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Discover The Best Gifts For Biology Lovers

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

I have combed my favorite sites to bring you gifts for biology lovers that range from baby to adult and many aspects of biology.

Biology is the study of living things.

It’s a big field that includes studying plants, animals, and even humans.

Discover The Best Gifts For Biology Lovers

Biologists try to understand how living things work, how they interact with each other, and how they change over time.

It is a broad field with many different branches, each of which focuses on a different aspect of living things.

Just in case you are not a biology nerd yourself of course I am including a breakdown of what sciences fall under it.

The main branches of biology cover a wide variety of interests from the body to plants and insects as well as bacteria and viruses.

BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY FOR GIFTS FOR BIOLOGY LOVERS

The main branches of biology cover a wide variety of interests from the body to plants and insects as well as bacteria and viruses.

Anatomy: The study of the structure of living things.

Biochemistry: The study of the chemical processes that take place in living things.

Botany: The study of plants.

Cell biology: The study of cells that make up living things.

Ecology: The study of how living things interact with each other and with their environment.

Evolution: The study of how living things have changed over time.

Genetics: The study of how traits are passed down from parents to offspring.

Immunology: The study of how living things protect themselves from disease.

Microbiology: The study of microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses.

Molecular biology: The study of the molecules that make up living things.

Physiology: The study of how living things function.

Zoology: The study of animals.

Discover The Best Gifts For Biology Lovers

Next, look at more gift guides.

MORE GIFT GUIDES

So, whether your recipient is a child, teacher, college student, or just enthusiast you are likely to find something unique that they will love here in this list of gifts from books to games and everything in between.

BIOLOGY GIFTS

Discover the best gifts for biology lovers.

4 Week Free Shakespeare Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

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

I have a free 4-week Shakespeare unit study for kids. Look at these other Best Homeschool Unit Studies and my Fun Renaissance Unit Study Ideas for Kids and Lapbook Renaissance for more ideas and topics for hands-on learning.

Although there is debate about Shakespeare’s exact date of birth, we do know he was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a town in a farming area.

His mother, Mary, was the daughter of a local farmer. His father, John, was a glove-maker and wool trader with a large family house.

4 Week Free Shakespeare Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

And Shakespeare lived during a remarkable period of English history.

The life of William Shakespeare is surrounded in mystery due to the lack of records from that time.

Elizabeth I became the Queen of England in 1558.

During her 45-year reign, London became a cultural center where learning and literature thrived.

Also, I share a few of the ideas we did at our co-op. There are just some activities that are way more to do with a group.

Especially if you have a tough subject to teach, gather families together and use the creative brain of those families in your group.

BOOKS ABOUT SHAKESPEARE

Next, add a few of these books that will get you started on your unit study.

And where possible, I prefer living books over textbooks to teach with.

6 Books About Shakespeare For Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To

Add one or two of these books to your unit study or learning day.

Next, look at some of these fun ways to incorporate history and geography into your Shakespeare unit study.

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY SHAKESPEARE UNIT STUDY IDEAS WEEK 1

Queen Elizabeth I ruled from 1558, until her death on March 24, 1603, marking the Elizabethan era.

She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.

Queen Elizabeth also recognized the importance of the arts to the life and legacy of her nation.

She was fond of the theater, and England’s greatest playwrights.

  • Salt Dough Map of England gets your kids involved hands-on.
  • The Globe Theatre, built in 1599. Make your own globe theater stage
  • Learn about the fashion of the Elizabethan period. Fabrics like velvet, silk and brocade. The wealthy wore extravagant clothing. A ruff is a collar that is large and comes around the neck.How to make a paper maché Elizabethan ruff
  • Make a Tudor Rose and learn what is symbolized. Takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists of five white inner petals, representing the House of York, and five red outer petals to represent the House of Lancaster.

NATURE & SCIENCE SHAKESPEARE UNIT STUDY IDEAS WEEK 2

Also, study a list of plants and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays.

For example, learn about roses.

4 Week Free Shakespeare Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

A rose symbolizes love and beauty.

And think about the line “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” from the play Romeo and Juliet.

Here are some more examples and research about what they mean.

  • Hamlet – Holly, Violet, Daisy, Fennel, Willow, Cypress
  • The Winter’s Tale – Marigold, Mint
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Pansy, Cowslip
  • Romeo and Juliet – Rose, Briar, Basil
  • Make a homemade candle

MATH & LANGUAGE ARTS SHAKESPEARE UNIT STUDY IDEAS WEEK 3

Additionally, here are some fun ways to add a bit of math and language arts to your unit study.

Besides the obvious idea of focusing on a couple of Shakespeare’s plays, look at more ideas to flesh out your study.

  • Discuss the shapes of The Globe Theatre to learn about geometry. Build a scale model of it.
  • Learn about the money used during this time. For example, pounds, shillings, and pence.
  • Prepare food of the time and practice math measurements. For example, learn about pottage, bread was popular, meat pies, cheese, beers and ale. Honey was a popular flavoring since sugar was expensive. Look at my post Fascinating and Fun Honey Bees Unit Study and Lapbook for Kids.
  • Apothecary was an occupation during Shakespeare’s time. Look at my post Apothecary Salve.
  • And I know not everyone lives near a renaissance fest but I contacted them to get names of folks they used as actors. We had a volunteer “Bard” come and go over with our kids about Shakespeare.

Also, look at some of my favorite sites. They are text retellings.

4 Week Free Shakespeare Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

ARTS & CRAFTS SHAKESPEARE UNIT STUDY WEEK 4

Finally, look at these fun art and craft ideas during the Shakespeare and Elizabethan period.

4 Week Free Shakespeare Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

Last, whether your focus is on poetry, history, comedies or tragedies, look at some of Shakespeare’s works.

4 Week Free Shakespeare Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

Also, grab my Renaissance lapbook to go with this unit study.

TRAGEDIES

COMEDIES

  • Antony and Cleopatra
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Macbeth
  • King Lear
  • The Taming of the Shrew
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream

HISTORIES

POETRY

  • Henry VI
  • Richard II
  • 154 Sonnets
  • Venus and Adonis
4 Week Free Shakespeare Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

We add to our unit study as we learn more about Shakespeare.

What hands-on fun have you done?

4 Week Free Middle Ages Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

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

I have a free 4-week Middle Ages unit study for kids. Look at these other Best Homeschool Unit Studies for more ideas and topics for hands-on learning.

The Medieval or Middle Ages is a period in history that is full of legend and myth.

This Middle Ages unit study is about medieval Europe.

4 Week Free Middle Ages Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

We’ve studied other periods like Medieval Japan which can make for a great comparison with this one. That is an idea for a co-op with maybe a mix of middle and high school kids.

However, for today we’re focusing on the castles, knights, and King Arthur of medieval Europe.

Next, it’s important to understand that a way of life doesn’t just stop and another one begins at an exact date.

So many periods of history, customs, way of life, and events overlap. This period of Medieval we’ll cover is approximately 500 to 1400–1500 ce.

BOOKS ABOUT THE MIDDLE AGES HISTORY FOR KIDS

First, look at some of these books.

Using a living book as your spine or main text is a fun way to bring this time to life.

9 Medieval History Books & Resources For Kids Who Love Reading and Being Read To

Add a few of these books to your Middle Ages or Medieval unit study.

Also, understand why the Middle Ages are also called Medieval Times.

Merriam-Websters defines Middle Ages like this: With its roots medi-, meaning “middle”, and ev-, meaning “age”, medieval literally means “of the Middle Ages”. In this case, middle means “between the Roman empire and the Renaissance”—that is, after the fall of the great Roman state and before the “rebirth” of culture that we call the Renaissance.

In summary, I explained to my sons it’s the time between Ancient Rome and The Renaissance.

However, if you have older children, the Middle Ages can be broken down further into the Early Middle Ages (c. 400 to 900), the High Middle Ages (c. 900 to the mid-1200s) and the Late Middle Ages (c. mid1200s to 1500).

Each of these time periods have significant events, people and places which emerged. This helps to narrow your study if you want to dive deeper.

Because this is only 4 weeks, I’m teaching a general overview of the Medieval Times.

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY MIDDLE AGES UNIT STUDY IDEAS WEEK 1

The Roman Empire had provided stability for centuries in the region. It had spread its culture, the Latin language, and Christianity across the continent.

But the Roman grew weak and worse it had been invaded.

So, it was a time when kings and feudal lords ruled the land and when castles appeared.

Castles were both a residence for the noble and a defensive structure.

However, the majority of people were poor people or peasants.

They learned a trade and survived off the land living in thatched huts and farming on land they did not own.

The lands were normally owned by a feudal lord.

And it’s important to help your child understand what we mean when we say Middle Ages Europe. All the countries did not have the same name as they do today but we’ll use the modern day names so our kids will understand the geography.

During the early Middle Ages, Europe included the islands of Britain and Ireland.

Also, much of the land that we now call Italy, Germany, and France was included. It also included the Vikings and the Scandinavian countries. The countries are we now called Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

MIDDLE AGES HISTORY VOCABULARY WORDS

Too, look at a list of words to define.

  • noble – A person of high social rank, often owning large amounts of land and having titles like lord or lady.
  • feudal society – a social system in which land is owned by a small ruling class and is worked by peasants in exchange for protection and other services.
  • vassal– A person who receives land from a lord in exchange for loyalty and service.
  • papacy – the office or the position of the pope
  • fief – A piece of land granted by a lord to a vassal in exchange for loyalty and service
  • manor – a Iarge estate, often including farms and a village, ruled by a lord
  • knight – a man who received honor and land in exchange for serving a lord as a soldier

NATURE & SCIENCE MIDDLE AGES UNIT STUDY IDEAS WEEK 2

Next, in the Middle Ages people decorated their heads with flowers and leaves. Make a crown of flowers with any long stem flowers. Daisies are a good choice.

Medieval Chemistry had early beginnings although we don’t always think about the medieval period as that time.

MATH & LANGUAGE ARTS MIDDLE AGES UNIT STUDY IDEAS WEEK 3

During this period, it was hard for people to separate myth from reality.

But that is why the book King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is fun to read to get a taste of the time.

Also, we don’t have as many primary sources which is why this is called the dark period.

But be sure to pore over what we do have from that time which are the famous stories like “Beowulf” and “The Canterbury Tales”.

Too, here are some history makers and events during this period.

Research one or two that interests your child.

FAMOUS PEOPLE AND EVENTS

  • knights – men who fought for and protected the lands of their lord, baron, count, or king.
  • barbarians – people that the Romans thought were primitive.
  • King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table – No one knows if they’re real or not.
  • Medieval minstrels – Musicians who traveled from place to place, singing songs and reciting poetry. Look at this beautiful site Luminarium for Lyrics (make sure your sound is on) and look at the English Anthologies too.
  • Henry II of England – In 1154, Henry II was crowned King of England. Under his rule, England prospered. He brought common law to England.
  • court jester – the court’s official entertainer
  • bubonic plague – infectious disease carried by rats and mice that spread to humans.
  • Charlemagne – “Charlemagne” is French for Charles the Great. Charlemagne used the great wealth and strong military organization that he had inherited from his father and brother to build his empire.
  • Crusades – A series of wars fought between Christians and Muslims during the 11th to the 13th centuries in the hopes of taking possession of Jerusalem and other places considered to be holy by the Christians.
4 Week Free Middle Ages Unit Study & Best Hands-on Ideas

ARTS & CRAFTS MIDDLE AGES UNIT STUDY WEEK 4

Also, look at this list of craftsmen and trades during the Middle Ages.

  • Tanner – Made leather from animal hides for clothing and goods
  • Fletcher – Made arrows for archery and hunting.
  • Weaver – Created cloth and textiles using a loom.

Also, look at a few more Middle Ages resources.

MORE MIDDLE AGES RESOURCES

Of course, as I mentioned this is a huge quick overview and just touches the fringe of this expansive time.

There are more colorful characters and events to explore.

What are you studying about and doing hands-on?

Frida Kahlo Art Made Simple: Free Easy Art Printable

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

I have a Frida Kahlo easy art printable.

Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907, in Coyoacán, Mexico.

Her childhood home, called La Casa Azul (The Blue House), is now a museum. Frida’s paintings are full of vibrant colors.

Frida Kahlo Art Made Simple: Free Easy Art Printable

However, she had a challenging childhood.

For example, she had polio which affected her right foot.

Then at 18 years of age she was involved in a horrific bus accident and had a broken spine.

However, she had a strong and fierce spirit and used her life’s challenges to inspire her art.

BOOKS FOR KIDS ABOUT FRIDA KAHLO

Next, look at some fun books.

When possible I prefer living books if I can find them then we add reference books too.

5 Frida Kahlo Books for Kids

Grab some of these books about Frida Kahlo to add to your reading list or to a unit study.

Next, look at a few of her famous art pieces.

FAMOUS ART BY FRIDA KAHLO

She often painted self-portraits, which are pictures of herself.

  • The Two Fridas
  • Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird
  • Self-Portrait with Monkey
  • The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl

Additionally, look at a some crafts inspired by her art.

CRAFTS INSPIRED BY FRIDA KAHLO

Then look at my post Mexico Unit Study and Make a Fun Easy Frida Kahlo Floral Headband.

Frida Kahlo Art Made Simple: Free Easy Art Printable

Then look at more cut and paste art crafts.

I have How To Make Sunflower Craft Like Van Gogh For Young Crafters, Colorful Picasso Craft Ideas To Make: Free Printable for Little Hands and Arts And Crafts For Kids Inspired By Georgia O’Keeffe | Free Printable.

HOW TO GET THE FREE FRIDA KAHLO CUT & PASTE PRINTABLE

Now, how to grab the 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) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie now.

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

Arts And Crafts For Kids Inspired By Georgia O’Keeffe | Free Printable

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

I have some fun arts and crafts for kids inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe and a free cut and paste craft.

Georgia O’Keeffe was an American painter.

Georgia O’Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887, in a small town called Sun Prairie in Wisconsin.

Arts And Crafts For Kids Inspired By Georgia O'Keeffe | Free Printable

She was famous for her flower paintings and nature themed works.

And for her large-scale images of flowers.

For example, on one of her paintings she said, “I have painted what each flower is to me and I have painted it big enough so that others would see what I see.”

Also, her paintings included shells, leaves, bones and landscapes of New Mexico.

BOOKS FOR KIDS ABOUT GEORGIA O’KEEFFE

First, look at these fun books.

When possible I prefer living books then add reference books.

5 Georgia O'Keeffe Books For Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To

Add some of these books to your home library about Georgia O’Keeffe.

Next, look at some arts and crafts for kids inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe.

ARTS AND CRAFTS FOR KIDS INSPIRED BY GEORGIA O’KEEFFE

Then look at more cut and paste art crafts.

I have How To Make Sunflower Craft Like Van Gogh For Young Crafters and Colorful Picasso Craft Ideas To Make: Free Printable for Little Hands.

In addition, here are more facts about Georgia O’Keeffe.

FACTS ABOUT GEORGIA O’KEEFFE

  • She studied art in college and became a teacher.
  • Her unique style was focused on flowers, landscapes, and the beauty of nature.
  • And she believed that flowers were powerful and beautiful; she wanted everyone to see them in a new way.
  • In the 1920s, Georgia moved to New Mexico.
  • The desert was very different from her home in Wisconsin. But she fell in love with the desert.
  • And the colors of the desert— like rich reds, deep blues, and bright yellows—found their way into her art.
  • She loved the bones of animals and often used them in her art.
  • She passed away at the age of 98.
Arts And Crafts For Kids Inspired By Georgia O'Keeffe | Free Printable

Use my free cut and paste craft for your child to create their own Georgia O’Keeffe inspired craft.

HOW TO GET THE FREE PRINTABLE GEORGIA O’KEEFFE INSPIRED CUT AND PASTE CRAFT

Now, how to grab the 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) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

2) Grab the freebie now.

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