Armed with magnifying glasses, identification sheets and record papers, pupils search through samples of leaf litter in or out of the classroom to discover that it provides a valuable habitat for many invertebrates such as spiders, centipedes, beetle larva and springtails. In such close proximity pupils become more familiar with the characteristics of different invertebrates and make a note of all that they find distinguishing between preadtors and decomposers.

More competitive groups may like to try their hand at 'leaf litter bingo', where a harvestman can mean house!