Animals Without Backbones covers these concepts: animals without backbones are called invertebrates, invertebrates are classified by their body characteristics, most kinds of invertebrates live in the ocean, invertebrates have developed different ways of acquiring food, invertebrates movements are adapted to the animals needs, invertebrates have developed many forms of self-defense, and some invertebrates build homes. A variety of engaging activities present the concepts in ways that students can understand. Each concept presented includes: teacher directions for lessons and reproducible resource pages such as sets of picture cards, minibooks, and lab sheets to record the results of hands-on investigations.