Piping Plover Learning Activities

plover and chick for web page


Are you spending lots of time at home with the kids and looking for something both fun and educational to do with them?  Why not help them to become a 'plover lover?!  This page provides a variety of fun and interesting learning activities about the piping plover.  

The Atlantic coast population of this little shorebird was listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1986, a protected status that remains today.  From early spring through late summer, plovers breed on beaches up and down the east coast, including beaches located on some national wildlife refuges.  Parker River National Wildlife Refuge just happens to be one of those places lucky enough to have piping plovers!    


We have just created TWO new (and short) videos about the piping plover.  One of the two videos features a refuge ranger reading a storybook called Piping Plover Summer.  The other video provides a brief introduction to the plover, the many challenges it faces, and how a refuge staff is working together to provide the plover with a brighter future.  To access the two videos, click on this link!


Here are some fun activity sheets featuring the piping plover:

Piping Plover MAZE!  Click here.  (PDF)

Piping Plover Word Unscramble!  Click here.  (PDF)

Piping Plover Word Search No. 1:  Click here. (PDF - Note: answer sheet on page 2.)

 

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Here are a FUN wealth of piping plover and shorebird-related learning resources:

Here is a great online video about the 'life and times' of the piping plover.  Click here.  (The video was created by our conservation friends at Cape Cod National Seashore.)

Have you ever wondered what a piping plover looks like in the wild, and what kind of sound it makes?  Here's a very good short video clip.  Click here.

Share the Beach is a 'wicked cool' activity guide about the piping plover.  Click here.  (PDF)

Shorebirds - Migratory Super Heroes! is another great activity guide chock-full of fun facts, games, puzzles and other activities - not just about the piping plover - but about shorebirds in general.  Click here.  (PDF)

Here's the OFFICIAL Parker River National Wildlife Refuge piping plover coloring page!  Click here.  (PDF)

For either a formal OR non-formal educator, including a parent working at home with a child of any age, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service created the Shorebird Sisters School Program environmental activity guide.  This 500+ page guide offers a dizzying array of learning activities that can be adapted to multiple grade levels.  Someone working at home with a child can easily "cherry pick" individual activities to suit their need or interest.  Click here to download the entire guide!  (PDF)