Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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Hands-On Activities

The Wonders of Nature: Free Color by Number Sloth Rainforest Habitat Page

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Today, I have a rainforest habitat color by number for our littlest adventurers. Okay, all ages can join in. Also, look at my pages Rain Forest – Amazon, Rain Forest – Animals of the Amazon, and Rainforest Activities for Kids.

We’re diving into the enchanting world of rainforests—a vibrant, complex habitat that plays a crucial role in our planet’s ecosystem.

Rainforests are often called the “lungs of the Earth”.

That is because they produce a significant amount of the world’s oxygen and are home to an astonishing array of plants and animals.

The Wonders of Nature: Free Color by Number Sloth Rainforest Habitat Page

Covering about 2% of Earth’s surface, rainforests house nearly half of the world’s plant and animal species.

Understanding this diverse habitat helps children appreciate the importance of conserving these vital ecosystems.

In addition, grab some of these fun books to read aloud.

Books About the Rainforest Habitat

When possible, I try to use living books.

Then add reference books about different animals that make their home in the rainforest habitat.

16 Rain Forest Animals For Kids Books & Resources

Add these rain forest animal books, games, and toys to round out your study of the animals of the rain forest.

To make learning about these incredible environments even more fun for your kids, I’ve got a special treat: a free color by number activity.

This will bring the magic of the rainforest to life right on your table.

This activity not only provides a creative outlet but also reinforces knowledge about rainforest inhabitants and their colorful world.

Layers of the Rainforest Facts

Next, look at these facts about rainforest habitat facts.

Rainforests have different floors. Each floor is called a layer, and each layer is home to different animals and plants.

Forest Floor: This is the bottom layer.

It’s dark and a bit damp, but it’s where you’ll find the coolest stuff like mushrooms, decomposing leaves, and maybe even a camouflaged frog or two!

Emergent Layer: This is the top layer, where the tallest trees poke out above everything else.

Birds like eagles and butterflies love to soar in this high-up space.

Canopy Layer: Right below the emergent layer, the canopy is like a big green roof made of tree leaves.

It’s super crowded here with animals like monkeys, tree frogs, and colorful birds.

Understory Layer: This layer is a bit darker and cooler.

Here, you might find snakes, insects, and small animals sneaking around in the shadows.

Additionally, look at these fun facts about sloths.

Meet the Sloth in the Amazon Rain Forest

Sloths are unique animals that live high up in the trees of the Amazon rainforest.

They have long, curved claws that help them hang from branches and move through the trees with ease.

Sloths are famous for their super slow movements.

They move so slowly that sometimes algae, a type of green plant, grows on their fur!

This makes them look a bit green and helps them blend into the leafy trees.

Sloths are excellent climbers.

They spend most of their lives hanging from trees, using their long claws to grip branches. They even sleep while hanging upside down.

Also, look at more rainforest fun facts.

More Rainforest Habitat Activity

The Wonders of Nature: Free Color by Number Sloth Rainforest Habitat Page

How to Get the Free Color by Number Sloth Rainforest Page

Now, how to grab the free color by number freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

1) Sign up on my email list.

2) Grab the freebie now.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Hands-on easy ice experiments are a fun way to learn about the amazing ocean. Look at my page free Ocean Unit Study and Ocean Lapbook.

Are you ready for an adventure into the icy realms of the ocean?

Imagine a place where the sea is so cold that it’s covered in huge sheets of ice.

Even in these chilly waters, you can find some amazing sea animals who call this frosty place their home.

We’re learning about some of these animals and doing an easy sea animal ice rescue.

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

Imagine a sea animal like a seal or a walrus trying to swim or rest, and suddenly, they find themselves stuck on a piece of floating ice.

It sounds like a scene from an adventure movie, but it’s a real challenge for these amazing creatures.

Sometimes, ice floes can break apart, or sea animals can become stranded in areas where the ice isn’t melting fast enough.

Books About the Ocean for Kids

First, look at these books you want to have in your home library.

I prefer living books when I can find them. Then add reference books.

16 Ocean Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To

Choose a few of these ocean themed books to go along with your study of the Oceans. Whether you're looking for a spine for a unit study or literature, you'll love this roundup.

Also, look at some facts about the sea animals.

4 Cool Sea Animals

Let’s dive in and meet some of these cool creatures!

Here are some facts about sea animals.

1. Icefish

Icefish are a group of fish that live in the icy waters of the Antarctic.

They have a super cool adaptation,

They don’t have red blood cells! Instead, their blood is clear and helps them survive in the freezing temperatures.

Icefish have special proteins that keep their blood from freezing, so they can swim around and hunt for food in the super-cold water.

2. Beluga Whales

Beluga whales are another fascinating Arctic resident.

Known as the “canaries of the sea,” belugas are famous for their wide range of sounds and whistles.

They have white skin, which helps them blend into the icy waters and also keeps them warm.

Beluga whales are social animals and often travel in groups called pods, chatting away with their squeaks and clicks.

3. Polar Bears

Also, learn about the polar bears.

These big, fluffy bears are not actually sea animals, but they live in the icy Arctic region and spend a lot of time on sea ice.

They’re fantastic swimmers and can paddle through the icy waters to hunt for seals.

Polar bears have thick fur and a layer of fat to keep them warm in the freezing temperatures.

4. Narwhals: The Unicorns of the Sea

Now let’s meet the narwhal, often called the unicorn of the sea.

Narwhals are whales with a long, twisted tooth that can grow up to 10 feet long—almost like a giant, spiraled horn!

They live in the Arctic Ocean and use their “horn” to help them find food and navigate through the ice.

They are really good at swimming under the ice and have a special ability to use sonar to find their way around.

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

Also, look at this beautiful picture book Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau.

More Ice Experiments

And look at these ocean hands-on ideas.

Ocean Activities for Kids

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

Additionally, look at these ways to expand ice experiments for different ages.

3 Ways to Expand Learning About Ice

  1. Understanding Freezing and Melting: Learn how temperature changes affect solid and liquid states.
  2. Marine Life Awareness: Discuss the types of sea animals used in the experiment and their natural habitats.
  3. Environmental Impact: Reflect on how climate change and melting ice can impact marine ecosystems.

Finally, look how easy you can make this fun sea animal ice rescue.

Fun Sea Animal Ice Rescue

Rescuing a sea animal involves a lot of careful planning.

Besides giving your children a few extra tools explain to them how we need to be aware to spot animals in trouble.

For example, it could be binoculars, helicopters or even drones.

Look at this list of supplies.

  • Ice tray
  • Sea animal toys 
  • Water
  • Container
  • Stones or toy hammer
  • magnifying glass
  • salt to see what it does to the ice
  • warm water. How does the ice react?

Optional: poster board or mat for outdoor use

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

First, place one sea animal in each section of the ice tray.

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

 For this activity, I allowed for part of the sea animal (example: the tail) to stick out a bit.

This way your child had something to grasp onto when engaging with this activity.

Fill the ice tray with water.

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

Place in the freezer until frozen.

Remove from the freezer.

Place the frozen sea animal ice cubes into a bin.

Exploring The Ocean With Ice Experiments: Simple Sea Animal Rescue

Allow the child to engage with the activity, using stones or toy hammers/objects to try to break the ice away from each sea animal.

This is a great activity to do outside during a sunny day or to learn about a winter unit.

The best part about sea animal ice rescues is seeing these amazing creatures return to their homes and continue to thrive.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This preschool beaver craft provides an opportunity for your preschooler to learn about beavers. Also, look at my page How to Homeschool Preschool for more ideas.

And they learn about beaver’s habitats but encourages creativity and fine motor skills development.

This time we sewed up our craft on the sewing machine.

So, this is a great basic shape to introduce a child to the basics of sewing on a machine.

It introduces a very simple pattern.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

It allows them to learn how to move the material carefully through the machine as it sews, enjoy filling it, and the reward of the finished product!

However, if you would like to sew this by hand or glue it instead.

I tried to keep the instructions very simple.

So that it is easily adaptable to any method you would like to use. 

We are bringing these fascinating semi-aquatic animals to life through our craft to deepen a child’s understanding of the natural world.

Besides, the best way to learn is enjoying a fun and engaging hands-on experience.

I think that they make a wonderful subject for a unit study.

To help you put one together. I have facts and plenty more craft and activity ideas to make it full and interesting.

5 Preschool Beaver Facts

  1. Beaver teeth are actually orange not white; their long incisors get their orange color from an iron-rich protective coating of enamel.
  2. Beavers are amazing animals that live in North America and Europe. They are known for their big, flat tails and their ability to build dams.
  3. And they use their tails to help them swim, to slap the water when they are in danger, and store fat for winter.
  4. They work together to build dams and lodges out of sticks and mud. Dams help to create ponds, which provide beavers with a safe place to live and raise their young- they make great nurseries.
  5. Beavers also use their dams to store food for the winter, smaller logs and twigs.
Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Next, look at more hands-on activities to learn about beavers.

Preschool Beaver Craft and Activity Ideas

We love a fun puppet and paper bags make a great inexpensive craft supply give this Easy Paper Bag Beaver Craft  a try.

A really hands-on activity for younger children this Pond Life for Kindergarten Activity Build a Fun Beaver Dam teaches early engineering skills, exploring senses, animal science, and more.

Make a Beaver Paper Plate Craft for Kids {Booking Across the USA}, a quick inexpensive and easy craft while you learn about beavers.

I think that these No-Bake Beaver Dam Cookies are a must for any beaver unit, a tasty way to demonstrate how and why they build them.

This is a really gross but fun idea I had that includes beaver scat-10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat.

Watch this cute and informative 3 minute video on All ABout Beavers for Children.

Finally, look at how to make this stuffed beaver craft.

Stuffed Preschool Beaver Craft

You can either sew this by hand, use a sewing machine, or even put it together with hot glue or fabric glue as well.

You will need:

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

First, fold your light brown felt in half.

Cut an oval shape out of both pieces at the same time making one end more narrow for the head.

Use another piece of brown felt to cut out four webbed feet or use the scraps that are left from cutting out your oval shape.

Be sure to leave them a little long so you have excess to attach inside the

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Fold your dark brown felt in half and cut a tail and two small ear shapes.

Cut out two large teeth from white felt.

Make them a little longer than you want them.

You will be tucking some inside.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Lay out one of your cut light brown pieces.

Use hot glue, fabric glue or some other type of glue to quickly tack the feet and tail pieces into place.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Lay the second tail piece on top and then the second body piece to line up your edges.

Flip it up and attach the tail to the other piece of body, keeping everything aligned.

You can use pins to line up your edges if you like.

For quick projects like this I thought it would be a simpler first time preschooler project to avoid them.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Start just outside the tail and sew a quarter of an inch from the edge all the way around stopping on the other side right at the tail.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Stuff the body as full as you would like with cotton batting through the tail opening.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Now sew the tail.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Sew all the way around the tail, securing across where it comes out from the body.

Leave a couple inches for stuffing.

Fill the tail with cotton batting.

Since beavers have a large flat tail, we didn’t add as much stuffing to the tail.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Attach the eyes and ears with a little bit of hot glue.

Fun Preschool Beaver Craft: Simple Projects for Little Hands

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I am excited today to share discovering geography through a field trip to Incan ruins. Also, look at my page Meso-America Free Unit Study and Lapbook. And Homeschool Geography for more hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

After finally finding a home here in South America, we’re ready for some “school”.

We have all been excited about folding geography back into our school day.

You know I told you I use North Star Geography for two really big reasons.

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

One reason I love is is that I can adapt it for both my middle school and high school teen.

Bright Ideas Press North Star Geography

It is easier with a high school geography to tweak it to fit a younger child.

And not so easy to lesson plan for an older kid with an elementary resource.

Second, there are two or more activities or ideas listed to do with each lesson plan.

North Star Geography Activities

Geography at the middle school and high school level should stay hands-on and interactive. 

However, resources for interactive activities are not easy to find at this age.

Not many provide the teacher with two or three brainstorming ideas to enhance the curriculum with.

I feel a resource should always ease the teacher planning by providing activities.

Incan Ruins Geography

So when we studied about the biosphere, which includes learning about the flora, fauna and ecosystems, I just knew we had to do the second activity suggested in the curriculum.

We wanted to learn about the area we live in now.

Pumapungo

(inhibited child of mine)

We didn’t have to go far to do this activity.

Look at these local ancient Incan ruins or Pumapungo Archaeological Park.

We took a field trip there; they were built in the late fifteenth century.

flora and fauna

Here we could learn not only about the native flora and fauna, but also tie in history.

It’s almost impossible to study either geography or history separately.

Why? Because things like the ecosystem and surroundings affected the development of a culture and it’s history.

tumipampa

It reads “Tupac inka Yupanqui, and later his son Huiana Capac, dignified these provinces of the Canaris and what they called Tumipampa with buildings and royal houses, adorned the chambers with herbs, plants, and animals of gold and silver; the entrances were plated with gold, and settings of fine stones, emeralds, and turquoise; they constructed a famous temple of the sun, also plated with gold and silver . . .” Inca Garilosa de la Vega

Incan Terraces

Pumapungo was made of several buildings like the Palace of Wayna-Kapa.

Learning World Geography Hands-On

This had a high temple, terraces and even a cool tunnel of the northern Incan empire.

terraces

Though this isn’t quite all of the view of the ruins, I just had to pull back when taking the picture.

I want you to get the full flavor of this majestic site.

Terraces

The ancient ruins are part of an old Incan city Tomebamba. 

Most of the stones were carried off by the Spanish conquistadors to build the city of Cuenca.

The Spanish conquistadors left very little, but enough that one could determine each section. 

Inside were the Temple of the Sun and the Convent of the Virgins of the Sun.

making bricks

This is where the Incan made brick. These were like underground big furnaces.

making bricks

Then below this level is where they housed birds native to the area along with local fauna. 

Of course all of this entails different levels and much walking.

bird house

We just had to take our time walking down. This is the view going down.

stairs down

And this is the view coming up. 

back up

Flora and Fauna of South America

But the walk was well worth the time and oxygen needed to get back up.  Look what we learned about in the walk down.

fauna of the inca

It reads “The Inca . . .had a house and patio full of birds, and monkeys and long-tailed monkeys, and macaws and parrots, and parakeets, and sparrow hawks and cururi . . . and many other birds of the highlands and the yungus . . .” Guaman Poma de Ayala

toucan

White-Throated Toucan.

Bearded Guan

We hadn’t seen a guy like this at our zoo back home.

This is a Bearded Guan.

Macaw

A Chestnut Fronted Macaw.

llama

Next, look at a few books to add to your unit study.

Books About Meso-America for Kids

5 Resources for Learning about Meso-America, the Aztec, Inca, and Maya

Add some of these books to your unit study about Meso-America.

More Meso-America Activities

alpaca
variable hawk

Variable Hawk.

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

Signs were about each bird and the text was in both Spanish and English.

South America Ruins for Kids

The signs explained about diversity and whether it was endangered or not.

parrot

Bronze Winged Parrot.

Black chested Buzzard Eagle

We had to look at this guy for a while too. It is a Black-Chested Eagle. 

Everywhere along the site there were signs like the one below in both Spanish and English.

That helped us to appreciate where all the complexes and water sources were located.

Agua Los Andes

(Water in the Andes)

It reads “Water, the essential origin and energizer of life, inspired its sacralization in Andean man.  For this reason the myths of it’s origin are linked to rivers and lakes.  This conception generated a network of knowledge that developed an ideology of belonging to nature, freed of individual forms of private property.  Rather sustaining technologies of the environment were appropriated with systems of supportive social organizations.”

Water of Andes

There were beautiful brooks and streams located in the park. 

Learning About Ancient Ruins With Kids

Wayna-Kapac ordered a qucha constructed. It means moist ground.

This was in honor of Tiksi Wiraqucha, a divinity venerated in the Andes.

Incan Gardens

(Orchards and Gardens of the Inca)

It reads “In the time of the Incas that cultivated area was a garden of gold and silver, as existed in the royal house of the King, where there were many herbs and flowers of diverse types, lesser plants, large trees, animals small and large, wild and domesticated, and creatures, such as snakes, large lizards and tiny ones, snails, butterflies and birds, and other large flying fowl . . .there was a large field of corn and the seed called Quinua . . .” Inca Garcilaso de la Vega

We ended our day of geography and history discoveries by adopting the local Ecuadorian way.

That means eating ice cream just about each day. 

Delicious homemade ice cream and parlors are found everywhere.

After all, because we don’t want to stand out, we have to blend in.

Adopting Local Ecuadorian Ways

I hope you and your kids enjoyed the pictures.

We want you to be able to savor this geography adventure as much as we did.

Discovering Geography Through a Field Trip to Incan Ruins

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have some Incan crafts for kids. Also, look at my page Meso-America Free Unit Study and Lapbook for more activities.

We’re going on a journey to learn about Incan jewelry, a sparkling part of history that’s full of amazing stories and stunning designs!

Grab a great reference book or two to use along with these ideas that I have gathered up.

The Incas were a fascinating civilization that lived in South America, mainly in what is now Peru, from the 15th to the 16th century.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

They were known for their incredible architecture, like the famous Machu Picchu, and their impressive artwork.

And guess what? They also created some truly awesome jewelry!

There is also a tutorial for stunning salt dough Incan jewelry at the bottom, a great project for your learner to work on as you read about them.

Who Were the Incan

Before we get into these Incan crafts let’s learn a little bit more about these peoples who helped shape the generations that came after them.

  • The Incas were an ancient civilization that lived in South America from the 13th to the 16th centuries. They were one of the largest and most advanced civilizations in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans.
  • The Incas were known for their impressive stonework, their extensive road system, and their agricultural terraces. They also had a complex system of government and religion.
  • The Inca Empire began in the Cuzco Valley in Peru. Over time, the Incas conquered many other tribes and kingdoms. At its peak, the Inca Empire stretched from present-day Ecuador to Chile and Argentina.
  • The Incas were master builders. They built large cities, temples, and fortresses. They also built an extensive road system that connected all parts of their empire.
  • The Incas were very skilled farmers. They used terraces to grow crops on steep mountainsides and built aqueducts to bring water to their fields.
  • The Inca Empire was a powerful and prosperous civilization. But it was eventually conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century.

Gold was the sacred metal of the Incan people.

They called it “the sweat of the sun god”.

The lore of their land of gold and silver is what led to the Spanish soldiers attacking the Inca for their treasures.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

The Maya, Aztec, and Inca of Central and South America shared many common elements.

The groups practiced farming, developed social structures, raised up armies, and worshiped many gods.

But these three civilizations were as different as the terrains they called home.

Books about Meso-America For Kids

Next, look at some of these books to grab when learning about South America.

5 Resources for Learning about Meso-America, the Aztec, Inca, and Maya

Add some of these books to your unit study about Meso-America.

Also, look at more Incan crafts for kids activities.

More Incan Crafts for Kids

For a book that’s some bang for your buck learning about the 3 different ancient civilizations we really enjoyed this DK Find out Maya, Incas, and Aztecs.

You get a little bit of info on a lot of topics like their food, children, gods, ceremonies, medicines, calendars, daily life and more.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Finally, look at how to make stunning salt dough Incan jewelry.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry

Before you begin look through your books or online for Incan designs to model your jewelry after.

Because of the importance of gold to the Inca we painted our pieces gold.

You will need:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½  cup table salt
  • ½ cup water
  • Craft paints
  • Paintbrushes
  • Mixing bowl
  • Spatula
  • Measuring cups
  • Tools-toothpicks, rollers, craft sticks, straw etc
Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

First. combine flour, salt, and water.

Mix until everything is incorporated, and the dough is fairly smooth.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Transfer to a smooth surface and knead for 2-3 minutes, if the dough is too sticky work a little flour into it as you knead it.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Roll dough to ¼” thickness or so, if you don’t have a roller, you can use a tin can or a cup.

Cut out your general design using cookie cutters, cups, or even a craft stick. we went with a ceremonial mask.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Use whatever tools you have on hand, forks, toothbrushes, toothpicks, wooden craft sticks, a clay knife, etc. to add details to your designs.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Roll small coils of clay or make little dots and add it to your pieces to add dimension, to help it stick you can add a tiny bit of water with your fingertip.

Use a straw to poke a hole at the top of your pendant design to put your string through.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Carefully transfer your jewelry to a baking sheet.

Then place it into an oven that has been preheated to 200 °.

Bake for an hour and a half and then flip.

How to Make Salt Dough Incan Jewelry With Kids

Then, bake for another hour and a half.

If it’s completely dried you can remove it if not bake for an additional hour or as needed.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Allow your pieces to cool a bit and then paint.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

Once the paint is dried, run your string through the hole to create your necklace.

Or if you’re making earrings, you can glue earring posts to the back of the pieces.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

We created a ceremonial mask that looks like a warrior

And a beautiful gold disc.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids

As well as a golden llama.

Incan jewelry is a beautiful reminder of how creativity and culture come together.

From dazzling gold to colorful stones, the Incas made jewelry that was as meaningful as it was beautiful.

Make Stunning Salt Dough Incan Jewelry | Incan Crafts for Kids