Free Lesson Plans for Teachers

Below you’ll find some of our favorite free lesson plans about nature and the outdoors from around the web.

Grades K-5

Connected Ecosytems, Smithsonian Ocean Portal
Getting to the Root of It: Plant Dissection and Root Systems, Scholastic
Flowers Seeking Pollinators, California Academy of Sciences
How Do Polar Bears Stay Warm?, National Wildlife Federation
How Plants Grow, US Department of Agriculture
Invent an Insect, California Academy of Sciences
Investigating Compost, California Academy of Sciences
Leafing the Nest: The Life Cycle of a Plant, Jessica Argese, Indiana Public Schools
Life in a Nest: Exploring Life Cycles with Bird Cams, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Living Life as a Plant, South Carolina ETV
Macroinvertebrate Manor, California Academy of Sciences
Measuring Earthquakes, California Academy of Sciences
Night Friends, National Wildlife Federation
Observing Variation, California Academy of Sciences
Plant Life Cycles, PBS
Plant Parts , Brown County, WI
Plant Parts and Functions, Virginia Department of Education
Seed Sensation: Exploring and Sorting Seeds, Scholastic
Slippery Shores: Oil Spill Cleanup, California Academy of Sciences
A Time to Sleep (Hibernation), Scholastic
Tricky Tracks, National Wildlife Federation
What Contains Carbon?, California Academy of Sciences
Which Was is North?, California Academy of Sciences

Grades 6-8

Buoyancy Bull’s Eye, California Academy of Sciences
Discovering Rainforest Locations, California Academy of Sciences
Flower Anatomy, Science Friday
Flowers Seeking Pollinators, California Academy of Sciences
Food Chains and Webs, Michigan State University
How Big is Big? Discovering Relative Sizes of Large Plants and Animals, California Academy of Sciences
How Many Bison?, National Wildlife Federation
How Stable is Your Food Web?, California Academy of Sciences
Investigating Compost, California Academy of Sciences
Investigating Moon Phases, California Academy of Sciences
Life in a Nest: Exploring Life Cycles with Bird Cams, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Mutualism and Coral Reefs, Smithsonian Ocean Portal
Observing Variation, California Academy of Sciences
Photosynthesis and Transpiration, Nelida Boreale, Cape Brenton Victoria Regional School Board
Photosynthesis Seen From Space, California Academy of Sciences
Rapid Trash Assessment, California Academy of Sciences
Raptor Migration, California Academy of Sciences
Slippery Shores: Oil Spill Cleanup, California Academy of Sciences
Stomata Printing: Microscope Investigation, California Academy of Sciences