Teachers can play a vital role in teaching youth about hellbenders, water quality, and watershed protection. This website provides a rich content of lesson plans, classroom posters, activities and stickers.
Teacher Resources
Hellbender ID Quiz
The Help the Hellbender team have several resources to help you identify and learn why our hellbenders are declining: Hellbender ID Quiz & Video
Request a Presentation
If you would like the Help the Hellbender Team to come to your area and give a presentation contact Dr. Jason Hoverman, jhoverm@purdue.edu.
Teaching Tools & Extras
Hellbender Lesson Plans & Videos
There are many ways to integrate watershed management, water quality enhancement, and helping hellbenders into your classroom activities. The following lesson plans are directly aligned with many state standards and ready to use in the classroom.
Hellbender Lesson Plans:- Adaptations for Aquatic Amphibians
- Hellbenders Rock!
- Adult Hellbender video
- Juvenile Hellbender video
Watershed Lesson Plans:
- Discovering the Watershed
- What is a Watershed
- Protect your streams, protect your mountains
- Water Education Posters
- Streamside Science
- Aquatic Macroinvertebrates (pdf 573 KB)
- Water Cycle (pdf 2,760 KB)
Water Quality Lesson Plans:
- Healthy Water, Happy Home
- Water Pollution (pdf 2,760 KB)
- Ground and Surface Water Activities (pdf 3,714 KB)
Help the Hellbender & A Moment in the Wild Videos
Don't miss the videos in our Help the Hellbender YouTube playlist and our "A Moment in the Wild" series. You will find videos for kids, teachers, natural resource leaders or enthusiasts that share all about hellbenders, smaller salamanders, rock stacking, snakes, frogs, wetlands and much more.
- Help the Hellbender, Purdue Extension-Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR) YouTube Playlist
- A Moment in the Wild, Purdue Extension-FNR YouTube Playlist
- Ask an Expert, Purdue, Purdue Extension-FNR YouTube Playlist
Purdue leads efforts to restore hellbender populations in Indiana through habitat restoration, farmer partnerships, and captive rearing, releasing hundreds into the Blue River to improve water quality and biodiversity.
Activities for Kids
Clean Water Crossword (pdf)
Hellbender Crossword (pdf)
Watershed Crossword (pdf)
Clean Water Word Search (pdf)
Hellbender Name Word Search (pdf)
Watershed Word Search (pdf)
Coloring Pages
Click on the coloring page for a free pdf download, print and color.
Coloring Book
Click on this 6 page coloring book with maze game, free pdf download, print, staple, trim and color.
Hellbender Havoc Game
Help Herbie thrive by navigating the river, eating crawfish, and avoiding natural and man-made hazards. Learn about the lifecycle and preservation of the Hellbender Salamander, North America’s largest salamander.
We recently collaborated with Minecraft developers to design the FHHI virtual gaming platform. Our research team at Purdue and Texas Tech developed the in-game educational content focused on hellbenders across three virtual worlds. This will allow players to learn about hellbenders current ecological threats, their habitat needs and biology through quests, challenges and exploration.
Hellbender Lesson Plans & Videos
There are many ways to integrate watershed management, water quality enhancement, and helping hellbenders into your classroom activities. The following lesson plans are directly aligned with many state standards and ready to use in the classroom.
Hellbender Lesson Plans:- Adaptations for Aquatic Amphibians
- Hellbenders Rock!
- Adult Hellbender video
- Juvenile Hellbender video
Watershed Lesson Plans:
- Discovering the Watershed
- What is a Watershed
- Protect your streams, protect your mountains
- Water Education Posters
- Streamside Science
- Aquatic Macroinvertebrates (pdf 573 KB)
- Water Cycle (pdf 2,760 KB)
Water Quality Lesson Plans:
- Healthy Water, Happy Home
- Water Pollution (pdf 2,760 KB)
- Ground and Surface Water Activities (pdf 3,714 KB)
Help the Hellbender & A Moment in the Wild Videos
Don't miss the videos in our Help the Hellbender YouTube playlist and our "A Moment in the Wild" series. You will find videos for kids, teachers, natural resource leaders or enthusiasts that share all about hellbenders, smaller salamanders, rock stacking, snakes, frogs, wetlands and much more.
- Help the Hellbender, Purdue Extension-Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR) YouTube Playlist
- A Moment in the Wild, Purdue Extension-FNR YouTube Playlist
- Ask an Expert, Purdue, Purdue Extension-FNR YouTube Playlist
Purdue leads efforts to restore hellbender populations in Indiana through habitat restoration, farmer partnerships, and captive rearing, releasing hundreds into the Blue River to improve water quality and biodiversity.
Activities for Kids
Clean Water Crossword (pdf)
Hellbender Crossword (pdf)
Watershed Crossword (pdf)
Clean Water Word Search (pdf)
Hellbender Name Word Search (pdf)
Watershed Word Search (pdf)
Coloring Pages
Click on the coloring page for a free pdf download, print and color.
Coloring Book
Click on this 6 page coloring book with maze game, free pdf download, print, staple, trim and color.
Hellbender Havoc Game
Help Herbie thrive by navigating the river, eating crawfish, and avoiding natural and man-made hazards. Learn about the lifecycle and preservation of the Hellbender Salamander, North America’s largest salamander.
We recently collaborated with Minecraft developers to design the FHHI virtual gaming platform. Our research team at Purdue and Texas Tech developed the in-game educational content focused on hellbenders across three virtual worlds. This will allow players to learn about hellbenders current ecological threats, their habitat needs and biology through quests, challenges and exploration.
Connecting Classrooms to Nature
The Nature of Teaching brings learning outdoors, connecting students with wildlife, conservation, and environmental stewardship.
The Nature of Teaching includes formal standards-based curricula and informal activity-based curricula all centered around getting youth outside. The three program areas of the formal curricula include: Wildlife, Health and Wellness, and Food Waste. Each program area provides standards-based lesson plans free as a downloadable PDF. The Nature of Teaching also offers professional development workshops for teachers focused on science, the environment, and getting students connected with nature.
Hop Into Indiana’s Amphibians!
Discover the sights and sounds of Indiana’s frogs and toads with engaging videos, photos, and expert insights, perfect for curious minds of all ages!
Nature of Teaching now also features photos and sounds: Amphibians: Frogs, Toads and Salamanders. This web page offers a rich collection of high-resolution educational photos showcasing various amphibian species. It serves as a visual resource for educators and nature enthusiasts, highlighting the diversity of amphibians found in Indiana and beyond.