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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.

John Muir Wilderness Box Set

A collection of John Muir’s best-selling writings and essays collected in 1 set.

Part of John Muir's appeal to modern readers is that he not only explored the American West and wrote about its beauties but also fought for their preservation. His successes dot the landscape and are evident in all the natural features that bear his name: forests, lakes, trails, and glaciers. Collected here in 1 set are some of Muir's finest wilderness essays, national park observations, travels throughout Alaska, and writings about working in the Yosemite Valley. 

A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf

John Muir, one of America’s great environmentalists, has inspired nature lovers for generations with his writings.

A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf by John Muir is the adventure that started it all.

Walk with John from Indiana through Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. A story that is sure to inspire your own adventures and love for nature and the off beaten path.

John Muir: Candlewick Biographies: America's First Environmentalist

John Muir loved the land. Born in 1838, he was a writer, a scholar, an inventor, a shepherd, a farmer, and an explorer. But above all, he was a naturalist. John Muir was particularly devoted to the high cliffs, waterfalls, and ancient giant sequoia trees that, through his careful influence, were set aside as Yosemite, one of the first national parks in America. Here is the life story of the man who, moved by a commitment to wilderness everywhere, founded the Sierra Club in 1892, a conservation group that carries on his crucial work to this day. Back matter includes an epilogue, a bibliography, and information about the Sierra Club.

A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir

"I am hopelessly and forever a mountaineer," John Muir wrote. "Civilization and fever and all the morbidness that has been hooted at me has not dimmed my glacial eye, and I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness. My own special self is nothing."In Donald Worster's magisterial biography, John Muir's "special self" is fully explored as is his extraordinary ability, then and now, to get others to see the sacred beauty of the natural world. A Passion for Nature is the most complete account of the great conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club ever written. It is the first to be based on Muir's full private correspondence and to meet modern scholarly standards. Yet it is also full of rich detail and personal anecdote, uncovering the complex inner life behind the legend of the solitary mountain man. It traces Muir from his boyhood in Scotland and frontier Wisconsin to his adult life in California right after the Civil War up to his death on the eve of World War I. It explores his marriage and family life, his relationship with his abusive father, his many friendships with the humble and famous (including Theodore Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson), and his role in founding the modern American conservation movement.

National Geographic Complete National Parks of the United States, 400+ Parks, Monuments, Battlefields, Historic Sites, Scenic Trails, Recreation Areas, and Seashores

National Geographic’s wide-ranging travel guide to recreation areas, trails, historic sites, nature hikes, seashores, camping, and campgrounds is geared to everyone who loves outdoor recreation. This 544-page reference is the ultimate travel planner for all things national parks, filled with full-color photos, detailed maps, historical background, and practical facts on the location of the park system properties, as well as the best times to visit and top-rated activities.

Our National Parks

ohn Muir (1838–1914) ranks among America's most important and influential environmentalists and nature writers. Devoted to the preservation of wilderness areas, Muir founded the Sierra Club and was active in the establishment of Yosemite National Park. Our National Parks, originally published in 1901, includes ten articles that previously appeared in The Atlantic Monthly. Muir wrote them in hopes of exciting interest in the parks, certain that visitors would fall in love with the scenic grandeur as he had—and that their enthusiasm would ensure the parks' preservation.

National Parks Scratch Off Map of United States Poster, ALL 63 Parks

UNIQUE DESIGN…ARROWHEAD SHAPES: Scratch off each beautifully designed US National Park as you visit them, like Acadia, Zion, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Olympic, Grand Canyon, Arches and others!

National Parks Trivia: A Card Game: 400 Questions

Get to know America's 63 national parks with 390 wide-ranging trivia questions that cover their iconic geography, ecology, geology, history, wildlife, and botany—from the authors of Scenic Science of the National Parks.

Professor Noggin's Wildlife of North America Trivia Card Game

  • PLAY & LEARN: Professor Noggin’s series of educational card games encourages kids to learn interesting facts about their favorite subjects.
  • FUN FACTS: Journey through the Wildlife of North America discovering facts about our continent’s most interesting animals. From Polar Bears to Pronghorns, from Alligators to Bald Eagles, this game is perfect for young nature lovers.

Our National Treasures Matching Game USA National Parks Memory Game for Kids. Yosemite, Yellowstone, Arches, Denali and More

What you get – Our National Treasures Matching Card Game comes with 52 tiles (26 pairs) and instructions

Clear instructions – Easy to learn memory card game. Learn to play in less than five minutes!

Develops critical skills – card games for kids help preschoolers practice their focus, memory, & matching skills.

Trekking The National Parks -The Perfect Board Game for National Park Lovers

Wildly Popular National Parks Game - Winner Of The Mensa And Parent's Choice Award

Created By National Parks Enthusiasts - This couple traveled to every single national park and then worked with their son to make the game.

Fun + Educational - It’s the perfect recipe for a family game night! Appeals to a wide range of people: outdoor lovers, board game players, and gift givers. A great board games for kids!

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

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

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

Your kids will love these simple wind energy activities and this DIY anemometer. Also, look at Middle School Hands-on Science : Extreme Winds + Free Minibook and Free Weather Unit Study for Kids Who Love Hands-on Learning.

Simple wind energy experiments are super STEM projects for kids of all ages to learn about engineering, problem-solving, alternative forms of power, and so much more.

I have a diy anemometer tutorial for you using simple items you are likely to have around your house already.

Too, I have suggestions for other activities, books, and other resources to help make it a full and wonderfully educational study.

Before you begin you may want to start with a simple explanation of what is wind.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

What is wind? Wind is the movement of air that is caused by the uneven heating of the earth by the sun. You can see it or grasp it but you can’t feel it.

Sometimes the wind is violent ripping trees from the ground, sometimes it is gentle as it blows gentle breezes across your face on a hot summer day.  

Wind is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States.

We use its energy to sail boats, fly kites, and dry our clothes outside.

Also, we can capture its power and use it as a clean and renewable energy source for many things.

5 Simple Wind Energy Experiments

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

Also, you’ll want to include some fun resources and books.

Books about Wind Energy

Simple Wind Energy Experiments Books

Your children will learn about the power of wind and possible ways to harness it for work.

Wind (Weather)

This title provides a basic overview of wind and how it forms. Easy-to-read text, labeled photos, and a photo glossary make this title perfect for beginning readers.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Young Reader's Edition

Now a Netflix film starring and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, this is a gripping memoir of survival and perseverance about the heroic young inventor who brought electricity to his Malawian village.When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba's tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season's crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family's life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William's windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land.Retold for a younger audience, this exciting memoir shows how, even in a desperate situation, one boy's brilliant idea can light up the world. Complete with photographs, illustrations, and an epilogue that will bring readers up to date on William's story, this is the perfect edition to read and share with the whole family.

Wind: Discover Pictures and Facts About Wind For Kids! A Children's Weather Book

Wind Energy is an inexhaustible and clean source of energy which comes from the wind itself. It constantly replenishes itself and is perfectly usable as a natural source of power. It does not involve any water during its production and produces minimal pollution at the same time. Even after the installation of wind turbines, operating costs are very minimal. The fact that the wind blows all the time without stopping is another plus point of wind energy. Also, since it is naturally renewable, wind energy is eco-friendly.

Finding Out about Wind Energy (Searchlight Books ™ ― What Are Energy Sources?)

Did you know that the same wind that messes up your hair can be used to create energy? How exactly do you harness the wind? And what is the effect on the environment? Read this book to find out all about wind energy.

More Hands-on Activities to Learn About the Wind

Next, here are a few more wind activities.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

Also, you’ll love this middle school language arts unit The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

As your child reads, he will

  • go on rabbit trails of discovery into history, culture, geography, science, and more;
  • find ways to learn by experiencing parts of the book through hands-on activities;
  • end with a party school to celebrate the ingenuity of the one young boy!

Finally, look at this DIY anemometer so you can measure wind speed.

How to Make a Anemometer

You will need:

  • 6 small paper cups
  • 2 paper straws
  • 1 unsharpened pencil
  • Hole punch
  • Stick Pin
  • Hot glue gun/sticks
  • Small rocks, beans, or playdough (weights)
  • Fan
5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

First, punch 4 holes in your cup, 1 on each side.

And line them up as closely as you can with pairs across from each other.

We will run straws through them later.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

Depending on the size of your hole punch and straws used you need to make the hole larger by overlapping an extra punch or two.

Slip your straws through each direction and center them in the cup.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

Use a sharpened pencil or other pointed object to poke a hole in the bottom of the cup large enough for a pencil to fit in.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

Slip your pencil, eraser first, through the hole in the bottom of the cup.

Let it rest beneath the intersected straws.

Push your pin through both straws and into the eraser as far as you can.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

Now, you want to attach 4 cups to the 4 straw ends.

Be sure to place them all in the same direction.

Add a little hot glue to one side of the cup near the lip, hold it in place until the glue is set, and move on to the next one.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

Now put it in the base.

Hot glue the unsharpened end of your pencil into the bottom of the cup and hold until set.

Then add a weight like rocks, beans, or playdough to hold your anemometer down.

5 Simple Wind Energy Activities For Kids & Fun DIY Anemometer

You can take your anemometer outside and measure the wind’s speed by counting how many times it goes around in one minute.

If there is no wind, you can set it in front of a little fan indoors and count the rotations.

You can see in this video here that we experimented with different wind speeds by changing the fan speed.

As the cups catch the wind it makes your anemometer rotate.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

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I have a free life cycle of a mushroom worksheet and a fun edible meringue mushrooms activity. Also, you’ll love this Fun Hands-on Free Mushroom Unit Study and Kids Learning Activities.

Because the growth of mushrooms can be hard for students to understand, illustrating a mushroom life cycle is best.

For example, mushrooms are not plants because they don’t have chlorophyll and can’t use the sun for energy.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Too, mushrooms don’t have seeds.

Instead of seeds, mushrooms have spores which drop from their gills.

Mushrooms are a type of fungus. There are many kinds of fungi like molds and crusts.

And mycelium is similar to the roots of plants.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Grab a few fun activities below, share some of the fascinating facts, and enjoy nibbling on your own delicious meringue mushrooms to “cap” off your study.

Also, look at more mushroom facts.

5 Mushroom Facts

  1. Mushrooms produce Vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet light, but they don’t need the light to grow.
  2. Mushrooms grow in all 50 states, even Alaska.
  3. Fungi are the largest life form on earth, the mycelium grows underground for miles.
  4. Mushrooms are actually the fruit of a fungus; they are a product of the fungi growing underground and are a very small part of the plant.
  5. Some mushrooms glow in the dark, they have light-emitting compounds called luciferins that glow and attract insects.

Also, look at some of these mushroom resources and books.

Mushroom Unit Study Books

Grab some of these fun books to learn about mushrooms, the part of a mushroom and the life cycle.

Mushrooms: How to Identify and Gather Wild Mushrooms and Other Fungi

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. 

Back to the Roots Organic Mini Mushroom Grow Kit

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

Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World

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.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms (National Audubon Society Field Guides)

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.

The Mushroom Fan Club

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.

Botanicum: Welcome to the Museum

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.

Ridley's Funky Fungi

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.

Let's learn about mushrooms

Introduces the characteristics and uses of a variety of mushrooms and discusses some of the beliefs and customs connected with this plant family.

Katya's Book of Mushrooms

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!

Next, look at more hands-ion mushroom activities.

More Mushroom Activities

  • Color the mushroom with colored pencils or crayons, older children can fill out the blank one to label the anatomy.
Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms
  • Take a walk and see what mushrooms you can spot; they love dark damp pasture or woodland areas.
  • Nature Anatomy has several lovely, illustrated pages on mushrooms’ names, their lifecycle, and interesting facts about them.
Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms
  • Painting a watercolor of a favorite mushroom or one that you found in the wild is a great learning activity. Carry watercolors and paper on your next nature walk and see what you can discover and recreate through art.
Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet Meringue Mushroom Activity

You will need:

  • 3 large eggs
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Cinnamon or cocoa powder
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • Oreos-optional
Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

First, preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Line the baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Separate eggs, adding only the whites to a medium-sized mixing bowl.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Add in cream of tartar and mix on high until foamy and soft peaks have formed.

Incorporate sugar a little at a time until it is all mixed in.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Continue to whip on high for 4-5 minutes until the mixture becomes thick, and shiny, and forms stiff peaks.

This just means that when you lift the beater up or scoop it with a spoon it holds its shape well without dripping.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Add just a bit of cocoa powder or cinnamon and mix quickly to add a little color to your mushrooms.

Take a quart-sized sandwich bag and place it in a cup with the top rolled open over the sides.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Scoop the meringue mixture into the bag until about ⅗ of the way full and squeeze the mixture down into one corner.

How to Make a Fun Meringue Mushroom Activity

If you have and are familiar with using a piping bag you can just use your favorite bag and tip.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Snip off a small corner of the bag with scissors.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Hold above the filling and squeeze the mixture out the hole you cut into little round mushroom caps.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Then make some strips for the stalk. Don’t worry about making them perfect, they are natural and unique, and we are going to trim them a bit later.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Be sure you make an equal number of each, so you have a complete mushroom.

Wet your finger and smooth ridges and points on them.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and allow them to sit for another 30 minutes.

Remove and allow them to cool completely.

While waiting for them to cool you can crush some Oreos up in a bag with a rolling pin or toss them in your food processor to create a dirt bed for the mushrooms.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Sprinkle on your plate.

Dust the mushroom caps with cinnamon or cocoa powder for a little texture and color.

Cut one end of the mushroom stalk to leave a flat even surface to attach to the cap.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave until smooth.

Dip mushroom cap bottoms into the chocolate and press the stalk into them.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Pop in the fridge to harden for a few minutes.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

Add the mushrooms to the dirt and enjoy a tasty and educational snack while you learn about the fascinating life cycle and anatomy of this fungus.

How to Get the Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheets

Lastly, I have four mushroom notebooking pages or worksheet.

The first two pages are the mushroom life cycle. One page is labeled (or with the answers) and the other page is unlabeled.

And the second set of pages is the mushroom anatomy. The same for it too, one page is labeled (or with the answers) and the other page is unlabeled.

Free Life Cycle of a Mushroom Worksheet & Fun Meringue Mushrooms

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

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access to my subscribers library and this 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!

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.

Who Pooped in the Northwoods? - Scat and Tracks for Kids

Watch where you step! Sometimes the animals in the Northwoods are hard to find but you can almost always find their poop! Come along with Michael, Emily, and their family as they find poop (scat) and footprints (tracks) and discover which animal made them! An ideal tool for teaching young children about animal behavior, diet, and scat and tracks identification the perfect companion for in the car or in the field on your next trip to the Northwoods. Fun illustrations of the animals and their scat and tracks supplement the charming story, and a quick-reference chart at the back makes field identification a breeze!

Whose Poop Is That? (Whose Is THAT?)

Poop! Ewwww!No, don’t say “Ewwww.” Ask, “Whose poop is that?” This simple, and yes, charming book asks this question about seven examples of animal poop. By investigating visual clues, young readers can learn to identify the animal through its droppings. For instance, find a sample of poop with bits of bone and tufts of hair. Turn the page to learn it came from a fox!

Ecosystem - A Family Card Game about Animals, their Habitats, and Biodiversity

ECOLOGY BOARD GAME - Learn about ecology from a science game! Players build ecosystems of wild animals such as bears, foxes, and rabbits, in environments such as streams, forests, and meadows and are rewarded for sustainability and diversity! Our 2-6 player games will go great on a board game table in a classroom to teach students about the beauty of biological variety.

40 PCS Woodland Animals Figures Model Trees

  • 3 x deer, 1 x bear, 1 x squirrel, 6 x model cyan pine trees, 9 x model birches, 5 x model poplars, 2 x model white poplars, 3 x flower trees, 10 x aloe leaves.
  • 【Material】These model trees and flowers are made of plastic material, well workmanship, flexible and durable for using. Not suitable for children under 6 years old, please use them under the guidance of adults to prevent children accidental ingestion.

Tracks, Scats and Signs (Take Along Guides)

Become a nature detective with this illustrative, engaging and fun Take-Along-Guide. You may not know where to look, or what to look for, but animal signs are everywhere and this guide will help you learn how to read them. You'll learn how to spot and identify common clues that 17 wildlife species leave behind in the woods, in the fields and along ponds.

Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science)

Read and find out about how to track animals by finding footprints and other clues in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book.

Does a cat use her claws when she walks? How does a rabbit run? What does a skunk smell like? Find out the answers in Big Tracks, Little Tracks, a perfect first book for children with a budding interest in animals and nature.

This is a clear and appealing science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. It includes a find out more page with lots of hands-on activities.

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

20 Fun Home School Education Coloring Books to Pair With Unit Studies

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I have 20 fun home school education coloring books. You’ll also love my bird coloring pages here at Free Bird Journal – Hands-on Nature (Coloring & Identification Pages).

Did you know that August 2nd is National Coloring Book Day? And you can find a plethora of home school education coloring books to add to your studies.

It sounds like the perfect excuse to add to your collection or start a new one.

20 Fun Home School Education Coloring Books to Pair With Unit Studies

With that in mind, I came up with 20 great coloring books that go perfectly along with some of our favorite unit study topics.

While every activity doesn’t have to be a lesson.

 I do like to squeeze in some kind of learning out of everything even if it is just a refresher or reminder to keep some facts fresh in their heads.

These coloring books look fun and interesting in and of themselves and are great as just standalone.

I find coloring wonderful as a stress reliever, when was the last time you joined in on the coloring yourself?

Consider this a challenge for you to start coloring with the kids.

 Now from preschool through high school and for you here is a big list of great choices to match up with whatever topic you need.

6 Benefits of Coloring

Coloring is great for kids, a simple pleasure that has a lot of learning built into it like:

  1. Improving Motor Skills
  2. Stimulating their creativity
  3. Teaching color awareness and recognition.
  4. Improves focus and builds hand-eye coordination.
  5. Reducing stress and anxiety.
  6. Helping to improve handwriting.

Next, look at some of these other home school education coloring books.

More Coloring Books

Also, look at these other home school education coloring books to add to your day.

20 Fun Home School Education Coloring Books to Pair With Unit Studies

Finally, look at these 20 fun homeschool education coloring books.

20 Homeschool Education Coloring Books

I have 20 great coloring books that go perfectly along with some of our favorite unit study topics.

Animal Habitats Sticker + Coloring Book (500+ Stickers & 12 Scenes)

In this coloring book kids will get to creatively build their own animal habitat scene and see dolphins, whales, tigers, lions and more) in this kids activity book

The National Parks Coloring Book

Featuring 24 of the most popular and scenic parks in the US including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Zion, Olympic, Acadia and more. The National Parks Coloring Book is full of unique and educational images to color.These pictures will inspire all ages and skill levels to learn, explore and love the beautiful National Parks of the US!In this informative and educational coloring book, each park is represented with some of its distinguishing animals (big and small) along with plants and flowers and iconic sites.Detailed drawings of animals such as Grizzly Bear, White-Tailed Deer, American Bison, Mountain Lion, Gray Wolf, along with American Bullfrog, and Alpine Chipmunk (to name a few!). Wildflowers or plants commonly seen at the park are included along with a color key for reference.

Coloring Book south america Animals: 20 realistic pictures + 60 unique facts about animals (Animal Planet)

Do you love wild Animals, beautiful South America and Coloring - then this coloring book is for you. This book is for kids and adults.

In this Coloring Book you will find:

  • 20 original realistic full-page images of wild animals of South America on single-sided sheets to prevent bleed-through
  • 60 interesting unusual facts about the animals
  • images contain big and small details so that you can vary the pressure of the hand and alternate simple relaxing filling of wide spaces with intricate focused coloring of little parts of the picture

Space Coloring Book for Kids (Children's Coloring Books)

Explore Outer Space with This Fun Coloring Book for Kids Planets, Astronauts, Spaceships, Aliens, Meteors, and More!

Space coloring book for boys, girls, and kids who love outer space. Featuring full-page drawings of planets, astronauts, spaceships, aliens, meteors, rockets, sun, moon, stars. Provides hours of fun and creativity. Includes bonus pages.

Little House Coloring Book: Coloring Book for Adults and Kids to Share

A beautifully designed coloring book featuring classic artwork by Garth Williams and quotes from all nine original Little House books. Perfect for at-home creative time—return to the world of Little House with your kids...or enjoy on your own!

Join Laura Ingalls, her Ma and Pa, and her sisters, Mary, Carrie, and Grace, on their travels across the frontier as you color in your favorite pioneer characters and scenes and revisit this beloved series.

Sea Turtle Coloring Book: Turtle Gift For Turtle Lovers

This Coloring Book is a lovely tool to express your creativity and embody your colorful ideas.

30 pages to color With custom sized pages (8,5" x 11") and soft cover this book is perfect for keeping it at hand wherever you go. With it's artful cover page this coloring book will always brighten up your life and be an eye-catcher for everyone else.

COLOR YOUR WAY THROUGH THE WORLD: An Educational Coloring Book: Make homeschooling fun with this World Map Coloring Book for Children!

The "World Map Coloring and Activity Book for Children" is an engaging educational resource designed to make homeschooling fun and exciting for kids. This geography book is perfect for young learners who want to explore and discover the different regions of our planet.The book features detailed maps of continents, countries, and states that are easy to follow and understand. Each map includes clear outlines, labels, and fun facts that children can learn while coloring.

Big Book of the Old West to Color (Dover American History Coloring Books)

A big book of coloring fun, packed with cowboys, desperados, prospectors, and pioneers!Saddle up and take a trip back to the days of the Wild West with this giant coloring book. Packed with captivating details of frontier life, it features 118 full-page illustrations of dramatic historical events — building the railroad, crossing the prairie, battling outlaws — plus portraits of explorers, bandits, lawmen, and other real-life characters from an adventurous era.Scenes from pioneer life include a wagon train fending off an Indian attack, workmen erecting the first transcontinental telegraph lines, and prospectors trying their luck amid the Rockies. From Belle Starr and Billy the Kid to Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok, a colorful gallery of famous faces includes personalities on both sides of the law. Richly detailed, authentic depictions of cowboy life chronicle the exhausting and exhilarating business of bull riding, roping, branding, and trail driving. Each illustration appears with an informative caption.

United States Coloring Book (Dover American History Coloring Books)

Fact-filled coloring book about the Fifty States of America, identifies state capitals, mottos, principal rivers and mountains, flowers, birds, trees, nicknames, and more!Which state — known as the "Golden State" — has trees that grow up to 300 feet high? Which East Coast state contains a re-creation of an authentic nineteenth-century sailing village? And which state leads all others in growing oranges? You'll find the answers to these questions and many others in this exciting coloring book spotlighting geography and more in each of the 50 states.Information accompanying each ready-to-color illustration identifies the state's motto, flower, bird, tree, capital, and principal rivers and mountains. In addition, accurate outline drawings of each state include an inset of the state's location on a full map of the United States. Brimming with information, this entertaining and educational coloring book is an ideal learning aid that youngsters will love using at home or in the classroom.

  • Learn to identify and locate all 50 of the United States.
  • States appear in alphabetical order, one each to a page.
  • Each page includes a picture of the state and a thumbnail image of the United States showing its position.
  • Fun-to-color illustrations help elementary school kids and children ages 3–8 build their motor and recognition skills.

Human Anatomy Coloring Book: an Entertaining and Instructive Guide to the Human Body

The Human Anatomy Coloring Book is an affordable anatomy class. This easy learning study aid contains careful, scientifically accurate line renderings of the body's organs and major systems: skeletal, muscular, circulatory, respiratory, nervous, digestive, urinary, reproductive, endocrine, lymphatic, and skin. Hundreds of specialized organs, bones, muscles, nerve fibers, blood vessels, and other anatomical features can be absorbed and understood by means of an ingenious format: a coloring book that can help mature children and adult colorists learn anatomy. It is an excellent educational tool for EMT, medical and nursing students, homeschoolers, biology teachers for classroom learning, and anyone interested in studies of the human body and its anatomy.

National Geographic Magnificent Ocean: A Coloring Book

Intricate and soothing, this elegant coloring book for adults invites creative people of all ages to dive into the colorful world of oceans, using the power of their own imaginations. With 50 intricate black and white illustrations, printed on perforated pages that will render them collectible, users will color and embellish the scales of an ocean triggerfish, intricate anemone, and the diamond pattern of sea turtles' shells. Armed with artist's tools, they will enhance the beauty of coral reefs and explore the majesty of the ocean's floors. Fans of National Geographic and newcomers to the coloring world alike will welcome this creative and relaxing journey into our natural world.

Butterfly & flowers coloring book for adult large print designs: 50 Unique Designs for Relaxation & Stress Relief (Birds, Butterflies and Flowers ... books for adults and kids

This coloring book is filled with 50 different flowers and butterflies designs to color. Grab your colored pencils, sit back, relax and relieve stress with the wonderful hobby of coloring.What you will find inside the book:

  • 50 unique coloring pages to color
  • Each page is printed on one side to avoid color bleed-through
  • Large print to reduce eye strain
  • Large size (8.5x11 in)
  • A great gift idea for kids on all occasions

Wonderful World of Horses Coloring Book (Dover Animal Coloring Books)

Artist John Green skillfully portrays the legendary grace and beauty of this animal in a collection of 30 illustrations. For more than 20 years, John Green has created popular Dover coloring books. He specializes in realistic drawings of people, animals, and places.Handsome equines — from Clydesdales to show horses — are depicted in the wild and at work.Horses take hold of our imaginations when they gallop across the plains whinnying into the wind. But most of all, horses capture our hearts. And it's said they've done more to change human history than any other domestic animal. Brief captions supplement an impressive panorama of one of the world's best-loved and most highly prized animals.

  • Dramatic portraits of horses galloping, racing across fields
  • Illustration of Dressage, a form of horse riding.
  • Horse jockey and show jumping.
  • Scenes in the Canadian Rockies and Desert.
  • Trotting, galloping, working the land and more.

ABC Coloring Book: Color 100+ Animals, Birds, Vehicles, Fruits, Toys & Alphabets

Join everyone's favorite learning pals Lucas & friends as they teach your children the alphabet, one activity page at a time! Coloring books are a great way for children to learn. Not only will your kids have fun, but they'll engage with new lessons and get an education while playing! What's in this Kids Coloring Book:▪️ 100+ coloring pages for toddlers▪️ Large coloring area and thick lines▪️ Fun and child-friendly pictures to color▪️ Single sided designs with a variety of pictures▪️ Jumbo coloring pages for kids▪️ Earn certificates in the back of the book

Life in Ancient Egypt Coloring Book (Dover Ancient History Coloring Books)

Magnificent pyramids, the silent Sphinx, gigantic temples of stone, a land and people shrouded by the mists of time. Here's a subject that promises to captivate coloring book enthusiasts and anyone intrigued by the life and customs of ancient Egypt. Forty-four authentically detailed drawings by artist John Green recall the glory of a magnificent civilization — from the beginning of the dynasties (ca. 300 B.C.), through the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms (ca. 2700–2010 B.C.), to the rule of the Ptolemies and the Roman conquest (30 B.C.) Included are expertly drawn and well-researched full-page illustrations of Cleopatra, Ramses II, the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his beautiful wife, Nefertiti, as well as scenes depicting many aspects of Egyptian life — construction of the six-story step pyramid at Sakkara, fishing and farming along the Nile, the Sphinx and pyramids at Giza, goldsmiths and metalworkers creating elegant works of art, and more.

Bug Book for Kids: Coloring Fun and Awesome Facts

Color and learn awesome facts about 25 cool backyard bugs—plus bonus trading cards!Meet 25 weird and wonderful backyard bugs! This learn-through-coloring book provides kids with hours of coloring fun and teaches them exciting facts about these creepy-crawly creatures at the same time.Did you know that centipedes can regrow legs they've lost to predators? That ladybugs can have up to 20 spots, stripes, or no markings at all? Or that houseflies taste with their feet? Here's what these bugs look like, how they protect themselves, how they crawl and jump and fly, and so much more. Children will have fun coloring the bugs, learning about them (including the difference between bugs and insects), and becoming backyard bug experts.

Medicinal Plants Coloring Book (Dover Nature Coloring Book)

For centuries plants have been used to assuage or cure a wide variety of human ills. Even such familiar “weeds” as the dandelion have their palliative uses. This informative coloring book, featuring 44 accurate drawings by botanical illustrator Ilil Arbel, focuses on such medicinal plants from around the world as foxglove, belladonna, mayapple, valerian, dandelion, chamomile, quinine, arnica, burdock, tamarind, lobelia, and many more.Each illustration is accompanied by an informative caption outlining the plant's coloration and physical characteristics, geographic distribution, and medicinal uses. Invaluable as an identification guide and pictorial reference, this volume will appeal to colorists of all ages as well as to artists and crafters in need of royalty-free plant illustrations.

Mayans Aztecs Incas Coloring Book: Coloring Pages of Ancient Mexico Civilizations for Adults and Teens

Mayans Aztecs Incas Coloring Book – Fun And Education For Adults and TeensMake the perfect gift for anyone who loves coloring! Enjoy this Mayans Aztecs Incas Coloring Book for Adults and Teens. Click the cover to reveal what’s inside!About this book:

  • 40 original pages drawings of Symbols, Warriors, Masks and Mandalas.
  • Printed on high quality solid white paper.
  • Easily color with crayons, colored pencils or colored pens,
  • Beautiful designs appropriate for adults and teens,

The Coolest Military Technology: Fun & Facts Coloring Book - Full page original illustrations and over 125 cool facts!

This book, part of the We Can Color—Fun & Facts coloring books series, will provide long hours of fun and learning about the armies of the world, from ancient history to the latest developments, while coloring beautiful illustrations of mind-boggling military vehicles and weapons such as tanks, planes, warships, amphibious vehicles, transport helicopters, aircraft carriers, special forces vehicles, cannons, nuclear missiles, destroyers, robots, bombers, artillery, submarines and many more!

Medieval Coloring Book - 40 Pages from the Middle Ages: Lose Yourself in a Historic Time of Knights, Castles, and Feudal Village Life

Immerse yourself in the captivating world of the Middle Ages with the Medieval Coloring Book. Unleash your creativity as you bring to life enchanting illustrations that transport you to a time of castles, knights, and noble quests. Within these pages, you'll encounter chivalrous knights on horseback, weapons, coat of arms, frightening gargoyles, majestic fortresses, humble cottages, ornate tapestries, and illuminated manuscripts. The Medieval Coloring Book invites you to embark on a vivid journey through time, where history, art, and imagination intertwine. Release your inner artist and create a vibrant tapestry of colors that breathe life into 40 captivating scenes.