Sort & Debate

Here’s a quick activity you can do with minimal prep.

Owls

Snakes & reptiles

Small mammals & prey

Bats

Print & go

Run with a class

Here’s a quick activity you can do with minimal prep.

1. Animal Card Sort

Create or print simple picture cards of:

Ground squirrel
Bat
Chipmunk
Black bear
Owl
Chickadee
Canada goose
Monarch butterfly
Frog
Snake

Have students sort them into:

Hibernate / Deep Rest
Migrate
Stay Active

Then gently correct a few common misconceptions:

Bears: more “torpor/denning” than classic hibernation
Owls & most birds: active or migratory, not hibernators
Reptiles & amphibians: overwinter in a slowed state, but not all in the same way

2. Quick Writing Prompt

Let students choose one path and one animal:

“If I hibernated like a ground squirrel…”
“If I migrated like a goose…”
“If I stayed active like an owl…”

Then finish:

“…my biggest winter challenge would be…”
“…my biggest winter superpower would be…”

Where it comes from

When the days get short and the air has that “your nose might fall off” feel, it’s easy to imagine the whole animal world going to sleep until spring.

Some animals do get pretty close to that idea: real, deep hibernation. Owls and most birds? Not so much.

Let’s untangle who actually powers way down for winter, and why the birds at your feeder (and the owls in your neighborhood) stay awake and busy while snow piles up.

Read the blog post ↗ When Winter Hits Pause: Who Hibernates, and Why Owls (and Most Birds) Don’t · 2025-12-05

Workspace

Run it with your class

Set up the class, count what needs counting, write down what happened, then save it and take it with you. Everything here stays in this browser until you download it.