Peat Bog Scavenger Hunt

Source:

Numerous Environmental Education Resources.  

Time

15 -20 minutes

You will need

• ‘Peat Bog Scavenger Hunt’ sheet (see downloads below)
• pencils

Did you know?

It is the acidity of a peat bog that makes the peat. The bog plants cannot rot away when they die because the bacteria which enable the decaying process can't live in the acid conditions. As a result when the vegetation dies it builds up in layers, new growth on the top and old growth underneath. Over thousands of years peat is formed from the squashed remains. The ground can actually become higher than the surrounding non-bog land; it becomes a raised bog growing in height at about 1 mm a year. The bog doesn't dry out because the peat and the living mosses, particularly sphagnum mosses, absorb and retain huge quantities of water. The bog soaks up water like a giant sponge. Bog plants are very specialised because they live in very acidic, very water logged conditions. 

Before the activity

Download the activity sheet and edit it to fit your group. 

The activity

Identify the search area and explain to the children where the boundaries are. Use the ‘Scavenger Hunt’ sheet to get the children to search closely on the peat bog. For younger children just ask them to search for a specific item or items and then return to base once they have spotted something which fits.  They do not need to pick up or remove any of the items. They can just write a description, list, remember or draw the item.

At the end of the search gather the group together and ask general questions about what they found. What was the best thing they found?  What was the nastiest? Is everything in nature important? (yes).  An energy giver could be anything that gives energy to another organism, i.e any living organism (even top predators give energy to the decomposers, when they die) and the sun (which gives energy via photosynthesis).

Suggested Follow up

Discuss whether the peatlands they are looking at are a natural or a man-made landscape. Is there evidence of human activity on the bogs or around the edges of the bog. In what ways can human activity damage or destroy the peat bogs? (cutting peat for fuel and for compost; draining, planting trees, burning to encourage growth of new heather shoots).

Downloads

Peat Bog Scavenger Hunt activity sheet

Curriculum Links

Science (main)

AgeRange

1, 2, 3