Creeks and streams provide a place for children to explore nature. Around creeks, kids can see various animals and plants that make up a complex food web. Everything is connected, and the survival of one animal is often dependent upon the survival of another.
Children who explore creeks can learn about the animal and plant life cycles surrounding creek habitats. In addition, they will understand how creek waters connect everything upstream, both good and bad, to everything downstream.
Investigating Benthic Invertebrates
Benthic macroinvertebrates are aquatic animals and include insect larvae, snails, crayfish, and mussels. While not all creeks have mussels and snails, most will have aquatic insect larvae and crayfish.
When exploring a creek, children love to find aquatic invertebrates that are a part of the creek ecosystem. These invertebrates are a necessary piece of the creek food web. Many animals, such as frogs, fish, birds, otters, and snakes, rely on aquatic invertebrates as food.
Snails and mussels are easy to observe because they sit on rocks or at the bottom of the creek, in full view from the surface, and move slowly. You can pick them up safely, examine them, and then put them back where you found them.
Aquatic insect larvae and crayfish are more secretive and require children to hunt to find them.
Crayfish can be captured by picking up rocks they are hiding under and backing them into a net. Handle these animals with care because they have claws that can deliver a painful pinch to unsuspecting fingers.
Students use a kick net to collect stream insects. You can purchase a kick net here Photo Credit: Gary Peeples. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region
How To Make A Kick Net
A kick net is an easy DIY project. To find aquatic insect larvae, you can build a kick net. Spread a rectangular piece of fine-mesh netting or window screen between two lightweight wooden posts or dowels.
You want to make sure the material is sturdy mesh so that the small insects don’t go through the holes. Staple the mesh to the dowels or use thumbtacks to keep the net in place.
Lower the bottom of the net into the creek, in a section of water just below a shallow, fast-moving riffle. Weigh the bottom down with rocks and tilt and hold the top downstream. The current should run over much of the mesh.
A second person stands upstream of the net, in the riffle, and shuffles around the bottom with their feet, gently moving loose rocks around. After moving around the rocks for a few minutes, the second person should reach down and lift the net out of the water.
Carry the net to shore and lay it on top of a white shower curtain. Any invertebrates in the net should stand out against the white color. Carefully sort through the debris and gently look at the bottoms of rocks to find hidden aquatic insect larvae.
Alternatively, you can use a butterfly net although are typically not as sturdy.
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Great Resources for identifying stream invertebrates
Online ID keys are available to download from the Izaak Walton League. Adults may need to help children identify the aquatic insect larvae.
Invertebrates are a key indicator of the health of the stream. Older children can use a macroinvertebrate identification key to determine the relative health of the stream based on the insect families represented in the sample. This checklist comes from Maryland but you can find out if your state is monitoring streams.
Discovering Secretive Animals
Most animals that live around creeks are shy and hide from people. These animals are often only active at night, such as beavers and raccoons. When exploring the area around the creek, children can discover which animals use it based on animal signs they find.
Animal Tracks: A Folding Pocket Guide is a great resource. I love them because they are laminated and brochure sized so easy to carry around.
One easy sign to locate is animal scat or poop. Biologists use animal scat to determine which animals use the area for hunting or sleeping. Every animal has poop that looks slightly different. Online tutorials containing pictures can help identify which animal left behind the scat kids find.
Animal tracks are another sign left by secretive, hidden animals that live around creeks. Each animal species has a uniquely-shaped foot, claw, or hoof that leaves a unique impression on the ground. Because the terrain around streams is soft and often muddy, animals leave their tracks behind when they use the creek.
Some animals leave behind more than scat and tracks when they use a creek. Animals like otters and raccoons leave behind “trash” or a midden when they hunt and eat food. Piles of shells from snails and mussels indicate that an otter or raccoon feasted in that spot.
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Spotting and Observing Fish
Small fish, such as minnows and darters, often inhabit creeks. These fish can be challenging to see or observe because they are fast swimmers. They often dart around quickly, moving from one hiding spot to another. Kids can see them after catching them with a net.
If the net catches minnows, turn the net over so the minnows fall into a clear plastic container filled with water to observe their appearance. Children should not touch the fish directly because their bodies are delicate.
Handling the fish removes the scales which they need for protection, so children should only make observations with their eyes. Touching minnows with dry hands can damage their scales and mucous covering. After observing the fish, gently return them to the creek.
Are you using all your senses when you explore nature? Read my article Forest Sensory Walk for All Ages.
Creek Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of plants and animals found in your ecosystem. Here is a list of common things to look for:
A nest hole in a tree, squirrel nests
Woodpeckers, robins, bluejays, and Grosbeak
Tadpoles, minnows, crayfish, and snails
Cattails, willow trees, and birch trees
Frogs and salamanders
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Racing “Boats”
Creek waters flow fast and slow, depending on where the water is in the creek bed. Along the shoreline, plants and other debris interfere with water flow and cause it to be slower than the water in the deeper channel, or thalweg.
Children can learn the basics about stream flow in creeks by racing makeshift “boats.” Kids can make boats out of any natural materials lying around, including small sticks, leaves, and pieces of bark. Any item that floats is suitable to use for this activity.
Younger children can have a race where they drop their “boats” into the water and see which item crosses the pre-determined finish line first. Older children can take this activity a step further by timing how long it takes for their “boats” to reach the finish line.
After a few races, older kids may start to ask questions and experiment to see what kind of floating item makes a faster boat. Some kids may want to time their floating vessel to see how long it takes to finish when they start from different places.
Racing makeshift boats is a simple way to introduce the topics of stream flow and hydrology to kids. It also reinforces the idea that creeks carry good and bad things from upstream to downstream.
This activity helps children understand why keeping our streams clean from trash and pollution is necessary to protect the downstream environment. After all, all streams eventually lead to the oceans.
Author, Ame Vanorio, is the founder of Fox Run and teaches classes in the community and online.
Hands-on science experiments are the best because they provide an unparalleled learning experience that engages students at a deeper level. Unlike traditional textbook learning, where knowledge is acquired passively, hands-on experiments encourage active participation and critical thinking.