Funstastic Unit Studies: Science Edition

Click to Share!

Funstastic Unit Studies: Science. Easy to implement units for ages 4-13. Great hands-on activities that bring learning to a whole new level.

Funstastic Unit Studies Science Edition Insects

I am not a Science teacher, and that’s okay. 

Funstastic Unit Studies has Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers and Teachers which makes it easy for anyone to teach Science, even if it’s not something they are proficient in.

Funtastic Unit Studies_zpsljdy1cy8

Funstastic Unit Studies made learning fun, and that’s important. When we would finish an activity, my children would ask if they could do the next one.

Funstastic Unit Studies: Insects

They loved the Unit on Insects.

Susan Kilbride does an excellent job laying out exactly what is needed for the unit before you actually begin. The supply list is on the very first page. In this particular unit, she even suggests watching Magic School Bus DVDs, which my kids love. The age range for the Insect Unit is 8-13, but my children begged to do it, so we did.

One of the great things about Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers and Teachers is that you can use it for multi-aged schooling. Although I was mainly focusing on doing the lesson with my oldest daughter, our preschoolers were at the table eager to learn more about insects. They can now tell you the parts of an insect, how many legs an insect has, and the life cycle of a butterfly. Maybe I’m biased, but that’s pretty impressive for a 4 and 3-year-old.

Animal Classification

Classifying Animals

We made a list of all the animals they could think of and talked about Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. I wasn’t expecting them to get much out of this section, but they did! They loved sorting the animals and talking about which group the animals were in.

Definition of an Insect

They thought it was so neat insects don’t have bones, while they do have an exoskeleton. But both insects and people have abdomens. They loved doing the hands-on activities. Honestly, so did I. They allowed us to get up, and move around but still stay in the learning groove that seems to get lost in the shuffle with four kids at home but only one officially being homeschooled.

Insect Life Cycles

Life Cycle of a Butterfly-2

This was their favorite. Not only did we draw it on paper, we watched the tiny caterpillars grow big and follow complete metamorphosis. It was awesome. Sadly we didn’t get to watch them emerge. It happened too fast.

Parts of an Insect

Drawing and labeling insects-2

I am still amazed at how much they have remembered about the parts of an insect. The activities in each section really help solidify what they are learning. There is something about learning in while in action that makes a difference. Plus it’s fun. Here we painted pictures of an insect and labeled the parts. They thought it was the best.

Insect Communication

Insect Communication-2

If you ever need an activity that allows your kids to run off energy, try the “bee dance” or the Pheromone chase. Movement is so key in learning. They talked about these activities all night and into the next day. It wasn’t just another game of blindfold hide and seek. They had to use their sense of smell to find the person. They LOVED it. Even the toddler.

Insect Defences

Learning about camouflage and insect defenses took what they knew to a different level. We had talked about it before, but the activities really brought it home and made learning enjoyable.

Recommended Movies

In certain seasons, screen time happens. That’s okay. At least when they watch something they can learn while they are occupied. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Test

There is a test at the end which makes a great review. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we did a verbal test with each child. They got them all correct. I was impressed.

Honestly, I haven’t utilized a lot of unit studies in our homeschooling this past year. After going through the insects unit though with my children, that may change. They loved the focus of doing a unit, but also incorporating different subjects.

Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers and Teachers is great for homeschool families and teachers in a school setting alike. You can pick and choose the activities or do them all! I was thankful that everything was right there in the book. All the supplies were listed, there were pictures to explain different cycles and parts of the insects, it was put together very well.

We LOVED Funstastic Science Unit Studies!

If you want to check it out for yourself, two free pdf units from the book are offered here.

Click to Share!

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *