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.
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.
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.
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.
MORE HANDS ON ACTIVITIES CHICKEN UNIT STUDY
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
These LEGO Chickens are a fun and easy add on for little ones joining in the fun.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Trace the egg shape onto white felt and cut it out slightly smaller, leaving a very thin border for the shell.
Cut a small notch out of the bottom like this for the air sac.
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.
Twist the white yarn from the top to the bottom of the eggshell and glue the yolk over top of it.
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.
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.
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!
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