Minibeasts and Microhabitats: A Garden Bug Hunt with Dotty

What you'll learn

• What a habitat is and what a microhabitat is
• Sorting big habitats, like a pond, from tiny microhabitats
• Naming minibeasts found under logs and stones, like woodlice
• Telling a centipede from a millipede, and a slug from a snail
• Naming plants in their habitats, such as moss, nettles and water lilies
• Why minibeast hunters always put logs and stones back

Chapter by chapter

1. Habitats and microhabitats: big homes and tiny homes

   Year 2 science · 1

2. Under logs and stones: finding and naming minibeasts

   Year 2 science · 1

3. On plants and flowers: naming minibeasts and plants

   Year 2 science · 1

4. Pond habitat: naming water minibeasts and plants

   Year 2 science · 1

5. Minibeast hunt challenge: name them and find their homes (10 questions)

About this adventure

Minibeasts and Microhabitats is an interactive game that teaches children aged 5–8 to find and name minibeasts and plants in their habitats, including microhabitats, as in the Year 2 science curriculum.

Guided by Dotty the ladybird, children explore a park, a woodland floor, a flower bed and a pond. They learn that a habitat is the place where a plant or animal lives, and that a microhabitat is a tiny home inside it, such as under a log or a stone. They roll over logs, sweep a magnifying glass across the plants and drag a net through the water, then put the logs, stones and pond creatures back safely.

Each discovery goes into a Bug Book with a spoken description, and many come with a fun fact. Short naming checks and a 10-question challenge help children tell look-alikes apart, such as a centipede and a millipede.

Questions and answers