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Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook

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

Today, I have a seashore beach lapbook and unit study. Grab more ideas on my lapbook ideas page and on my best homeschool unit studies page.

I can smell the beach from here! Okay, maybe not where I live now, but I feel that way since I grew up with the beach a short 30 minute drive. And we never missed a chance to go to it.

We would cook crab or gumbo, spend hours on the shoreline and build a fire.

Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Seashore watching was an activity I loved as a kid and I made sure my kids knew about it. I think you’ll love these ideas for a seashore watching unit study.

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook. Whether you want to study the beach or seashore in the summer or winter, your kids will love this free super seashore watching unit study and free beach lapbook along with hands-on activities! CLICK HERE to grab it!

Note: My Seashore Lapbook was free for a limited time.

I gathered up several activities that I think you’ll love for an easy homeschool seashore watching unit study and then I have an easy lapbook about things you can find along the beach shoreline.

Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook

Like most all of my unit study resources I share multiple ages links so you can pick and choose links for your kids.

This one is no different. I have resources for kids from Prek to High School.

Seashore Kids Activities

Too, we love and used this book, Seashore Watcher, as a guide because we love it.

Also did I mention it has some easy hands-on activities in it also.

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

I loved the fact that the book came with a plastic water protector cover so you could pick up and go to the beach. It’s the little things that amuse me.

More Seashore and Beach Activities for Kids

Seashore Lesson Plans, Printables, and Activities

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook
Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook


(You can see why I loved this book, Seashore Watcher for an easy unit study. It has easy hands-on ideas.)

Seashore Watching Media 

Decorator Crabs Make High Fashion at Low Tide | Deep Look
Seaweeds powerpoint.

Seashore Watching Hands-on Activities

Also, you’ll love this seashore lapbook.

Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Also, this is not our first time studying about the beach and ocean life.

You’ll love our hands-on edible geography where we made the tidal zones and edible ocean layers. (yum)

Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook


You’ll love my free ocean unit study lapbook and free coral reef lapbooks.

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Note: My Seashore Lapbook was free for a limited time.

Free Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Look at these other links:

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook. Whether you want to study the beach or seashore in the summer or winter, your kids will love this free super seashore watching unit study and free beach lapbook along with hands-on activities! CLICK HERE to grab it!


7 John Muir Environmentalist Facts and Fun Teaching Ideas

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I have 7 John Muir environmentalist facts and some fun teaching ideas. You’ll also love the John Muir Spring Unit Study (and Hands-on Geography Ideas).

The national park system’s development is largely due to John Muir environmentalist, naturalist, author, mountaineer, and political activist.

It is widely agreed that he is the “Founding Father of National Parks”.

And his contributions are celebrated through many landmarks named after him like hiking trails, glaciers, highways, and monuments.

7 John Muir Environmentalist Facts and Fun Teaching Ideas

National Park Service Founders Day is August 25th and I can’t think of a better way to learn about the National Parks than through the man who helped found and educate people about them.

John Muir helped create several of our national parks like Sequoia National Park in California, Mount Rainier in Washington, and The Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

John Muir Environmentalist Books, Resources, and Teaching Ideas

Too, these are some of the books we’ve used and love to help teach about him or create your own unit study.

11 John Muir Resources

The mountains are calling, and I must go -John Muir

In observance of National Park Service Founders Day and the care and work John Muir put into helping it become a reality, put together a unit study with a book or two, a video, a game, and a few hands-on activities like visiting the closest national park to you. There is plenty to choose from below.

Next, look at some facts about the life of John Muir.

7 John Muir Environmentalist Facts

  1. John Muir traveled to every continent except Antarctica.
  2. John founded the Sierra Club, an acclaimed American conservation organization.
  3. Muir temporarily lost his sight due to an accident at 29 due to a factory incident that pushed him to make a  change and be a wilderness explorer.
  4. A 211-mile-long hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada was named John Muir Trail in his honor. 
  5. In September of 1867, John walked 1000 miles from Indiana to Florida, this journey is retold in his book- A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf. 
  6. Throughout his life, John Muir wrote 300 essays and 12 books.
  7. Because of Muir’s vision and work, you can now visit almost 400 National Park Service sites. What a legacy he left behind for so many generations to appreciate and enjoy.
7 John Muir Environmentalist Facts and Fun Teaching Ideas

Also, look at some videos..

Videos about John Muir

More John Muir Activity Ideas

Finally, here are some more fun ideas when learning about the life of John Muir.

  • Learn what an environmentalist is. An environmentalist is defined as one who is concerned with or advocates for the protection of the environment.
  • Grab ideas from John Muir Spring Unit Study (and Hands-on Geography Ideas).
  • Try using the John Muir Laws How to Teach Nature Journaling to improve sketching and watercolor skills combined with your nature walk. While this is not the same John Muir nor is he related to him, his appreciation for nature and its beauty reflects the same mindset. His mother was a lawyer for the Sierra Club, which the original John Muir was the founder of, and she insisted her sons middle name be Muir. Use the beautiful pictures for ideas for water coloring or nature journaling.
7 John Muir Environmentalist Facts and Fun Teaching Ideas
  • Learn the 7 principles of Leave No Trace, especially if you enjoy camping and hiking. Writing them down would make for an excellent copy work assignment.
  • Find ways that you can volunteer in your area to help the environment, beach clean-ups, park clean-up days, recycling, ways to reduce and reuse items, conserve water, etc.
  • Play nature-themed games to focus on the flora and fauna that he studied.
7 John Muir Environmentalist Facts and Fun Teaching Ideas

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

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I have 10 gross scat facts and how to make edible scat. Too, you’ll like Daniel Boone Explorer Black Bear Unit Study and Fun Edible Bear Poop.

It may be kinda gross, but I can guarantee your kids are going to remember this lesson for years to come.

This fun hands-on activity is perfect for a forest unit or survival study.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Too, if you are studying a specific animal like a moose or a particular region like the Northwoods, add this activity.

The Northwoods are a boreal forest and comprise about half of Canada and many parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

What is scat? Scat is just the “fancy” scientific way of saying wild animal droppings.

10 Unbelievably Gross Scat Facts

  1. Some animals, like birds and some monkeys, actually dig through poop looking for insects to eat- gross!
  2. Turkey vultures poop on their own feet after scavenging on dead animals. While it may sound pretty disgusting it has an important purpose, they are filled with good bacteria that help kill bad bacteria they might have picked up.
  3. There are 2 caterpillars that disguise themselves as poop to avoid being eaten – the viceroy and the white admiral.
  4. Due to the shape of their ridge intestines and their high-fiber diet wombat poop comes out very dense and perfectly square. They can leave behind 80-100 square pellets every single day.
  5. There is a very expensive coffee, called kopi luwak, that is made from beans that are collected from a palm civet’s poop. You won’t find that in my pantry.
  6. Sloths climb down from the trees just once a week to poop. It can be a pretty big poop, equaling up to about ⅕ of their body weight.
  7. Caterpillars can shoot their poop far, up to 40 times the length of their bodies.
  8. A lot of animal poop is used to make great fertilizer for gardens-cows, chickens, llamas, goats, and rabbits.
  9. Owls poop but they also get rid of their waste by regurgitating pellets. These pellets contain hair, bones, and the remains of insects.
  10. Pandas can poop up to 50 pounds of waste per day.

I based this idea off Who Pooped in the Northwoods (Scats and Tracks for Kids), a simple fun book that gives kids a peek into the animals of the Northwoods by teaching them to look for animal signs like tracks and scat of course.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

It encourages kids to make observations like noticing the direction of hoofprints and what is in the poop, is it an omnivore or carnivore? Can you tell from its’s scat?

Books About Scat and Tracks

Next, look at some of these resources to add to your unit study.

Books about Animal Scat, Poop, and Tracks

Add some of these fun resources to your unit study about animals.

Animal Scat and Tracks Resources

Also, look at some of these resources to add to your forest or animal unit study.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Finally, look how to make this fun edible scat recipe.

Edible Scat Recipe

You can use any kind of cereal that you like, whatever you have on hand, even quick-cooked oats.

If you can find a multipack of the mini boxes at the grocery store your kids will have even more fun getting creative.

You will need:

  • 2 ½ cups dry cereal
  • 2 cups marshmallows
  • 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Scavenge the kitchen or the shelves at your grocery store to find “add-ins” to your poop to help differentiate the different animals you wish to make.

Think of different shapes of cereal, raisins, nuts, and candies.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Melt marshmallows and butter in a large microwave-safe dish by heating them in 30-second increments and stirring between each rotation until completely melted.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Immediately stir in the dry cereal and cocoa powder until completely mixed.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

How to Make Edible Poop

Separate into as many kinds of edible scat you want to make.

Add in any “special” ingredients and form the shapes.

Spray or butter your hands to keep it from sticking.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Rabbit poop is small little round pellets. Make it before you add anything else, rolling it into tiny balls.

White Tail Deer poop is kind of like rabbit poop that you may be more familiar with, little pellets but larger and they more closely resemble the shape of jellybeans.

Black Bear poop looks similar to what your dog might leave in the backyard but bigger and it might contain berries, seeds, twigs, or hair depending on its recent diet. You can add in oats, unbroken cereal, pretzels, etc.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Wolf Poop usually contains hair/fur and is long and tapered off. To recreate fur use coconut flakes.

Beaver poop is not frequently seen as it is usually dropped into the water and even in their lodges.

But it is full of wood chips and sawdust if you were to spot it. To look like wood chips you can add larger flakes of cereal and crumbs when forming it.

Set it on waxed paper and allow it to firm up.

Label your scat and if you have them, let your child match up coordinating plastic animals or the correct printed photo with each one they make.

10 Gross Scat Facts and How to Make Edible Scat

Fun Homeschool Unit Study Egg to Sea Turtle Lesson Plans & Lapbook

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

I have some sea turtle lesson plans and sea turtle lapbook today. Grab more ideas on my Homeschool Lapbooks – Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning page. Also grab more ideas on my Best Homeschool Unit Studies page.

We made a detour on finishing up high school for a quick nature read about sea turtles.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

I chose Our Sea Turtles as a spine and we weren’t disappointed.

Today, in sharing from egg to sea turtle nature unit study and lapbook, I’ve rounded up some awesome links and ideas for you.

Also, I created a fun lapbook for about upper elementary to middle school for your kids.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

Of course, you can decide what ages to use the lapbook for because I never make my lapbooks baby-ish.

Using cursive font and avoiding baby-ish or goofy looking clip art the best I can, I create my lapbooks for all ages.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

Sea Turtle Unit Study & Lapbook

First, let me show you how much we loved the book Our Sea Turtles.

It is a 282 page reference book with beautiful color pictures on each page.

It has several sections, including:

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook
  • The Species, Sea Turtle Form and Function,
  • Life Cycle and History, Ecology,
  • Our Sea Turtles on Land,
  • Sea Turtles in Water and
  • Saving our Sea Turtles.
From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

One thing we learned right away that we did not know was that not all turtles in salty waters are sea turtles.

They are truly marine animals and one of the things that makes them different is their shell.

Moreover, sea turtles don’t really have the ability to pull in their head and limbs inside although they can still withdraw their neck.

Although we know that sea turtles are mostly herbivores, we did learn that they won’t pass up some easily captured prey.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit

Additioally, we learned about some of the predators of the sea turtle.

The Northern raccoon, ghost crab, fire ants, laughing sea gull, bobcat, fish crow, dolphinfish, crevalle jack, tiger shark and bull shark are a few of the sea turtle predators.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

What was really interesting was learning what was inside an egg. Sea turtles have an amniotic egg.

The features of a sea turtle egg include a papery eggshell that protects but is porous (to air and water vapor), and an allantois (fetal membrane) which facilitates respiration and helps with waste.

The yolk sac supplies nutrients for the embryo and it shrinks as the turtle grows.

What we didn’t know was that the amniotic sac is like the equivalent to the placenta in mammals.

Sea Turtle Lesson Plans, Guides, and Background Information.

Along with reading the book  Our Sea Turtles I really loved a lot of these resources. Too, look at some sea turtle lesson plans.

  • Journey of Survival educators guide I found super helpful and used a lot of the information from here to do the lapbook. You can read it online.
  • 22 page pdf educator’s guide has a great roundup of vocabulary words.
  • Grab this fun coloring page with crossword puzzle activity.
  • You love this Sea Turtle Inc. site for great hands-on ideas like make a sea turtle habitat, make a magnet sea turtle for older kids (cool), and a template to create your own hatchling for younger kids. So cute.

Then here are more free plans to use with the book Sea Turtle Science which is also good to add to your sea turtle lesson plans.

Sea Turtle EASY Hands-on Ideas and Activities

Easy Hands-on Math Build a Geometric Turtle @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Our Journey Westward

In addition, look at some of these books.

10 Sea Turtle Resources

Add some books about sea turtles and hands-on resources to your lesson or unit study to bring it to life.

Sea Turtle Media

Fun Homeschool Unit Study Egg to Sea Turtle Lesson Plans & Lapbook

Then also, our unit study reminded us of the co-op we had where my sister brought a turtle shell Native American craft made by one of her Native American friends.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

I love when we have a tie in to what we learned before in one of our co-ops.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

Then of course a family visit to the ocean is a great field trip.

The Galveston coast near us had these new and beautiful benches that are part art and part bench.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

Local schools got to decorate them with facts about the marine life that live in the ocean.

It not only makes for a beautiful enhancement to seawall, but a fun way to learn facts.

From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook

I think doing a mosaic like this would make a great art project too.

Next, here is my lapbook.

Grab this FREE Sea Turtle Lapbook | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The minibooks include:

What Makes a Turtle a Sea Turtle?
7 Species of Sea Turtles layered book.
What Are the Sea Turtle Parts?
The Anatomy of a Sea Turtle.
Sea Turtle Tagalongs trifold book.
From Egg to Sea Turtle Life Cycle Circle book.
The Struggle to Survive.
Predators petal book.

If you’re looking to do any spring nature studies, you’ll want to get a few of the NaturExplorers. I love those studies for multiple ages.

How to Get the Free Sea Turtle Lapbook

Now, how to grab the free lapbook. The lapbook is a subscriber freebie.

 1) Sign up on my list to get my emails.
 2) Download your freebie.
3) Glad to have you following.


Look at these other links:

The Basement Workshop Store
From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook. Grab this fun sea turtle lapbook for your middle school kids and these easy hands-on activities and ideas to bring your homeschool science to life! CLICK HERE to grab it!

You’ll also love these other nature studies:


Free Homeschool Science Materials Checklist

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Sometimes you just need a homeschool science materials checklist to see what your missing in your science supplies. Also, look at my page Homeschool Planner for more free homeschool planner printables.

Besides, part of learning how to homeschool is doing all the fun hands-on science.

However, more than once, I have been caught short at the house with some of the supplies we needed in our home to complete the activities.

And even though we have used laid out science curriculum too, I have learned a lot through the years regarding how to stock my kitchen and home.

Homeschool Science Materials Checklist for your 7 Step DIY Free Homeschool Planner by Tina Robertson

So, I have reduced some of the things we have used over and over, year after year and put them in this homeschool science materials checklist.

For example, we love doing science and have used 365 More Simple Science Experiments with Everyday Materials more than one time through the years because we love to pick activities which interests us.

In addition, we love books like Janice VanCleave’s Big Book of Science Experiments because you can easily obtain other materials not found at home.

Household Products for Science at Home

Now, depending on which area of science, like earth science, chemistry, physical science or life science, you will need to have a few exact materials for a branch of science you focus on.

For instance, we add specific things we need and use Homeschool Science Tools.

In addition, Homeschool Science Tools has just kits if you don’t want to use a full science curriuclum.

Look at their science kits here to see your options.

So this list is a list of general things you will want to stock your home with.

It’s kind of a given too that you will eventually want a microscope and slides, but I noticed year after year I have collected some of the same things in home.

Reducing materials I seem to use year after year into this checklist, I’m hoping to keep you organized.

And not do like us by having to put a fun activity on hold until we make a run to the store.

I hate when that happens.

Free Homeschool Science Materials Checklist

Also, I have a provided space on the free printable science material checklist so you can add unique items you’ll need for upcoming science lessons.

Too, another tip is to jot beside the product the total number of items you have. Sometimes I think I have more jars than I actually do.

This science checklist will help you to keep those items at home organized.

homeschool-science-materials-checklist-for-the-7-step-homeschool-planner-grab-your-free-copy-over-tinas-dynamic-homeschool-plus

This Homeschool Science Materials Checklist is part of the 7 Step Free Homeschool Planner and you can begin building your own homeschool planner below.

Homeschool Science Materials Checklist for your 7 Step DIY Free Homeschool Planner by Tina Robertson

Add Your Science Checklist to Your Homeschool Planner

Be sure to add this science checklist to your homeschool planner each year.

Step 1. Choose a Pretty Front/Back Cover

Step. 2. Choose Calendars/Appointment Keepers

Step 3. Choose Goals/Objectives

Step 4. Choose Lesson Planning Pages Right For You!

Step 5a. Choose Unique forms JUST for You!

Step 5b. Choose MORE Unique Forms JUST for You!

Step 5c. Choose MORE MORE Unique Forms Just for You!

Step 6. Personalize It

How to Get the Free Science Materials Checklist

Now, how to grab this form and 10 other free homeschool planner forms. This is a subscriber freebie.

 1) Sign up on my list.
2) Grab the freebie now.
3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

Homeschool Science Materials Checklist for the 7 Step Homeschool Planner @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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