Hands-On: Playdough Creatures
Hands-On: Playdough Vertebrates vs Invertebrates
Big Idea:
During the Permian period, animals with internal skeletons (vertebrates) could grow larger, move more efficiently, and support far more weight than animals without one. This activity makes that structural difference tangible.Materials:
- Play dough or modeling clay
- Pipe cleaners
- Small stackable items for weight (coins, blocks, washers, or small stones)
- A flat surface
What to Do:
Step 1: Build the Creatures
Ask your learner to make two animal-shaped creatures from play dough, one without anything inside, and one with a pipe cleaner threaded through the center as a spine. They can add legs, a tail, whatever they like. "No need to be realistic, just make them roughly the same size and shape."Step 2: Stack the Weight Test
Place both creatures on the flat surface. Begin gently stacking coins or small objects on top of each creature. Count how many each can support before collapsing or bending significantly.Step 3: Record
Write down the results on the lab sheet. Calculate how many more objects the vertebrate creature supported.Step 4: Add More Pipe Cleaners
If time allows, try adding a second pipe cleaner as ribs, or a third as leg bones. Does the structure get even stronger?Step 5: The Permian Connection
"During the Permian, the dominant land animals were synapsids, mammal-like reptiles with internal skeletons. Dimetrodon is one of the most famous. Many people mistake it for a dinosaur, but it was actually more closely related to you than to any dinosaur. It lived 40 million years before the first dinosaurs."Step 6: Discuss
- What other advantages does an internal skeleton give an animal? (Protects organs, anchors muscles, allows more complex movement.)
- What advantages might an exoskeleton have over an endoskeleton? (Armor, protection from outside, but it limits growth and cannot scale up as easily.)