Your place, through time and space!
Wherever we live today, it didn’t always look this way. Where your house stands may once have been a forest, a farmer’s field, or even a prehistoric riverbed! It’s important to understand that the place we call home has a long and exciting history, and that lots of different kinds of animals and people have also called this place home over the course of our planet’s history. In this activity, we use research and our imaginations to create a timeline of our place through time and space.
Materials:
Paper & Drawing supplies
Research materials (library or internet resources)
Step 1: Using your resource materials, answer the following questions about the place you live in (your state, town, or county):
- What is one animal that used to live here but is now extinct?
- What kinds of things do we think that animal ate? What does that tell us about the environment at that time?
- Who were some of the first people to live on this land? How did they use the land?
- What plants and animals is your place known for?
- In the last 200 years, what industry was your place known for?
Step 2: Using your research and your imagination, create a timeline showing how the place you live has changed over the last thousands or millions of years. Alternately, choose 3 different time periods and create an illustration of what life might have looked like in the same exact spot during each time period.
Send your artwork to us at learninglemurs@duke.edu!
