Education

The WildlifeNYC campaign was created to increase public awareness about the city’s wildlife. These educational activities promote coexistence and are designed to foster awareness and understanding about urban wildlife.

These educational activities are:

designed for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
created to be used by any type of educator (e.g. formal and informal educators, camp counselors, parents, etc.).
inquiry-based activities which incorporate cross-cutting concepts and skills from the Next Generation Science Standards.
flexible so facilitators can adapt to fit their students, needs, and location.

Working through the educational activities, students will understand that cities have wildlife as varied and diverse as the people living there.

Learn more about using an outdoor classroom and tips for coexistence in the Welcome to WildlifeNYC Introduction Letter.

Additional background information on common urban wildlife species is available in the Wildlife Basic Information Packet.

Activities

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Click a topic, or press the enter key on a topic, to reveal the educational activity.

City Hawks: Learning through Storytelling

This storytelling activity engages students in a fictional tale about the life of a city hawk. The story introduces how red-tailed hawks are adapting to live in urban environments.

Grades K–2 Next Generation Science Standards: K-ESS2, K-ESS3, 2-LS2, 2-LS4

Sights and Sounds: Collecting Field Observations on Noise and Wildlife Behavior

Students are immersed in different outdoor settings to discover differences in adjacent urban habitats and raise awareness about the effects of human activity on wildlife behavior.

Grades K–2 Next Generation Science Standards: K-ESS3, K-LS1, 2-LS4
Grades 3–6 Next Generation Science Standards: 3-LS2, 3-LS4, 4-LS1
Grades 7–12 Next Generation Science Standards: MS-PS4, MS-LS2, MS-ESS3, HS-ESS3

Dilemma Discussion: Using Critical Thinking to Coexist with Urban Wildlife

This activity supports critical thinking and familiarizes students with wildlife in urban environments. For grades 3–12, students will consider how humans and personal behavior choices impact wildlife positively and negatively, and develop solutions that include goals to coexist.

Grades K–2 Next Generation Science Standards: K-ESS3, 2-LS4
Grades 3–6 Next Generation Science Standards: 3-LS4, 3-5-ETS1
Grades 7–12 Next Generation Science Standards: MS-ESS3, HS-LS2, HS-ESS3

Close Encounters: Understanding Safe Urban Wildlife Viewing Practices

Coexisting with wildlife in urban environments requires us to be aware of the species living among us and to alter our behavior accordingly. Students will explore length and distance measurements and relate them to safe distance guidelines for wildlife viewing.

Grades 3–6 Next Generation Science Standards: 3-LS4

Wildlife Survival Games: The Challenges of Living in Urban Environments

This activity allows students to reflect on their daily needs and then participate in games which present challenges wildlife may face living in urban environments. Students collect data on helpful and harmful events they encounter while playing.

Grades 3–6 Next Generation Science Standards: 3-LS2, 3-LS4, 3-5-ETS1

Connection Trek Scavenger Hunt about Urban Ecology

Students collect observations while searching for clues in this outdoor scavenger hunt. Younger students are introduced to the different roles and relationships present between living and non-living organisms, while older students will look for evidence to support urban ecology statements.

Grades 3–6 Next Generation Science Standards: 3-LS4, 5-LS2
Grades 7–12 Next Generation Science Standards: MS-LS2, MS-ESS3, HS-LS2, HS-ESS3

Urban Wildlife Kids Worksheets Grades 3-6

Coexisting with wildlife in urban environments requires us to be aware of the species living among us. These worksheets for younger students continue to raise awareness of the wildlife found in cities. They include a variety of activities ranging from word searches, fill in the blanks, matching, free drawing, and more.

Virtual Deer Awareness Presentations

For 4th through 6th grade students living on Staten Island, NYC Parks also currently offers a virtual presentation to raise awareness of white-tailed deer in the borough. If you are a teacher or guardian interested in utilizing an interactive web-based learning portal with your student(s), please contact us using the form below: