What is a biome? lesson for children

Introduce your children to biomes with this simple biome definition. Learn about the key world biomes and focus in on the three forest biomes, including where the are located and which animals and plants you can find there.

What is a biome? lesson for children

Learn about biomes with this guide to the regions of the world. This is a great geography lesson for children to accompany your forest school activities.

In this lesson, you can:

:: learn a simple definition of a biome

:: learn key biomes around the world

:: learn about the three types of forest biome: tropical forests, temperate forests, and boreal forests and the animals and plants that live there

:: find out how to access all our forest lessons, animal guides, journal pages, and printable forest animal models

Download your complete Nature Journal kit

This activity is taken from our Nature Explorers: Forest nature journal kit. This is the perfect nature curriculum for children who have a special interest in animals, love drawing, being outdoors, and being active.

Every page of the Nature Explorers journal gives your children something interesting to read, draw, colour, write or make. You can use the whole book in the given order or mix-and-match to suit you alongside your time outdoors. You’ll know your children are developing their reading and writing fluency and their science knowledge, while still spending a childhood outdoors in the fresh air.

The journal is full of special animal feature pages, activity ideas, and art projects to try in the forest, plus quizzes and questions to consolidate their learning. And your kids will love the two sets of animal cut-out models that are included: forest animals and bugs! They can colour them in, cut them out, and easily assemble them for play or to create model forest dioramas.

See more and get your copy of Nature Explorers: Forest here.

Simple biome explanation for children

Biomes are areas around the world which all have similar weather and temperatures and similar plants and animals.

Biomes can be on land or in the water.

There are at least ten main types of biomes around the world including tundra, grassland, desert, savanna, and aquatic (water).

In our Nature Explorers: Forest book you can learn more about forest biomes.

Types of forest biomes

Did you know there are three main types of forest on Earth and together they cover about one third of all the land on the planet? They are tropical forests, temperate forests, and boreal forests.

Tropical forest biome

Tropical forests are found in the tropics, near the equator, in South America, Central America, sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. They are warm and wet.

Trees such as rubber, palm and kapok grow in tropical forests and you can find animals including bonobos apes, toucans, boa constrictor snakes and poison dart frogs there.

Boreal forest biome

Boreal forests, which are also called taiga, grow in North Russia, Scandinavia, and Canada.

They are cold areas with evergreen trees such as pine, larch and fir, and have a short growing season.

Animals such as moose, reindeers, lynxes and great grey owls live in these forests.

Temperate forest biome

In between these two areas, temperate forests are found in North America, Europe and East Asia.

They look very different through the year because they have four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and autumn.

There is lots of rain in this biome and so lots of plants can grow.

Deciduous trees, which drop their leaves in autumn, such as oak, elder, and birch and evergreen trees such as pine or fir grow in these temperate forests.

You will find other plants such as lichen, moss and wildflowers and animals including woodpeckers, foxes, robins, and snails living here.

Use a map and locate the three forest biomes. Which one is closest to where you live?

Learn more about the temperate forest biome

Our book Nature Explorers: Forest focusses on the temperate forests of the world but look out for a special guest appearance from a creature from the boreal forest at the end of the journal!

You will learn about the animals and plants living in the temperate forest biome and create your own forest science book using the interactive, printable pages.

Get your copy of Nature Explorers: Forest – the interactive nature journal for children

Nature Explorers: Forest is the perfect way to add reading, writing, drawing and science to your forest adventures.

This interactive nature journal will get your children reading, writing, drawing and learning as they create a unique science book about their own forest.

The Nature Explorers: Forest learning journal is the ideal bridge between a classroom curriculum and the great outdoors. Your children will love learning the amazing animal facts, drawing, and playing with the animal cut-out models, while you will know the important early academics of reading fluency, comprehension, expanding vocabulary and writing skills are being developed alongside science, geography and art knowledge.

Nature Explorers: Forest is suitable for parents, teachers, and forest school leaders with children aged 5 to 10, to learn in a forest, school nature area, local park or your own backyard.

See more and get your copy of Nature Explorers: Forest here.