Diurnal and

Nocturnal
animals
Grade 2
 What are Diurnal animals?

 Diurnal
is a tricky word! Let’s all say
that word together. Diurnal [dahy-ur-
nl]

Adiurnal animal is an animal that is

awake or active during the day.

 What kinds of diurnal animals can you

think of?
What kinds of diurnal animals
do we get?
 What are Nocturnal animals?

 Let’s
all say that word together!
Nocturnal [nok-tur-nl]

 Nocturnal
animals are animals that prefer
to come out during the night time.

 Some nocturnal animals can be seen

during the day, others spend the whole
day resting or sleeping.
What kinds of nocturnal animals
do we get?
 A fox
 Foxes are mainly active during
the early night time, when it
is dusk, and throughout the
night.
 They are a reddish brown
colour and usually are seen
on their own.
 They live in woodland and
urban areas
and scavenge for food
wherever they can find it.
 A bat

 There are many different

types of bats.
 They eat flying insects
 They use sound waves,
rather than eyesight, to
locate their food. The sound
wave bounces off an insect
and tells the bat where to fly!
 They live in cool dark places,
like caves.
 A badger
 Badgers live underground in
family groups.
 They live mainly in the
countryside.
 Badgers mainly eat
earthworms.
 A badger’s home is called a
sett.
 They sometimes visit
gardens looking for food.
 A mouse
 Mice are rodents, and many
rodents come out to look for
food during the night time.
 The mouse lives in tunnels
underground and is the main
food of owls.
 It has good eyesight and an
incredible sense of smell!
 owls
 They hunt at night for food,
which includes mice, voles
and frogs.

 They have a very good

sense of hearing and a
strong sense of smell.

 This helps them find their

way in the dark.
 hedgehog
 Hedgehogs are small and
make a snuffling noise as they
hunt for slugs and other small
creatures.

 Hedgehogs are covered in

small spines and can curl into
a ball when frightened. They
have poor eyesight but a good
sense of hearing.
Diurnal & Nocturnal Worksheet

You will each get a copy of the diurnal and nocturnal animal
worksheet. You will also get a set of animal cards. You will cut
them out and glue them in the proper section. You must decide
if the animal is a diurnal (daytime) or nocturnal (nighttime)