Word games

• The Science Teachers website has two echinoderm crossword puzzles you can print out for your students to solve. These puzzles feature family, classes and species of echinoderms, as well as different characteristics about each group. Hand these out and let your students finish them for extra credit. There are also word searches available at the same site. Word searches involve finding words hidden among a huge jumble of letters. Print these out at the same time you print out the crossword puzzles. Make your own word searches and crossword puzzles using pencils, rulers and graphing paper.
  
  

Draw and label

• Teach your students about echinoderms by having them label different body parts on various echinoderm species and subspecies. Sites such as Enchanted Learning offers printouts that are appropriate for this activity. Hand these out along with drawing supplies, such as paper, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, erasers and rulers. Your students can recreate the look of the echinoderms using these print outs as a guide. Ask them to also draw backgrounds, including the ocean, rocks and other undersea creatures interacting with echinoderms. Hang these in your classroom as decorations.
  
  

Teach symmetry

• Use pictures of various echinoderm species to explain to your students about the symmetrical nature of echinoderms. Cut out the creatures fold them multiple ways to illustrate echinoderm symmetry. Discuss symmetry, explaining why symmetry occurs in animals and in nature. Show them pictures of people and fold them in half to illustrate the fact that humans and echinoderms both have symmetry.
  
  

Pets

• Buy a large aquarium and add starfish -- they can be purchased through online pet shops, or your local pet shop may carry them. Put the tank in your classroom and choose a student to feed and take care of the starfish each day. Taking care of the starfish includes cleaning the aquarium water, making sure the water temperature is right and cleaning the tank properly. Make the tank cleaning a classroom activity. Devote 10 minutes of the day for "pet time" where students can watch the starfish swim in the tank and interact with its environment. Make sure there are a few plants inside the aquarium.