Student Activities

Aquarium:

Aquarium is a place in which fish and other water creatures and plants are maintained. An aquarium can be a small tank, or a large building with one or more large tanks.

Terrarium:

Terrarium is a place in which live terrestrial animals and plants are kept. Plants and animals are kept in a terrarium with controlled conditions that copy their natural environment

Aquariums and Terrariums are used to observe animals and plants more closely. They are also used for decorations.

Activity 2: Take a square paper. Fold its diagonals. Draw three lines in three triangles as shown in the picture.  

Cut from the edge of the diagonal to the center as shown in the picture.

If you fold this triangle and paste behind the third triangle you get a pyramidal shape.

In one of the triangles, draw images of each of the organisms in the different levels.

In another triangle write the names of the organisms. In the last triangle, write the energy level of the organism. Have a look at the following example. You must come up with different organisms!.

Activity 3: Take two mud pots or glass jars and fill them up with garden soil. In the first pot, mix wastes such as banana peel, some vegetable peels and a few tree leaves into the soil. In the second pot, mix a piece of plastic carry bag, sweet wrapper and metal foil into the soil.

What happen to the waste materials placed in both pots? Do you notice a difference between first and second pot? Observe the changes over two weeks and discuss with your classmates.

How much waste does each person make around the world every day?

The average person in India produces 0.45kg of waste every day. It may be small amount of waste. But, India has a large population and imagine you collected all the waste today and put it into tractors. You would fill so many tractors that you could create a traffic jam approximately 2,800 kilometres long. Imagine, a road all the way from Kanyakumari to New Delhi completely blocked with tractors carrying garbage and no space to walk in between. This is how much waste we create in India each day! If we reduce the waste, we reduce the pollution. India produces 532 million kilos of solid waste every day.

Activity 4: Preparation of vermi compost

Dig a pit for about one feet depth in the backyard or garden of your home or school. Fill the pit by bio wastes, paper and food wastes, place few earth worms in it, sprinkle water and close the place with jute or cardboard and ensure moisture all the time.

After 45 days the vermi casting layer formed just above the pit. These castings will be applied to the plant. This contains water soluble nutrients. This type of compost helps in plant growth as well as sustain the land is fertility.