skull and correct any mistakes. Looking at the skull diagram, ask the students if the animal is a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore. The leader may wish to refer to the Parts of a Skull Key for the correct answers.
Key: 1=Cranium; 2=Foramen Magnum; 3=Sagittal Crest; 4=Occipital Crest;5=Orbit; 6=Zygomatic Arch; 7=Infraorbital foramen; 8=Mandible; 9=Maxilla; 10=Nasal bone; 11=Ear bulb; 12=Ear Canal; Black Bear: omnivore.
Materials: for each team of students: Parts of a Skull sheet, pencils; Parts of a Skull Key for leader; optional: a real skull.
Objective: To write an imaginative menu for an animal based on knowledge of its diet.
Based on the Skull Investigation, have each team guess which animal’s skull they have and whisper their guess to the adult leader. Give each team an Animal Information card showing a photo of the animal they identified in the Mystery Skulls activity above and a list of the kinds of food it eats. Provide a blank Chez Quatre Vents Menu Template and have the children make up an appetizer, entrée, dessert and beverage for their animal (and a name for the restaurant if time permits). Taking turns, have teams tell one special thing they noticed about their skulls and read their menus out loud. Have classmates guess which animal might like to eat at this restaurant.
Materials: Animal Information cards; Chez Quatre Vents Menu Templates, one per team; clipboards, pencils.
Objective: To design an imaginary creature with teeth suited to its particular diet and write about it as a journal entry.
Provide children with a hinged paper plate or cardboard skull and jaw (using the Skull and Jaw Template), or with a Skull and Jaw Drawing sheet, and ask them to make up an imaginary creature and decide what it would like to eat. Have them make teeth out of paper (using the Skull and Jaw Teeth page) or out of clay, or draw their critter’s teeth on the outline. In their journals have children describe their Jawful Beast’s diet and how its teeth help it to eat this kind of food. Be sure to have them give the creature a name. In small groups, have children introduce their Jawful Beast and tell how its teeth are adapted for eating its preferred food. Have others guess whether it is a carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, or insectivore.
Materials: Skull and Jaw pattern; cardboard or paper plate jaws made with paper fasteners, modeling clay (walnut-sized piece for each child) or Skull and Jaw Teeth page; or Skull and Jaw Drawing sheet, one copy for each child, and pencils, crayons, or colored pencils; journals.
Objective: To share some thoughts and observations about skulls.