Fur, Feathers, Scales and Shells: Animal Body Coverings

About This Resource

A free Grade 1 science worksheet pack on animal body coverings: fur and hair, feathers, scales, shells and skin, how each covering helps an animal stay warm, dry or safe, sorting animals by covering, a touch-and-feel activity and describing words. Includes a timed lesson plan, worksheet, editable Word version and answer key.

Overview

Children discover that animals are covered in different ways and that each covering helps the animal survive. Fur keeps a polar bear warm, feathers help birds fly and stay dry, scales protect fish and snakes, a hard shell protects a turtle and smooth wet skin helps a frog. Children match animals to coverings, sort animals, use describing words such as soft, smooth and hard, read a short text about a penguin and explain how a covering helps an animal.

Resource Details

Subject: Science
Topic: Animal Body Coverings
Category: Animals
File Type: PDF
File Size: 272 KB
Published: 01 Nov 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 1 (ages 6–7) 40 minutes Observing classifying describing reading explaining

Student Task

Pass around a feather, a piece of faux fur and a shell. Ask children to describe how each one feels.
Teach the five coverings, then do activities 1 and 2 together.
Children complete activities 3 to 6; answers are in the answer key.

Classroom Use

Mystery box: put fur, a feather, a shell and a smooth stone in a box; children feel and guess the covering.
Blubber glove: children put a hand in a plastic bag of shortening and then in ice water to feel how a fat layer keeps animals warm.
Covering collage: children glue feathers, cotton balls and sequins onto animal outlines.

Differentiation

Support: focus on fur, feathers and scales with real objects to touch. Challenge: find animals with two coverings (a turtle has a shell and scaly skin) and explain why.

Answer Key & Assessment

Activities 1 to 5 check naming and sorting coverings (answer key included). Activity 6 checks explaining how a covering helps.

Learning Objectives

Name five animal body coverings: fur, feathers, scales, shells and skin.
Sort animals by their body covering.
Explain how a body covering helps an animal stay warm, dry or safe.

Teacher Tips

Ask "How does it feel?" and "How does it help?" for every animal. Pairing a describing word with a job (soft fur keeps warm) helps children explain, not just name.

What's Included

6-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (4 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Editable Word version of the worksheet
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)