Feet First

Peggy Ashbrook

Kids love animals—and learning about them. Luckily, studying animal characteristics is part of the National Science Education Standards Life Science Content Standard C for grades K–4. Investigating the differences among an “animal part”—such as feet—of various species can be an intriguing way to help students develop classification skills and begin to make connections about the relationships between structure and function.

Although backbones are more pertinent to scientific classification, feet are more accessible. Children have direct experience with their own feet—what child hasn’t experimented with making footprints in sand, mud, or snow? And, young children love an excuse to examine their own body and compare it with others.

Begin by discussing, “What is a foot?,” covering the various meanings of the word (i.e., “the foot of the stairs,” “the feet of a couch,” and “four feet tall”) to make sure everyone is thinking of the same kind of feet. Because children often describe something by its function—the discussion will naturally move to discussion of, “What are animal feet used for?”

Next, as a class, compile a list of how feet are used. Students will suggest walking, running, climbing, kicking, scratching, and digging, among other uses. Their responses, such as, “Squirrels run, jump, and climb” and “Horses walk, run, and jump, but not climb” point out differences in foot structure as students think about why squirrels can climb. After listing all the uses of feet, bring out models of animals (toys) and animal-track identification books to help the children describe the specifics of a particular animal’s feet. Use realistic models of a variety of animals, including humans and other mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates such as insects and snails, to really get the children thinking about locomotion. Pictures can be used but models are best as long as they are accurate.

When looking at the models, students can see if the animal has any feet and how many, if there are toes, how long the toes are, and if the front and hind feet are similar. They can begin comparing animals and voice ideas about how a particular kind of body structure allows an animal to have a particular kind of movement. “A squirrel can climb because it has toes with claws that can grab onto a tree, but a horse’s toes can’t grab.” “What do slugs do when they get an itch, to scratch it?” “Snakes don’t have feet but they can move.” Comparing the feet to the tracks in the identification book shows how each type of foot makes a print—what part of the foot or body touches the ground.

Introduce the terms toe, claw, heel pad, hoof, cloven hoof, and dewclaw as needed. By learning the terminology for parts of feet, children will both feel like scientists and learn how biologists use differences in morphology, the form and structure of an organism or one of its body parts, to classify animals. For example, there are many small animals that are called “bugs” but only those possessing six legs are in the class Insecta. In another example, deer and pigs (animals that walk on two toes and thus appear to have “cloven hooves”) are in a separate order from horses and zebras (animals whose hooves are not “split”). Classification systems change as they incorporate new information learned by studying animal DNA. After examining the models and identification books, try the activities on the next page to continue the foot exploration.

Resources

Murie, O.J. 2005. Animal tracks, Peterson field guides. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
National Research Council. 1996. National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Footprint Fun

Objective:
To explore how feet differ from animal to animal and to think about how foot structure is related to animal behavior and habitat.

Materials:

• Playdough
• Paint in a shallow tray
• Small paintbrushes
• Paper
• Animal-track identification books (or internet information sheets)
• Art foam (available from arts and crafts stores)
• Styrofoam
• White school glue

My Foot…

Procedure:

1. Have students remove one shoe and sock and look at their foot and describe it, either verbally or in writing. Prompt students with questions such as, How many toes do you have? What can you do with your toes? Can you hold a crayon or scratch an itch with your toes? What part of your foot touches the floor when you walk, tiptoe, or jump?
2. Spread newspapers on the floor and have a stack of paper towels nearby for cleanup so children can wipe the paint off their own foot. Have some students, one at a time, put one foot into paint and then step onto a piece of paper. Have them repeat the printmaking on tiptoe. Invite other students to step into playdough and make imprints of their foot. Have them repeat the imprint making on tiptoe.
3. Ask all the students, Do the footprints look like you thought they would? Do you think the footprints look like those of any other animal? Label the prints and imprints with “toe” and “heel” and save to use in the following activity.

Animal Print Stamps

Procedure:

1. Using an animal-track identification book (Murie 2005), the teacher can make animal footprint stamps and then use them for students to compare animal footprints, including their own. Choose animals with footprints large enough to see easily. Copy the footprints onto art foam (a thin, dense-but-flexible foam that is easy to cut with scissors), cut out the shapes, glue the shapes to a Styrofoam-block base, and allow to dry overnight. Print each footprint stamp on a separate sheet of paper by brushing the art foam surface with paint and then pressing it to the paper. (Putting the stamp directly into the paint results in a sloppy print.)
2. Show the footprints to the students and ask them to describe the foot that made them. PreK students often respond at first with “Dinosaurs!” because they have heard of fossil dinosaur footprints. Challenge the students to identify the animals that made those types of footprints by matching them to those shown in animal footprint identification books.
3. Raise awareness of how body structure relates to animal behavior and its environment by asking, Do all animals need feet? Why would an animal have a certain kind of foot? What are toenails useful for? How can we learn what different feet shapes are well suited for? Children enjoy counting and comparing the number of toes on footprints—a quality that is easy to define. They find it strange that some birds’ toes point backward, leading to a discussion about how birds grip branches. Older students often comment on the prominent nails on the footprint of a big dog and how dogs dig in the dirt with paws, not a tool. The resemblance between a raccoon’s front foot and a human hand leads children to speculate that raccoons can hold objects in much the same way humans can. After examining different bird footprints, students begin to associate webbed feet with birds that spend much of their time swimming in water.

For very young students, these activities may mean more about matching shapes and noticing differences. Older children, however, can begin to speculate about foot function and make predictions about habitat based on the shape of an animal’s foot. Whatever the age of the student, comparing animal prints and reflecting on their own observations will deepen students’ understanding of foot function and of science inquiry.

Peggy Ashbrook (scienceissimple@yahoo.com) is the author of Science Is Simple: Over 250 Activities for Preschoolers and teaches preschool science in Alexandria, Virginia.

Teacher’s Picks

Sarah Glassco, a naturalist and science resource teacher at Frog Pond Early Learning Center in Alexandria, Virginia, likes her students to observe animals in their natural habitats. With farm animals onsite and a wildlife sanctuary next door, her students have many opportunities!

Books

Pet Bugs: A Kid’s Guide to Catching and Keeping Touchable Insects. 1994.
More Pet Bugs: A Kid’s Guide to Catching and Keeping Insects and Other Small Creatures. 1999. Sally Kneidel. John Wiley & Sons.
These readable “how-to” guides describe common insects and small creatures that are easy to catch and care for and safe to handle in the classroom.

Forest Explorer: A Life-Size Field Guide. Nic Bishop. 2004. Scholastic.
This book works both as a guide to what to look for and a research tool to identify “what we saw.” Composite photos showing life-sized animals in forest scenes help train kids’ eyes to spot real wildlife. A picture key identifies and gives natural history notes for all the animals in each double-page scene.

One Small Place in a Tree. Barbara Brenner. 2004. HarperCollins.
Reading this history of a hole in a tree invites us to imagine all of the plants and animals that may have lived in and drawn life from the tree, even after it has died.

Internet

Animal Diversity Web
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html
This searchable encyclopedia sponsored by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology is a good teacher resource for pictures and information on many species.

Click here for PDF file.