This mushroom unit study is a fun topic to study any time of the year. Also, grab more ideas on my best homeschool unit studies page.
While you can find many species of mushrooms year-round the very best time to get out and study them in nature is in the fall and in spring.
Besides, even if you are not able to find any mushrooms in your backyard, fields, or woodland areas there are still plenty of fun hands-on free mushroom unit study and kid’s learning activities to be found.
You can gather resources from the library or Amazon to put together a wonderful nature study on mushrooms so easily.
But first, let’s learn a few fun and fungi facts.
5 Funky Mushroom Facts
- Mushrooms grow in all 50 States.
- Mushrooms are like plants, but they lack chlorophyll and must take their nutrients from other materials.
- Just one Portabella mushroom can have more potassium than a banana.
- There are over 30 species of mushrooms that glow in the dark.
- The name for those who collect and eat mushrooms from the wild is a Mycophagist.
Next, add some fun books.
9 Mushroom Unit Study Books
Grab some of these fun books to learn about mushrooms, the part of a mushroom and the life cycle.
This mushroom foraging book is packed with vital information that will help you identify the exact types of mushrooms you are looking for when you’re out foraging. You’ll learn how to identify the caps, stems and gills, which all have different physical characteristics like shape and texture, and color.From the Neobulgaria pura and the Mitrula paludosa, discover newly-found fungi species and complex ones which can only be viewed microscopically. The detailed illustrations and identification charts will help you name the mushrooms you find or hope to search for.
GROW YOUR PLANT ALL YEAR-ROUND: This organic mushroom indoor kit allows you to grow your own crop all-year round; Just place the box near a window with indirect light, mist twice a day, and you'll see delicious, beautiful mushrooms growing within a week; Included in this kit is an organic plant-based soil infused with mushroom spawn and a booklet with instructions
See the world in a whole new way! Acclaimed illustrator Julia Rothman combines art and science in this exciting and educational guide to the structure, function, and personality of the natural world. Explore the anatomy of a jellyfish, the inside of a volcano, monarch butterfly migration, how sunsets work, and much more. Rothman’s whimsical illustrations are paired with interactive activities that encourage curiosity and inspire you to look more closely at the world all around you.
Featuring a durable vinyl binding and over 700 full-color identification photographs organized visually by color and shape, the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms is the perfect companion for any mushroom hunting expedition. Each species is accompanied by a detailed physical description, information on edibility, season, habitat, range, look-alikes, alternative names, and facts on edible and poisonous species, uses, and folklore. A supplementary section on cooking and eating wild mushrooms, and illustrations identifying the parts of a mushroom, round out this essential guide.
Elise Gravel is back with a whimsical look at one of her family’s most beloved pastimes: mushroom hunting! Combining her love of exploring nature with her talent for anthropomorphizing everything, she takes us on a magical tour of the forest floor and examines a handful of her favorite alien specimens up close. While the beautiful coral mushroom looks like it belongs under the sea, the peculiar Lactarius indigo may be better suited for outer space. From the fun-to-stomp puffballs to the prince of the stinkers―the stinkhorn mushroom―and the musically inclined chanterelles, Gravel shares her knowledge of this fascinating kingdom by bringing each species to life in full felt-tip-marker glory.
The 2017 offering from Big Picture Press's Welcome to the Museum series, Botanicum, is a brilliantly curated guide to plant life. With artwork from Katie Scott of Animalium fame, Botanicum gives readers the experience of a fascinating exhibition from the pages of a beautiful book. From perennials to bulbs to tropical exotica, Botanicum is a wonderful feast of botanical knowledge complete with superb cross sections of how plants work.
FUN FAMILY GAME: See if you have what it takes to be the mushroom master in Funky Fungi from Ridley's Games! In this card-collecting game that will definitely grow on you, forage for the best fungi to be the first player to reach ten points and win the game.
Introduces the characteristics and uses of a variety of mushrooms and discusses some of the beliefs and customs connected with this plant family.
Mushrooms are exciting to find, beautiful to look at, fascinating to identify, and delicious to eat. When you know what to look for, a mushroom hunt is as safe and enjoyable as a treasure hunt. Katya Arnold ranges through the world to find hundreds of varieties of mushrooms, as well as fascinating anecdotes and fun facts that make these wonders of nature exciting and immediate. A walk in the woods will never be the same!
Mushroom Unit Study Lesson Plans and Resources
Vocabulary words about mushrooms
- cap – The cap or the top of the mushroom protects the gills.
- gills – The gills are the structure that produce the spores, and the spores are similar to seeds.
- mycelium – The spores germinate into mycelia which are root-like threads that usually grow underground, similar to a root.
- fungus – any of numerous plants lacking in chlorophyll, including yeasts, molds and mushrooms.
- asexual – Showing no sexual differentiation (no male or female forms)
Hands-on Activities for Mushroom Unit Study
Get out and explore your own backyard, woodland area, or local state or national park and see what you can find to study firsthand.
We found this growing in a flowerpot that was in the shade and stayed very damp.
This was growing on the side of a picnic table, which we think might be Turkey Tail.
And several different types of lichen growing on trees.
MORE MUSHROOM ACTIVITIES
- The app iNatrualist is great for helping to identify individual mushroom species, just capture an image of any you find with your phone and plug it in, search for suggestions and you can figure out what you have found.
- Make these super fun mushrooms for snack time while you study all about them.
- Try growing your own small batch of oyster mushrooms in just 10 days with this kit.
- Make a mushroom spore print to get a reverse detail look at the underside of a mushroom, the gills.
- There is a wealth of great mushroom activities at Treehouse Magazine for middle to upper elementary ages, including printable pdfs with math, crosswords, puzzles, spore prints and more.
- Make a Felt Mushroom to label. It’s such a fun craft. You will find the directions below.
- Print these Mushroom worksheets like labeling the parts of a mushroom, coloring pages, life cycles, etc.
- Play Mushroom themed games like Morels or Funky Fungi.
- Take the kids to the grocery store or farmers market and check out the different types of mushrooms. Bring some home and try a new recipe together.
Then here is a cute and simple dot to dot mushroom print for the wee little ones.
In addition, look at more best homeschool unit study ideas.
Best Homeschool Unit Study Ideas
I have many different themes.
- Unit Study Egg to Sea Turtle Lesson Plans & Lapbook
- Little House on The Prairie Unit Study and Fun Punched Tin Lantern
- Learn About Daniel Boone Hunting With a Fun Deer Unit Study & Notebooking Pages
- How to Plan And Start an Easy Gardening Unit Study for Kids
- Pirate Unit Study Ideas and Free Pirates Lapbook
- Texas Homeschool Lapbook and Fun Homeschool Unit Study Ideas
- Volcano Unit Study and Fun Apple Volcano
- Solar System Unit Study and Hands-on Planets Activity
- Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas
- Homeschool Unit Study Ideas | Lewis and Clark Exploration Lapbook
- Mushroom Unit Study and Kids Learning Activities
Finally, look at this fun hands-on mushroom activity.
Parts of a Mushroom Labeling Activity
You will need:
- Red, tan, and white felt
- Black permanent fine-tip marker
- Scissors
- Craft/school glue or hot glue
- Cardstock
Directions:
Cut out a red slightly oblong piece of red felt for the cap whatever size you like for your labeling activity.
Cut tiny white pieces for the “spots” on your mushroom.
Next, cut longer skinny white strips for the “root” or mycelium.
Further, trace the red mushroom cap onto tan felt but only cut out the bottom third.
This will be the underside of the mushroom to show the gills.
Draw the gills as curved lines with a fine permanent marker.
Cut a curve along the bottom of the red cap to show more of the gills.
Also, from the tan color, you will also cut your rectangular stem as well as the volva and ring as seen here in the book we used for reference.
Too, the ring wraps around near the center of the stem and the volva is the cuplike structure at the base with natural edges and shapes rather than straight across.
We went back and added a little brown marker to the edges of our tan pieces to help differentiate the parts on the stem after we glued it together.
However, learn from us and make it easy on yourself. Do this step right after cutting.
Begin assembling your mushroom by gluing the tan gills to the red cap with the stem in between.
Next, wrap the ring around the stem and glue it in place as well as the volva.
Moreover, add your little bits of white with glue to the cap.
Transfer your mushroom to a tray and add a layer of grass and dirt beneath with brown and green felt.
Add your mycelium to the soil.
Write -mycelium, ring, cap, gills, volva, and stem on cardstock and use them to label each of the parts.
Additionally, you can also use felt to create other mushroom species like Honey Mushrooms.
Or Hen of The Woods. Finally, we had so much fun creating our mushrooms. Going to give them a try?
