Hi friends!
I was so happy to see so many of you express interest in this unit study I pulled together. It is nothing fancy. In fact, it is mostly books and media with a few activities sprinkled in, but my kids are ages 3 and 5 and they don’t need a whole lot. We like to keep things simple and relaxed.
To be honest, I don’t see us using a formal curriculum for science until middle school and believe unit studies based off of their interests are enough for now. We can dive in as deep as they want as they grow older, but for now, it’s a lot of exposure, reading together, taking field trips, watching documentaries, and freestyle science experiments. My 5YO in particular is science-minded and constantly asking to experiment.
I chose mammals as the overarching theme for the year because both of my kids are animal lovers (at these ages, most kids are). Topics start off with general mammal facts and characteristics and then we move into studying specific animals. You can do one topic or animal a week (which is how I wrote it out, since that is how I see us doing it) or move as fast/slow as your child wants. You can pick and choose which weeks and animals you wanna do. Anything goes in your homeschool, friend!
My hope is that this is a good starting point, especially on the book front. If you have been here a while, you know how important books are in our home!! I tried to include a good blend of informational non-fiction books and picture books that are fun and easy to incorporate into the topic into your morning or bedtime routine. I really cannot stress enough that this is a gentle and forgiving unit study that can be made into whatever you want it to be. Add more. Take away. You do you.
So without any more introduction, here’s our mammal unit study.
General Spines to Consider:
- The Animal Book by DK Smithsonian
- When Whales Walked (note: this is a book about evolution)
- National Geographic Book of Mammals
- Nature Anatomy
- About Mammals: A Guide for Children
- Encyclopedia of Animals
Weekly Topics
Week 1: Living vs. Non-Living
- Books: What’s Alive?, What Is a Living Thing?, Living or Non Living?, Are You Living?, What Kind of of Living Thing Is It?
- Media: Living vs. Non-Living
Week 2: What Are Mammals
- Books: Animal School, What Is a Mammal?, Is a Camel a Mammal?, About Mammals: A Guide for Children
- Media: All About Mammals
Week 3: Herbivore vs. Carnivore vs. Omnivore and the Food Chain
- Books: What Are Food Chains and Webs?, Who Eats What?
- Media: Herbivores, Omnivores, and Carnivores
- Activity: Sorting game (free printables here)
Week 4: Mammal Mamas
- Books: Mama’s Milk, Born in the Wild, If My Mom Were a Platypus, Mama’s Kisses
- Media: Animal Moms Love Their Babies
- Activity: Milking a cow dramatic play
Week 5: Diurnal vs. Nocturnal Animals
- Books: Daylight Starlight Wildlife, Where Are the Night Animals?, Out of Sight Til Tonight, Daytime Nighttime All Through the Year, Nocturnal Animals
- Media: Wild Kratts’ Episode: Creatures Come Out at Night
- Activity: Moonlight Animals (Interactive Lightbeam book), PBS Kids Song
Week 6: Prehistoric Mammals
- Books: What Was the Ice Age?, Mammoth Magic, Samson in the Snow, Woolly Mammoths, Sabertooth Cats, Prehistoric Mammals, Mammoths on the Move, Will’s Mammoth
- Media: Ice Age movie night
Week 7: Domestic Animals vs. Wild Animals
- Books: Big Red Barn, Little Kids First Big Book of Pets, South African Animals, Coyote Moon, Little Wolf’s First Howling
- Media: Pet, Farm, and Wild Animals
- Activity: Sensory bin play with our animal figurines
Week 8: Hibernation
- Books: Hibernation Station, Over and Under the Snow, Sleep Black Bear Sleep, Hiders Seekers Finders Keepers
- Media: Wild Kratts’ episode: Groundhog Wake Up Call
Week 9: Tracks
- Books: Who Was Here?, Whose Tracks Are These?
- Media: Animal Track Detective
- Activity: Make tracks in kinetic sand or play-doh
Weekly Land Mammals
Week 10: Bears
- Books: Something About a Bear, A Story for Small Bear, Goodnight Bears, Nature Anatomy (pg 139)
- Media: Bears on Disney+
- Activity: Paper plate bear craft
Week 11: Primates
- Books: I Am Jane Gooddall, He Leads: Mountain Gorilla a Gentle Giant, Peculiar Primates, Little Sibu, How to Lose a Lemur
- Media: Wild Kratts’ episode: Swinging with the Monkeys, Nat Geo: Gorillas, Chimpanzee on Disney+, Monkey Kingdom on Disney+
Week 12: Canines
- Books: The First Dog, Stormy, Amazing Dogs, Wolf Camp, Coyote Moon, The Secret Life of the Red Fox, National Geographic: Wolves, Little Red Riding Hood, Nature Anatomy (pg 145)
- Media: Dog Facts for Kids, Nat Geo: Wolf
Week 13: Felines
- Books: I am a Cat, National Geographic: Cats, National Geographic: Lions, Lionheart, Little Tigers, Sleepy Cheetah, Facts About the Panther, Nature Anatomy (pg 144)
- Media: Day in the Life of a Lion Pride, Big Cats, Facts About Cats, African Cats on Disney+
Week 14: Marsupials
- Books: Super Marsupials, What Is a Marsupial, Koala is Not a Bear, Diary of a Wombat, The Koala Who Could, Pip the Possum, Pouch, Kangaroo Christine
- Media: How Marsupials are Different From Other Animals, Wild Kratts’ episode: Koala Balloon
Week 15: Elephants
- Books: She Leads: The Elephant Matriarch, If You Were an Elephant, Go Wild Elephants
- Media: Free School: Elephants, Elephant on Disney+
- Activity: Visit elephants at zoo
Week 16: Bison
- Books: Ranger Rick: I Wish I Were a Bison, There’s a Bison Bouncing on the Bed
- Media: Free School: American Bison
Week 17: Chipmunks & Squirrels
- Books: Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane, Chirp: Chipmunk Sings for a Friend, Squirrel Family Tree, The Squirrel’s Busy Year, National Geographic: Squeak
- Media: Chipmunks, Squirrel Facts
Week 18: Zebras
- Books: National Geographic: A Zebra’s Day, How the Zebra Got Its Stripes, A Zebra’s World, Little Zebra
- Media: Wild Kratts’ episode: Zig-Zagged, Free School Zebras
Week 19: Platypus
- Books: Little Platypus, A Platypus Probably, Step Into Reading: Platypus
- Media: Octonauts’ episode: Duck-billed Platypus, National Geographic Platypus
Week 20: Hippopotamus
- Books: Hippos Are Huge, Fiona the Hippo
- Media: All About Hippos
Week 21: Giraffes
- Books: Nat Geo: Giraffes, A Giraffe and a Half
- Media: All About Giraffes, Wild Kratts’ episode: Neck and Neck
- Activity: Visit giraffes at zoo
Week 22: Pigs
- Books: Pig-Piggy-Pigs, The Three Pigs, Happy Pig Day, Sprig the Rescue Pig
- Media: Pig Facts, Charlotte’s Web movie night
Week 23: Sloths
- Books: The Sloth Who Slowed Us Down, Slow Slow Sloths, Mindful Mr. Sloth
- Media: Sloths
Week 24: Humans
- Books: When We Became Human, Grandmother Fish, The First Drawing, Boy, Little Grunt and the Big Egg, Humanimal
- Activity: Cave paintings craft – either something like this or using a large cardboard box to make a cave & let them paint.
Marine Mammals
Week 25: Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises
- Books: Nature Anatomy (pg 158-159), If I Were a Whale, The Boy and the Whale, Nat Geo Kids: Whales, Nat Geo Kids: Dolphins, Dolphin Baby, Wild Orca, Orca Song
- Media: Dolphin Reef on Disney+, Secrets of the Whales on Disney+, Octonauts’ episode: The Orcas, Types of Whales
- Activity: Measuring sizes of whales with measuring tape
Week 26: Seals, Walruses, Sea Lions
- Books: Nature Anatomy (pg 156-157), Finn the Little Seal, Walrus Song, What’s That Noise?, Sally the Sea Lion, The Sea Lion’s Friend, Seal Pup Grows Up
- Media: Walruses, Seals, Octonauts’ episode: The Harbour Seals
Week 27: Sea Otters
- Books: National Geographic: Sea Otters, Sea Otter Pup, Otters Love to Play, River Otter at Autumn Lane
- Media: Sea Otters, Wild Kratts’ episode: Sea Otter Swim
- Activity: Visit otters at the zoo
Week 28: Polar Bears
- Books: Little Polar Bear, The Polar Bear, National Geographic: Polar Bears, Hush Little Polar Bear
- Media: Polar Bear on Disney+
- Polar bear figurine sensory bin
Week 29: Biggest Mammal vs. Smallest
- Books: Whales: The Blue Whale, What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew
- Media: Blue Whales 101
- Activity: Measure out size of both mammals to compare
Week 30: Endangered Mammals
- Books: Don’t Let Them Disappear, Can We Save Them, Red Alert: Endangered Animals Around the World
- Media: Wild Kratt’s rescuing endangered animals
Longer Read-alouds to consider:
- Who Was Jane Goodall
- What Was the Ice Age
- Doctor Doolittle
- A Whale of the Wild
- Magic Treehouse Books
- Sunset of the Sabertooth
- Dolphins at Daybreak
- Lions at Lunchtime
- Polar Bears Past Bedtime
- Buffalo Before Breakfast
- Tigers at Twilight
- Dingoes at Dinnertime
- Good Morning Gorillas
More Media:
- Life of Mammals (Library)
- The Evolution of Mammals (probably better for older kids, but so fascinating!)
Possible Games to Play:
- Guess in 10 (Animal Edition)
- Guess Who? (Pets Edition)
