• Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Activity, Change, Progress

  • HOME
  • How to
    • Preschool
    • Kindergarten
    • Middle School
    • High School
  • Planner
  • Lapbooks
    • Trioramas
    • History Games
  • Shop
  • GET STARTED NOW!
    • Learning Styles
  • 7 Step Planner
    • DIY Best Student Planner
    • Free & Easy DIY Home Management Binder
  • Unit Studies
    • Creation to Ancients
    • Middle Ages to Reform
    • Exploring to Revolution
    • World Wars to Today
    • Science
    • Free Art Curriculum Grades 1 – 8
  • Curriculum
    • More Unit Studies
    • Geography
    • Writing PreK to 12th
    • Geronimo Stilton
  • BootCamp
    • Resources
      • Dynamic Subscriber Freebies
      • Exclusive Subscribers Library
      • Ultimate Unit Study Planner

farm

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

September 24, 2023 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a cute Wilbur paper plate Charlotte’s Web craft that you and your little ones are going to love. Also, I have more ideas at my post Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas.

Paper plates are a must-have on hand art supply.

They are inexpensive, take up little room, and can be used in so many ways like creating this craft.

Wilbur is a beloved childhood character from a favorite book that you probably read over and over as a child and couldn’t wait to read to your own children. Am I right?

How cute was that pig and how sweet was the relationship between him and Charlotte?

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Charlotte’s Web is a wonderful read-aloud that everyone will enjoy, it shows an imaginary side of a working farm as the animals converse and plan together. 

It is also a beautiful story about the love between a girl and a tiny helpless runt as well as a growing lonely pig and a sweet spider.

Once you have read the book or had your child read it on their own you will enjoy the movie adaptation as well.

Resources for Learning About Charlotte’s Web

Next, look at these fun resources for studying about Charlotte’s Web.

Charlotte's Web Unit Study Resources

Add some of these books to flesh out your unit study if you're studying about farm animals, geography of Main or spiders.

Charlotte's Web: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. It contains illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books.

The Julia Rothman Collection: Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and Food Anatomy

This handsome box set provides hours of enlightening entertainment for those curious about farm life, the natural world, and food. Best-selling author and illustrator Julia Rothman presents Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and Food Anatomy in a specially designed slipcase with 10 framable prints. Rothman’s popular line drawings offer a whimsical and educational guide to life on a farm, nature’s hidden wonders, and delectable tidbits from kitchens and pantries around the globe.

Insects and Spiders (Nature Explorers)

With a mix of fantastic photographs and beautiful illustrations, Insects and Spiders takes you through everything you need to know about these bewildering bugs. Learn what termites build their nests from, how an earwig looks after her eggs, and why wasps have black and yellow stripes.

Pigs

With clear, simple text and bright, well-labeled watercolors, Gail Gibbons explores the truth about pigs. Digging up truffles, competing in county fairs, grunting and squealing to communicate-- these flat-snouted farm animals are complex and surprisingly talented.

DK Super Readers Level 1 A Day on the Farm

A Day on the Farm is a beautifully designed reader all about a day in the life of a farm, with eggs hatching, milking time for the cows, sheep shearing and lots of hungry baby animals!

I'm Trying to Love Spiders

I’m Trying to Love Spiders will help you see these amazing arachnids in a whole new light, from heir awesomely excessive eight eyes, to the seventy-five pounds of bugs a spider can eat in a single year! And you’re sure to feel better knowing you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than being fatally bit by a spider. Comforting, right? No? Either way, there’s heaps more information in here to help you forget your fears .

National Geographic Readers: Spiders

You don’t have to look far to see a spider’s web—in the corner of the window, on a fence, or in a bush—spiders make their homes everywhere. And there are so many kinds of spiders! Some red, some blue, yellow, and more…all fascinating. Amazing photography and easy-to-understand text make Spiders a hit in this National Geographic Kids series.

Assorted Farm Animals Toys

Teach your child about the different farm animals and the sounds they make; Set up an interactive playtime to collaborate with your child to count and sort the animals.

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

But Farmer Brown's problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes.... Doreen ronin's understated text and Betsy Lewin's expressive illustrations make the most of this hilarious situation. Come join the fun as a bunch of literate cows turn Farmer Brown's farm upside down.

On the Farm

From the bull to the barn cat to the wild bunny, the farmyard bustles with life. The rooster crows, the rams clash, the bees buzz, and over there in the garden, a snake — silent and alone — winds and
watches. David Elliott’s graceful, simple verse and Holly Meade’s exquisite woodcut and watercolor illustrations capture a world that is at once timeless yet disappearing from view — the world of the family farm.

Also, look at these facts about pigs.

8 Pig Facts

  1. Pigs are not dirty at all, they are very clean animals, one of the cleanest. Pigs will not poop where they sleep, even the babies leave the bed to use the potty.
  2. Mother pigs are known to sing to their babies while they eat, it is a low rhythmic grunting that reminds me of a cat purr.
  3. If you are looking for a smart pet, a pig might be the way to go, pigs are even more intelligent and trainable than any breed of dog.
  4. Pigs do roll around in mud but not because they love to be filthy. Pigs don’t have many sweat glands so to keep cool they roll around in the mud. It also acts as a sunblock to help keep a pig’s skin from getting sunburned.
  5. Surprisingly, though a piglet weighs only 2.5 pounds at birth a full-grown pig can weigh anywhere from 300 to 700 pounds.
  6. Male pigs at any age are called boars while female pigs are called sows, and babies are called piglets.
  7. Pigs’ snouts are more than just cute, they are very powerful. A pig’s sense of smell is around 2000 times more sensitive than a human’s. They are powerful in another way too-pigs have a round disk of cartilage at the tip of their snout that is connected to the muscle to give it flexibility and strength for rooting in the ground.
  8. Wild pigs get a bad rap sometimes, but they are actually very important to the ecosystem, they root around and loosen up the soil which helps create room for new plants to grow and spread plants around with their droppings.
8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

If you are looking for a great reference on pigs you will want to pick up Farm Anatomy by Julia Rothman.

There are 5 full-color pages.

They are pig terminology, breeds, and pig anatomy as well as lots of other great farm animals, crops, buildings, and machinery.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

These adorable pig figures make a great feature for a diorama.

Or use them in a pig sensory bin for dramatic play.

Finally, look at this cute Wilbur paper plate Charlotte’s Web craft

Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web craft

You will need:

  • 2 paper plates
  • 2 googly eyes
  • 1 pink pipe cleaner
  • Light pink craft paint
  • Dark Pink Marker
  • Black Marker
  • Glue
  • Scissors
8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

First, paint both paper plates completely in light pink, just squirt the paint right on the paper plate to paint, no need for a palette.

Allow the paint to dry completely.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

After the paint is dry you want to take one of the plates and cut out pieces.

Like this, cut two triangles for ears, a round snout, two elongated trapezoids, and the bottom pieces that are shaped like an inverted V.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Glue the inverted V shape to the back of the other plate so that most of it is hanging out the bottom to create his back legs.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Color nostrils on the round snout piece and the center of the triangles to make the inner ears and glue into place on the full plate.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Add googly eyes securely with glue as well.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Take the two small trapezoid-shaped pieces and glue them on the back of the plate on either side of the larger leg piece to add on his front legs.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Use the black marker to draw on a mouth.

Cut a piece of twine about 2” long and untwist one end, glue it to the back of the plate at the top to give him a little sprig of hair.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Finally, coil a pink pipe cleaner around your finger or a marker to make a little pigtail.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Glue it to the back of the back leg piece and twist it to the side or down so that it peeps out the bottom.

Wilbur is now ready to reenact all the scenes from the book or hang around on the fridge while you read it aloud.

8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Hands-On Activities Tagged With: Charlotte's Web, crafts, farm, hands-on, hands-on activities, handsonhomeschooling, paper plate activity, pigs, unit studies

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

April 25, 2023 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a free homeschool chicken unit study and an anatomy of an egg hands-on felt activity. Also, grab more ideas on my best homeschool unit studies page.

Spring is a great time to learn about farm life, like chickens.

A chicken unit study can take you through learning about the anatomy of chickens, their eggs, life cycles, habits, breeds, what products we get from them and what it takes to keep chickens.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

If you have ever been to a farm supply store and heard the adorable peep of chickens from across the aisles, you know how appealing they can be.

But there is so much more to chickens than fluffy yellow chicks.

They provide us with eggs, meat, and even entertainment.

If you haven’t watched a chicken go after a bug or try to take it from another chicken, you don’t know what you are missing.

Chicken Facts

  • Chickens have an elaborate communication system with over 30 unique vocalizations that they use to communicate with other chickens. These sounds are used for mating calls, danger warnings, stress signals, and when they find food.
  • It takes only 20 to 21 days for chickens to hatch an egg once they begin sitting on their clutch of eggs.
  • Chickens can recognize and remember around 100 different faces of humans and other chickens.
  • You may think that chickens are herbivores, but they are omnivores. They will eat a wide variety of things from vegetables and seeds to bugs, and kitchen scraps, including leftover chicken.
  • There are more chickens on earth than any other type of bird.
  • Mother hens talk to their babies in the egg by making purring noises to them, the babies will even chirp back from inside the egg.
Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

And I have a fun chicken coloring page and a chicken egg anatomy worksheet.

Chicken Unit Study Resources

The chicken life cycle can be used in sensory bins, on a science shelf, in dramatic play, with blocks, have your child build them a “coop” from blocks, and so much more.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity

When you are pulling together resources for your chicken unit study don’t forget to include something fun like this Chicken Coop Building Blocks Set.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity

MORE HANDS ON ACTIVITIES CHICKEN UNIT STUDY

  • Free Chicken Life Cycle Worksheet For Kids & Hands-on Activity
  • 10 Crafts With Styrofoam Egg Cartons | How to Make Easy Chicken Crafts

Chicken Unit Study Hands-On Activities

  • Create a Colorful Life Cycle Chicken Craft on stones to learn the life cycle.
  • A hide and peek Chicken and Chicks Craft is a great way to work on fine motor skills while also learning about how mother hens care for their babies.
  • Visit a working farm as a field trip if possible, to watch the chickens, ask questions, gather eggs if you can, check out feed and the chicken coop.
  • Make a cute Accordion Fold Chicken Craft in many colors.
  • This adorable Paper Plate Hen makes a great art addition to your study.
  • Consider raising some baby chicks of your own from incubator to hatching for hands on life experience, they are low maintenance and fun.
  • For the younger chicken tenders in your homeschool put together a Life Cycle of a Chicken Sensory Bin for hours of play.
  • Watch this video of chicks hatching on YouTube.
Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

In addition, I have a chicken coloring page and anatomy of an egg if you have a child who wants to write and label the parts of the egg. Or your younger child can cut and paste to label the parts of the egg.

More Best Homeschool Unit Studies

  • How to Incorporate Subjects into a Fun Homeschool Cooking Unit Study
  • 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
  • Little House on The Prairie Unit Study and Fun Punched Tin Lantern

Then add some fun books and resources to your chicken unit study.

9 Books and Resources for a Fun Chicken Unit Study

Whether you’re wanting to do a chicken unit study or study chickens for the day, you’ll love these books and resources to add to your collection.

Chicks & Chickens

Cheep . . .  cheep . . . cluck!  Everything you ever wanted to know about chickens and eggs—except which came first. With bright watercolor illustrations and simple, clear language, nonfiction master Gail Gibbons shows young readers everything there is to know about chickens. See what different breeds of chickens look like, discover how eggs are laid and hatched, and learn how big and little farms take care of their birds. Key vocabulary words about chicken behavior and anatomy are introduced throughout Chicks and Chickens, and new words are reinforced in accessible language for young readers.

4 PCS Chicken Farm Animal Life Cycle Growth Model

Children can see how animals change and grow. Realistic detail showing a different stage in the development of animals.

Uniquely molded textures and richly painted details bring them to life and help inspire creativity for kids.

It is a great way to expand the growth with children through physical science.

Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life

Learn the difference between a farrow and a barrow, and what distinguishes a weanling from a yearling. Country and city mice alike will delight in Julia Rothman’s charming illustrated guide to the curious parts and pieces of rural living. Dissecting everything from the shapes of squash varieties to how a barn is constructed and what makes up a beehive to crop rotation patterns, Rothman gives a richly entertaining tour of the quirky details of country life. 

Where Do Chicks Come From?

Read and find out about eggs—and how baby chicks grow inside of them—in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book.

Learn how chicks develop, how they get the food they need to grow, and how a mother hen helps keep them safe in this introduction to the life cycle of a baby chick.

This is a clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. It's a Level 1 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores introductory concepts perfect for children in the primary grades. The 100+ titles in this leading nonfiction series are:

Chickenology: The Ultimate Encyclopedia

A great educational book, covering:• Different breeds of chickens, like Padovana and Silkie• The difference between roosters and hens• How chicks are formed in the egg• Chickens sounds and noises• Chicken anatomy and feather anatomy and colors• Chickens and eggs around the world• Chicken history and folklore• Raising chickens at home• Chickens as pets

LEGO Creator Easter Chickens 30643

These LEGO Chickens are a fun and easy add on for little ones joining in the fun.

Farm Animal for Kids, Chicken Coop

DETAILED & REALISTIC. Crafted with precision and authentic detail to create a lifelike toy that teaches and inspires toddlers and kids of every age; helps introduce children to animals. From the first sketch to the intricate finishing touches, we see value in every detail.

Farm Animal Chicken Coop Building Blocks

Chicken Coop Building Blocks. It contains a coop, twenty chicken and ten eggs.

Compatible with LEGO: It's made of LEGO-compatible bricks. It will enrich your MOC blocks. It can be put together with a lot of block scenes, such as farm, house, castle, village, animal and so on.

Farm Animals Figurines Simulated Farm Life

These little chicken figurines would also make a great addition to a chicken study, put them in a sensory bin with a little birdseed or cracked corn for hours of fun.

Lastly, I have a fun hands-on activity to learn the parts of an egg.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

And this activity can be adjusted to fit a child of any age.

Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity

You will need:

  • Tan felt
  • White felt
  • Yellow felt
  • Red felt
  • White yarn/string
  • Cardstock       
  • Hot glue guns/stick

Cut an egg shape out of tan felt, you want to make it several inches tall so that you have plenty of room to label all the parts.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

Trace the egg shape onto white felt and cut it out slightly smaller, leaving a very thin border for the shell.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

Cut a small notch out of the bottom like this for the air sac.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

Cut a circle of yellow to make the yolk, and add a small light circle on the yolk with a white crayon or paint pen.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

Twist the white yarn from the top to the bottom of the eggshell and glue the yolk over top of it.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

Write each of the parts of the egg on cardstock and cut them out Yolk, Eggshell, Chalaza, Shell, Germinal disc, and Albumen.

Or take it a step further and have your child type out their own labels for typing practice and to reinforce the new spelling words.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

Now the egg can be put together and glued if you want it to stay permanent.

Or leave the parts loose so it can be built and rebuilt. Add the labels to mark each part of the egg.

Additionally, you can crack open a real egg to see the real-life parts. Have your child point out each one with a skewer.

Free Homeschool Chicken Unit Study and Anatomy of an Egg Felt Activity & Worksheet

How to Get the Free Chicken Egg Worksheet & Coloring Page

Now, how to grab the free chicken pages. This is a subscriber freebie.

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

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Hands-On Activities Tagged With: chicken, elementary science, farm, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, life science, science, unit studies, unit study, unit study approach

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

April 8, 2023 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If you want to create your own homeschool farming curriculum, I have some great resources. Too, grab more farm ideas on my page Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas.

If you’re looking for a fun and diverse book to use as a spine or main book for your farming curriculum, look at Farm Anatomy by Julia Rothman.

Her entire series is incredible and full of beautiful illustrations and a wealth of information tucked into each page.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

I love to just flip through the pages and admire them, learning much myself at the same time.

They are easily adaptable as a main spine to your DIY curriculum without any textbooks or worksheets.

Too, I’ll not only share some fun ideas about farming, but your kids will love making this adorable clothespin sheep.

Even your older kids will love it.

7 Topics Study for Homeschool Farming Curriculum

Using just the Farm Anatomy Book you can create a homeschooling farming curriculum that covers all these seven topics and more.

1. How to Break Ground

In this section cover farm terminology, topsoil, nutrients, composting and acreage.

2. Raised in a Barn

Learn about barns and other structures, styles, features, uses, chicken coops, brooders, fencing, sheep sheds, and feeders.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

3. Tools of the Trade

Additionally, understand farm tools. Include big equipment like tractors and plows and hand tools and wood splitting as well.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

4. Plant a Seed

Learn about everything from seeds to frost dates, and vegetable varieties to good and bad bugs.

5. Separating the Sheep from the Goats

Next, learn livestock terminology, types and labeling of their parts, anatomy of a beehive, comb styles, breeds, harnesses, and shearing sheep.

6. Country Dining

Delve into dairy, breadmaking, cuts of meat, root cellars, old fashioned country kitchens, how to cut up a chicken, build a smokehouse, canning, and making cheese.

7. Spinning a Yarn

In the final chapter you will learn about shearing, natural dyes, making rag rugs, candles, and other farm tasks.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

Farm Themed Read Aloud Books

The only other book I might suggest is a farm-themed read-aloud to enjoy together.

You could also assign your older students the reading independently.

Resources and Books for a Study about Farming

Add some of these fun books and resources to create your own curriculum about farming or for a homeschool unit study topic about farming.

Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life

Learn the difference between a farrow and a barrow, and what distinguishes a weanling from a yearling. Country and city mice alike will delight in Julia Rothman’s charming illustrated guide to the curious parts and pieces of rural living. Dissecting everything from the shapes of squash varieties to how a barn is constructed and what makes up a beehive to crop rotation patterns, Rothman gives a richly entertaining tour of the quirky details of country life.

Charlotte's Web: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.

Farmer Boy (Little House, 2)

While Laura Ingalls grows up on the prairie, Almanzo Wilder is living on a big farm in New York State. Here Almanzo and his brother and sisters help with the summer planting and fall harvest. In winter there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the river and stored. Time for fun comes when the jolly tin peddler visits, or best of all, when the fair comes to town.

Almanzo wishes for just one thing—his very own horse—and he must prove that he is ready for such a big responsibility.

Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer

Twelve-year-old Sophie Brown feels like a fish out of water when she and her parents move from Los Angeles to the farm they’ve inherited from a great-uncle. But farm life gets more interesting when a cranky chicken appears and Sophie discovers the hen can move objects with the power of her little chicken brain: jam jars, the latch to her henhouse, the entire henhouse.... And then more of her great-uncle’s unusual chickens come home to roost. Determined, resourceful Sophie learns to care for her flock, earning money for chicken feed, collecting eggs. But when a respected local farmer tries to steal them, Sophie must find a way to keep them (and their superpowers) safe.

Strawberry Girl

Strawberries—big, ripe, and juicy. Ten-year-old Birdie Boyer can hardly wait to start picking them. But her family has just moved to the Florida backwoods, and they haven't even begun their planting. "Don't count your biddies 'fore they're hatched, gal young un!" her father tells her.

Making the new farm prosper is not easy. There is heat to suffer through, and droughts, and cold snaps. And, perhaps most worrisome of all for the Boyers, there are rowdy neighbors, just itching to start a feud. The land was theirs, but so were its hardships.

The Farm That Feeds Us: A year in the life of an organic farm

Explore the workings of a small-scale, organic family farm and experience the rhythm of farm life. In the spring, visit the chicken coop, till the fields, and tour the farm machinery. When summer comes, plant corn, meet the pollinators, and head to the county fair. In the fall, make pies and preserves, harvest pumpkins, and put the fields to sleep. Winter activities include trimming and pruning the orchard, seed shopping, and baking bread.

In Grandma's Attic

A young girl delights in her grandmother’s stories of days gone by, sparked by keepsakes and simple questions, Grandma shares marvelous stories of mischief , discovery, and laughter, such as the time she accidentally lost the family buggy. Part of the bestselling Grandma’s Attic series, these charming tales—updated with delightful new illustrations—will whisk you away to another time and place.

Caddie Woodlawn

Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brother's dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors—neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all.

Veggie Farm Sorting Set

Fill bushel baskets with figures representing veggies, from corn and broccoli to onions and pumpkins

Playmat with farm signs includes images of essential colors and shapes

However, hands-on activities make for the best part of any curriculum which you put together.

Hands-on activities makes learning stick and stirs your child’s imagination.

Homeschool Farming Curriculum Hands-on Activities

  • Grab some farm animals for use as counters for math, dramatic play with blocks, as a themed sensory bin, art inspiration, farm animal sorting, or a close-up look at farm animals they might not otherwise get to see.
  • Easy Seeds and Gardening Unit Study for Kids (Middle – Upper Elementary)
  • Even if you don’t have the space to plant, you can plant several types of vegetables in containers, if not you can still grab seeds to check out the size and information on the packet. Dollar Tree is a great resource for seeds.
  • How to Easily Garden Plan With Kids Using LEGO
  • Visit a local farm store and check out the different types of feed, tools, and other items that farmers might need.
  • How to Plan And Start an Easy Gardening Unit Study for Kids
  • Plan a garden or large farm plot on graph paper to plant, or just pretend.
  • Gardening Projects For Homeschool Easy Composting With the Amazing Dr. George Carver (Free Printable About Composting)
  • Check into visiting local farms, dairies, and farmers’ markets to study farm life up close.
  • Play a fun farm-themed game to learn math, and encourage taking turns, reading, and following directions.
  • Free Printable Strawberries Lapbook and Fun Homeschool Unit Study Ideas
  • 7 Honey Bee Activities And Explore a Bee Hive With Felt Activity.
  • Practice milking a cow with a simple rubber glove in this fun activity.
  • Does your child love horses? Weave this Horse Unit Study into the farming study.
  • Learn about cloth dyeing.

Finally, look at how to make this adorable sheep craft, but first here are a few fun facts about sheep.

How to Make a Clothespin Sheep Craft

Next, look at a few facts about sheep.

Quick Facts about Sheep

  • Lamb is the name for a baby sheep up to one year.
  • The ram is the male sheep.
  • Ewe (pronounced, you) is the female sheep.
  • Hair on a sheep is called wool and all the wool on sheep is called the fleece.
  • Sheep are used for more than just their wool.
  • Some by products of sheep are used in buttons, cosmetics, hand soap and medicine.
How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

Now, grab these supplies for this fun sheep craft.

You will need:

  • 2 wooden clothespins
  • Wool roving or yarn
  • Black paint
  • Scrap cardboard
  • Black felt
  • Hot glue

Cut cardboard, a leftover Amazon box works great, into roughly the shape of a bean like this.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

Paint the “head” and slightly into the body black.

Paint both clothespins all the way around approximately ¾ of the way up from the end that you squeeze.

Allow all the paint to dry completely.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

Place clothespins on cardboard cutout, push up to the spring, and adjust until it can stand.

To wrap with the wool roving pull long thin lengths off and wrap all around, covering the cardboard up to the head completely and secure the end with a dot of hot glue.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

To cover with yarn, follow the same process but with one long string of yarn, wrapping and changing directions until fully covered, and glue the end down.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

Cut small ear shapes out of black felt and hot glue to the sides of the head.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

You can make a whole herd of sheep from different colors and textures of yarn and wool as you learn all about breeds, shearing, and more.

How to Create Homeschool Farming Curriculum and Adorable Clothespin Sheep Craft

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Hands-On Activities Tagged With: crafts, elementary science, farm, hands-on, hands-on activities, handsonhomeschooling, life science, sheep

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

April 3, 2023 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I have a free Charlotte’s Web homeschool unit study today with fun hands-on ideas. Also grab more ideas on my best homeschool unit studies page.

Charlotte’s Web is not only a wonderful story for reading aloud or independent reading time, but it also lends itself beautifully to a wide-open list of topics to study beyond just the title.

Here is a free Charlotte’s Web Unit Study with a bushel of ideas for you whether you want to spend a week or a whole month learning about Wilbur, Fern, and Charlotte.

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

Charlotte’s Web will keep you busy with new vocabulary, learning about things like characters, plot, setting, and point of view.

And of course, it is a wonderful setting to learn all about farm life including the animals that live there. 

To make the book more than just a read you will have to get creative by pulling something from the theme of the book for each of your main subjects.

Facts about Charlotte’s Web Book

I have a few ideas ready to get you going as well as some interesting facts to share with your farmhands.

  • The E.B. in E.B. White, the author, stands for Elwyn Brooks
  • Zuckerman’s farm in Charlotte’s Web was real. E.B. White based it on the farm he grew up on in Maine.
  • Fern did not become a character of the book until the last draft of it was written.
  • Garth Williams, who illustrated Charlotte’s Web is also well known for his illustrations for the entire Little House on The Prairie Series.
  • Wilbur was inspired by a sick pig that White had tried to nurse back to health. Unfortunately, the pig died.
  • Charlotte’s full name is Charlotte A. Cavatica which is a clever reference to her species class, Araneus Cavaticus or the common barn spider.
  • E.B. White won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for all his writings and works.
Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

More Charlotte’s Web Resources and Activities

  • 8 Pig Facts and a Cute Wilbur Paper Plate Charlotte’s Web Craft

Moreover, grab some of these books to enhance your unit study.

Charlotte's Web Unit Study Resources

Add some of these books to flesh out your unit study if you're studying about farm animals, geography of Main or spiders.

Charlotte's Web: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. It contains illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books.

The Julia Rothman Collection: Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and Food Anatomy

This handsome box set provides hours of enlightening entertainment for those curious about farm life, the natural world, and food. Best-selling author and illustrator Julia Rothman presents Farm Anatomy, Nature Anatomy, and Food Anatomy in a specially designed slipcase with 10 framable prints. Rothman’s popular line drawings offer a whimsical and educational guide to life on a farm, nature’s hidden wonders, and delectable tidbits from kitchens and pantries around the globe.

Insects and Spiders (Nature Explorers)

With a mix of fantastic photographs and beautiful illustrations, Insects and Spiders takes you through everything you need to know about these bewildering bugs. Learn what termites build their nests from, how an earwig looks after her eggs, and why wasps have black and yellow stripes.

Pigs

With clear, simple text and bright, well-labeled watercolors, Gail Gibbons explores the truth about pigs. Digging up truffles, competing in county fairs, grunting and squealing to communicate-- these flat-snouted farm animals are complex and surprisingly talented.

DK Super Readers Level 1 A Day on the Farm

A Day on the Farm is a beautifully designed reader all about a day in the life of a farm, with eggs hatching, milking time for the cows, sheep shearing and lots of hungry baby animals!

I'm Trying to Love Spiders

I’m Trying to Love Spiders will help you see these amazing arachnids in a whole new light, from heir awesomely excessive eight eyes, to the seventy-five pounds of bugs a spider can eat in a single year! And you’re sure to feel better knowing you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than being fatally bit by a spider. Comforting, right? No? Either way, there’s heaps more information in here to help you forget your fears .

National Geographic Readers: Spiders

You don’t have to look far to see a spider’s web—in the corner of the window, on a fence, or in a bush—spiders make their homes everywhere. And there are so many kinds of spiders! Some red, some blue, yellow, and more…all fascinating. Amazing photography and easy-to-understand text make Spiders a hit in this National Geographic Kids series.

Assorted Farm Animals Toys

Teach your child about the different farm animals and the sounds they make; Set up an interactive playtime to collaborate with your child to count and sort the animals.

Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

But Farmer Brown's problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes.... Doreen ronin's understated text and Betsy Lewin's expressive illustrations make the most of this hilarious situation. Come join the fun as a bunch of literate cows turn Farmer Brown's farm upside down.

On the Farm

From the bull to the barn cat to the wild bunny, the farmyard bustles with life. The rooster crows, the rams clash, the bees buzz, and over there in the garden, a snake — silent and alone — winds and
watches. David Elliott’s graceful, simple verse and Holly Meade’s exquisite woodcut and watercolor illustrations capture a world that is at once timeless yet disappearing from view — the world of the family farm.

First, here are some fun resources.

  • Nice 16 page pdf Educator’s Guide
  • The Power of Words in “Charlotte’s Web”
  • Character Analysis 42 free pages
  • 12 page free Teaching Guide
  • YouTube Charlotte’s Web (Full Audiobook)
  • YouTube FARM ANIMALS & THEIR SOUNDS (Part 3) Babies, Toddlers, Preschool, & K-3

Next, look at some unit study science ideas.

Unit Study Science Ideas for Charlotte’s Web

One of the most enticing things about a unit study is being able to tie a lot of subjects to one theme. Look below at ideas for each topic.

Farm Theme Ideas

Choose one of the main character animals like pigs, spiders, rats, geese, or sheep to study. Your child can

  • Watch videos.
  • Write a report.
  • Create a diorama.
  • Paint a picture.
  • Make their animal out of clay.
  • Read books about various animals on the farm.

A great reference book to research farm life, as well as farm animals, is Julia Rothman Farm Anatomy with its beautiful illustrations and great information snippets on a lot of topics.

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

Also, add some fun farm math.

Math Ideas

Use manipulatives to make math hands-on.

  • Use plastic animals as counters for simple addition and subtraction, skip counting, or sorting for the littlest of hands.
  • Measure plastic farm animals, take a poll on everyone’s favorite farm animals, and graph it.
  • Older kids can map out a farm on graph paper and figure out the scale, area, and perimeter.
  • Give simple math a twist by giving farm-themed math problems like “If I had 100 pounds of pig feed and each of my 3 pigs eats 5 pounds per day, how long will it last?” If Zuckerman’s truck had to go 40 miles to the fair and they traveled at 22 mph how long would it take to get there?

Moreover, add some fun hands-on geography.

Geography Ideas

  • The story of Charlotte’s Web takes place in Maine, take this time to learn a little about the state.
Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas
  • Practice map skills and have your child draw a map of the farm where Wilbur lived including the farmhouse, barn, trees, and any other places they feel are significant.

Language Arts

  • Grab a list of spelling words for the story from Vocabulary.com to practice vocabulary and spelling by using words in sentences, flashcards, and other ways.
  • Draw a spider web with white crayon on white paper, weaving words throughout the lines, and give your child watercolors to reveal the words. As they appear, have them say the word and spell it out loud.
  • Have your child write their own short story about a farm by hand or on the computer.
  • Use farm-themed prompts for journaling- For example, “One morning I woke up and ran outside to the barn to find…”.

Below I have another fun and simple spelling activity.

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study Spelling Web Activity

You will need:

  • Black cardstock
  • White chalk or a white paint marker
  • Hairspray
  • Letter tiles or beads
  • Spelling words list
Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

Grab a piece of black cardstock or construction paper and draw a circle in the center with chalk.

Next, draw lines coming out from the circle all the way to the edges of the paper.

You can make it any size you like, depending on the child.

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

Draw a line straight across the middle for spelling words and then a few more lines all the way across from edge to edge.

To get the webbed effect you want to slightly arch your small lines in between the big lines, going all the way around.

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

Finally, if you use chalk, set it so that it doesn’t smudge by spraying it with hairspray and allowing it to dry fully.

Set out your web, spelling words, and the letter tiles-scrabble tiles, letter beads, or lacing letters.

Free Charlotte’s Web Homeschool Unit Study and Fun Hands-on Ideas

Leave a CommentFiled Under: My Unit Studies {Free Printables & Hands-on Ideas} Tagged With: farm, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, homeschoolanguagearts, language arts, languagearts, science, unit studies, unit study

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Privacy Policy | About Me | Reviews | Contact | Advertise

Categories

Archives

Tina Robertson is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2025 · 5 TNT LLC · Log in · Privacy Policy