Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

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life science

Easy Hands-on Science: Animal Camouflage Activity Hunt

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As we’ve been using the Coping With the Cold unit study from NaturExplorers, we’ve been learning so much about how animals adapt to colder temperatures. And, boy, have we had some cold temperatures around here lately!

While animals may choose to migrate (leave a cold climate for a warmer one) or hibernate (sleep during the cold weather), many of them also take advantage of camouflage to keep themselves safe from predators during winter. After all, many predators need to fatten up for winter too!

So when the NaturExplorers unit suggested an outdoor animal camouflage activity hunt, we were excited to try it in our own backyard!

Of course, the best thing in getting out of doors would be to actually find camouflaged animals. But, if your kids can’t, this is a fun animal hunt to do in your backyard.

We've been learning so much about how animals adapt to colder temperatures. But if you don’t spot any animals, this easy activity works too in your backyard. Click here for a fun nature activity on animal camouflage.

Animal Camouflage Activity Hunt

To do this activity, you’ll need the following:

  • Colored construction paper (We used the closest natural colors we had: green and brown)
  • Child-safe scissors
Animal Camouflage Hunt Supplies

You can use an online template to make your animals, but I just drew a few freehanded.

Drawing Camouflage Animals

We went with a snake, a bird, and a bear – all animals that make use of camouflage. Birds that live in the Arctic, in particular, tend to be white or light grey to blend in with snowy surroundings. Since we don’t get snow during the winter, we used colors that would fit in with our area.

Making Camouflage Animals

Easy Nature Activity

Once I drew the animals, we cut them all out. And then it was time to head outside!

Camouflage Animals Activity

We placed our snake in the grass. Which was a good time to talk about the meaning of the phrase “a snake in the grass” – someone who lies in wait to take advantage of someone else.

Spotting Camouflaged Animals Nature Activity

After a few minutes of searching, our kids spotted the snake. At least he looks like a friendly one!

Animal Camouflage Nature Study Activity

Take a good look at this picture. Our other two camouflaged animals are hiding among the leaves. These took the kids a while to find.

And, if I’m being totally honest, once I hid them, I had a hard time finding them again too!

Looking for Camouflaged Animals Nature Activity

They finally spotted the brown bird.

Spotting Camouflaged Animals Outdoor Activity

And there’s our friendly bear!

Bears typically find caves to hibernate, since they’re large enough for cubs and food supplies. But for this activity, we decided to have bears hide in the backyard!

More Animal Camouflage Activities

This was such a fun activity for the kids! It gave them a chance to get outdoors, learn more about animals, and play a fun game of hide-and-seek! You could easily adapt this with other animals such as rabbits, raccoons, and insects.

We've been learning so much about how animals adapt to colder temperatures. But if you don’t spot any animals, this easy activity works too in your backyard. Click here for a fun nature activity on animal camouflage.

Just be sure to change up the colors to match the colors in your area! So if you do have snow during the winter, use a white color for your animals. See which animals your kids can spot the quickest!

Share these other hands-on science activities with your family!

How to Make Easy DIY Bird Feeders With Kids

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We’re making easy diy bird feeders today. Also, look at my post Free Bird Unit Study and Lapbook And Fun Edible Bird Nests.

We have been enjoying the Coping With the Cold unit study so much!

It’s such a fun and relaxed winter unit and it encourages us to get outside, even when the weather isn’t great.

Since I tend to stay indoors and under the covers during winter, this has been an excellent motivation to get up and outside during cold weather!

In the unit study, we learn more about how animals, including birds, adapt to cold weather.

And, of course, one of the primary adaptations birds make is to migrate to warmer climates.

How to Make Easy DIY Bird Feeders With Kids

As they travel, though, they are always searching for sources of food.

One of the suggested activities in NaturExplorers is to make a DIY bird feeder. So that’s what we did!

NaturExplorers: Making Easy DIY Bird Feeders

Since we like to include the scientific method in our nature study, we decided to make two different bird feeders and evaluate which one is the most popular with our local feathered friends.

We went with one sweet-tasting feeder and one with a more savory taste: a peanut butter birdseed feeder and a sweetened fruit cereal feeder.

I got the idea for the peanut butter birdseed bird feeder.

And I got an idea for a fruit cereal bird feeder.

Both are really, really easy, so they’re perfect for little ones to make!

Making a DIY Bird Feeder

You only need a few supplies to make the peanut butter birdseed feeder.

Constructing a Birdseed Feeder with Kids

Once you’ve finished constructing it, all you have to do is hang it up!

Simple DIY Birdseed Feeder

It doesn’t get unusually cold where we live, but we do see flocks of birds migrating in the skies from time to time.

Hanging a Birdseed Feeder with Kids

So it’ll be interesting to see if the birds that are still here will like this food.

Easy Hanging Birdseed Feeder for Kids to Make

Ta-da!

Building a Froot Loop Bird Feeder

The fruit cereal bird feeder is a wonderful fine motor skill strengthener for kids. Plus, they can always snack on a few as they work!

Crafting a Cereal Bird Feeder

Once all the cereal pieces have been added, just twist the ends to close the circle.

Hanging a Cereal Bird Feeder

Then you can hang that one up too!

Easy Fruit Cereal DIY Bird Feeder

It looks so lovely against the green leaves.

Comparing DIY Bird Feeders

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to watch to see which bird feeder is more popular with the birds in our area.

I think that the sweet cereal feeder is going to empty faster than the birdseed feeder, but we’ll see!

This was such a nice way to include hands-on activities in our nature study using NaturExplorers.

Making easy DIY Bird Feeders is a fun winter nature craft to do with the kids. Add this easy hands-on nature craft to your homeschool unit study. Click here to see how to make it!

Want to see more fun hands-on science ideas to try with the kids? Stop by to see these posts!

Hands-On Science: Label the Skeleton System Activity

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Today, I have a labeled human skeleton activity.

My son’s good friend broke his arm over the summer. The boys talked all about how it happened, signed the cast, and appreciated the color he chose.

When we were driving home, I asked them which bone he had broken in his forearm. Both of them looked at me like I had two heads.

Although we had briefly covered anatomy in their science curriculum a year ago, neither really remembered much about the skeletal system.

I understood – the learning was a bit dry.

Hands-On Science: Label the Skeleton System Activity

I decided then and there to come up with a hands-on way to understand and learn about the human skeleton.

I wanted something that would stick, and would make sense for my active, potentially bone breaking themselves, boys.

Labeled Human Skeleton Activity

For this activity, you’ll need:

  • Two paper skeletons with mobile extremities, per child
  • One piece of white construction paper or poster board
  • Glue
  • A marker
  • A ruler
  • The Human Skeleton Printable (downloadable cheat sheet)
  • Bonus Activity – Any large decorative skeletons/bones you may have in your garage or choose to buy when available in stores
Using a Paper Skeleton

The key to this project is a paper skeleton that can be easily manipulated and held. While it is possible to make them, the good news is that pre-made paper skeletons are not hard to come by.

Depending on the time of year, you can find decorative skeletons at the Dollar Store.

There are also several, inexpensive options that work well for hands-on learning available year round, online.

Hands-On Skeleton Activity

To begin this activity, glue one of the paper skeletons to the poster board. Using the ruler, draw lines indicating the the bones you wish to introduce.

For my boys, I started with the basics.

We all sat around the poster board and named different bones.

Then, we took turns writing the names of the individual bones on the lines, using this printable as a cheat sheet.

When our reference board was complete, we were then able to use it over the course of the week for more hands-on practice and understanding.

Labeling a Skeleton

I quizzed them on the different bones while they used the paper skeleton that had not been glued down.

Because they were able to hold and move the skeleton around, they were easily able to apply what they’d learned.

Here are all the project steps in order:

  • Step 1: Glue skeleton to poster board
  • Step 2: Draw lines to bones and label them
  • Step 3: Check for understanding and learning using additional, free moving, paper skeletons.
  • Step:4 Name more and more bones as your child becomes more and more proficient.
Comparing Skeleton Bones

As a bonus activity, we practiced naming the different parts of the skeletal system on our full skeleton (named Boney by my youngest.

We also used a “bag of bones” set, and placed the larger bones alongside our reference poster.

If you have a hands-on learner, he'll love learning about the skeleton system with this fun hands-on science activity. Scoot by and see how to do it @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Overall, these hands-on exercises helped solidify my sons’ understanding of the skeletal system and their own bodies.

Now that they know the basics, we will continue to add more bones to our poster. Our goal is to identify all 206 by the end of the year.

Written by Shawna of Not the Former Things.

More hands-on ways to teach kids about the human body

5 Simple Ways to Enhance a Homeschool Unit Study

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

Unit studies can be intimidating. The same things that make unit studies captivating can be the same things that make them tough to teach. Sharing 5 simple ways to enhance a homeschool unit study, I’m hoping that you won’t be afraid to take the plunge and try a unit study or two.

Unit studies can be intimidating. The same things that make unit studies captivating can be the same things that make them tough to teach. Sharing 5 simple ways to enhance a homeschool unit study, I'm hoping that you won't be afraid to take the plunge and try a unit study or two.

Do You Struggle with Homeschool Unit Studies?

One/ Always include a simple hands-on activity or two.

I use to be very judgmental and critical of homeschoolers (I know, doesn’t sound like me at all does it) who did a lot of hands-on activities until I started actually teaching.

What I learned along the way was that activities don’t have to be expensive or time-consuming to have a wow factor.

What is more important is that hands-on learning brings your topic alive and those are the teaching points your kids remember for life.

I’ve tried to do simple things through my many years of homeschooling.

Two/  Include living books.

Sometimes you can pull information from a textbook.

I’ve done it several times because that is what I had on hand and there was no need to purchase something else.

Look at how I did that at From Textbook to Homeschool Unit Study Starter.

However, if you’re wanting the best ways to enhance a unit study, living books beat the boring blahs when it comes to introducing or learning a unit study.

We love using the books by Beautiful Feet, but we also love using reference books.

Though some can be dry, we find they still have a story like appeal which is the hallmark of living books.

Look at my tips at my post Day 3. Selecting Superior Sub-Topics. 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies By Creating A Unit Study Together.

Are Your Unit Studies Boring Your Kids to Sleep?

Three/ Use movies as part of your unit study or as a kick starter.

Many times, I’ve used a documentary, musical, or movie to kick off a unit study. It adds flavor to a time period especially if it’s a history related topic.

Not all kids have good imaginations for a past time period. A movie has a way of adding facts about a time period without a child having to slave over period details.

Look at my post Homeschool History Teaching Ancient Civilizations Using Netflix.

Four/ Include just one or two other homeschool families.

You don’t have to join a co-op if you want to cover topics specifically geared toward your kids.

By homeschooling with another family, you still add the element of fun that is found in a co-op, share the lesson planning with another homeschool mom but still control what you want to teach.

Plus, it was great to see my kids interact with another homeschool educator. We did a study about the Vikings with another family and between the two of us, we had so many ideas for our kids.

Some of our best times were by including another homeschool family or two.

Five/ One of the best ways is to focus on one subtopic within your unit study or enhance it with a focused subtopic.

A huge mistake in unit studies is covering way too much material.

But too another point is not being able to hone in one of the subtopics in a unit study.

Whether you purchase a unit study or find one that is free, a problem has always been that you’re not able to cover a subtopic deeply within a theme which interests your kids.

Today, I’m over the top excited to announce a new series which will be in my shop and that is Unit Study Enhancers.

What exactly are they? Well they are printables (minibooks and/or notebooking pages) to use for those times when you can’t find a unit study which hones in specifically on a subtopic that you want to cover.

My unit study enhancers will enhance your teaching points.

It’s meant to bring up close a subtopic or topic that you want to highlight within a theme.

Add them to a notebook, lapbook, use with a workbook or include them as a subtopic in a free or purchased unit study because the printables are not a complete unit study, but enhance one.

Too, by giving you options within the product download, they are designed to relieve teacher prep time and to use with multiple ages of children. For instance, some downloads have simple researched printed material to glue onto pages. This allows you to move forward teaching when your time is limited.

Or, you can have your student research his own information and write it in. Where possible, I give one link or more for reference while using the printables.

Unless a topic is specifically geared toward young learners, quality photos and not babyish images are chosen so that older learners can be engaged.

Color and the highest quality graphics I can find are used to diminish the blah of boring printables.

My first Unit Study Enhancer focuses on one of my biggest free unit studies here on my blog and that is The Amazon Rain Forest. The Unit Study Enhancer is about the temperate rain forest. You can read more about it here at my shop.

But you can download it today for only $2.25.

Also, look at my tips at my series 10 Days of Diving Into Unit Studies by Creating a Unit Study Together.

Hugs and love ya,

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


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How to Shake Up STEAM With Geography For Middle School

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

Science intimidates me, but I’ve always managed to teach it through one of my other strengths. I had a chance to shake up STEAM with geography. I used a country crate about Poland and used it to teach STEAM with geography, history and hands-on activities as a unit study. I love pick up and go resources that have everything in a crate that makes teaching STEAM and geography easy. Click here to read about it and grab it!

I stalked the mailbox waiting for this country crate. For review purposes, I was given this product for free and I was paid for my time. However, paid for my time does not mean paid off. All opinions are my own and I will always tell you what is on my mind. Not every product gets a positive review. But because I carefully sort through numerous offers for reviews, it usually means that I’m giddy about the product when I do accept it. Read my full disclosure here.

Science intimidates me, but I’ve always managed to teach it through one of my other strengths. So when I had a chance to shake up STEAM with geography by receiving a country crate about Poland from STEAMworld, I jumped at the chance. I can’t wait to tell you about the country crate, tell you what you get in one, and how I used it.

First, though, I don’t want you to miss both the sweet discount and giveaway at the bottom. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway and use the discount code.

After reading recently that STEAM jobs are on the increase, I’ve been looking for easy ways to incorporate science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics in my unit studies, but that takes a lot of time.

Too, nothing takes the steam (corny pun – I couldn’t resist) more out of a hands-on project then missing items to do them with.

Knowing that the crate comes with everything that we need in it to learn about Poland is a huge time savings tip.

Right now 3 countries are available: Poland, Japan, and Morocco with more coming!

(Confession – the paper and template for the rooster are missing in the picture because Tiny couldn’t wait to get started.)

Look at what you get in each crate:

  • materials for a math project,
  • materials for a science project,
  • materials for an art project,
  • materials for an engineering project,
  • one student activity book, which includes instructions for all STEAM projects, and
  • one country scrapbook style guide, which includes back ground information, fast facts and landmarks about a country.

What you do not get in a crate are items you normally would have in your homeschool room like rulers, pens, pencils, scissors and glue.

One of the things I like most about the crate and ideas for each subject is that they were uncomplicated and not lengthy.

It has just the right amount of laid out activities without telling you what to do each day.

If you’re new to unit studies, you may want a unit study that is more comprehensive, but that can also be overwhelming.

Right now in this season of my homeschooling, I want the freedom and wiggle room to learn at our pace without day to day lesson plans.

For example, for the first week and half or so we worked on the art project.

Look at my post Polish Paper-Cutting (Wycinanki): Day 10 Hands-on Learning.

The student activity book, or guide, has one or two pages of explanation with a hands-on project.

After reading the art activity, we took our time working on the art project. After learning about the beautiful art of polish paper cutting, we researched art patterns as well as read about the history of Poland.

In addition to the 8-page student activity book, the 4-page scrapbook style country guide has background information and quick facts about Poland.

Then, we took another couple of weeks watching a few YouTube videos and reading books from the library.

Both guides are springboards if you want to research and read longer about a topic like we did.

What I also like is that each project your child can work on independently. While I love teaching my kids at the middle school and high school level, I know it’s important to choose resources that support a child’s natural desire to learn independently.

Having each day’s lesson plans laid out is not exactly the way to do that.

Instead, giving your child guidance, some background information, and bringing the information together under a geography topic gives a middle school or high school student a beginning point.

Having an idea for each subject in a geography unit study also keeps your geography study balanced. Following a unit study approach means that you normally want some starting point for subjects about a topic and it means to introduce it in a balanced way.

I know I’ve been guilty of being unbalanced while covering unit study. While there is nothing wrong with digging deep on a topic you and your kids are excited about, a few subjects could be overlooked.

Using STEAMworld, gave us not only ideas to cover more in-depth, but hands-on projects for each subject.

I’ve confessed that when the boys were little that I took a hands-off approach to teaching because it either intimidated me or sounded like a lot of work for maybe a little return.

After homeschooling longer, you learn that kids retain information better when they are engaged and through hands-on projects. However, the next mistake in learning how to teach unit studies is that you can complicate hands-on projects. It’s almost enough to make you quit unit studies.

That is another reason I’m tickled to use the the country crates. Simple, but meaningful projects while learning about Poland keeps unit studies from being either boring or overly complicated.

However, the best reason I love STEAMworld is the focus on STEAM.

When it comes to geography and history it’s our first love; I can easily add in more content. But my boys have always loved science and want more ideas when we are doing unit studies.

STEAMworld may be a good fit for your family:

►If you love STEAM and want to include a framework for geography and history with it.
►If you love STEAM and want to fold it into your unit studies.
►If you want all the important supplies for hands-on projects at your finger tips and not have to worry about gathering all of them.
►If you love in-depth geography and history and prefer to add it yourself while having ideas for STEAM.
►If you prefer to have a beginning point and an easy hands-on idea for each subject in STEAM.
►If you want to encourage your kids to work more independently in unit studies, the guides are not bulky, but helpful and simple.
►If you prefer to do your own in-depth planning and don’t need to be told what to do day to day.
►If you don’t want to come up with a hands-on idea for Science,Technology, Engineering, Art or Math. An idea is provided for each subject tied to the country you’re studying.
►If you have multiple ages of children and want them to work together on a topic, but not necessarily on the same lesson. There is enough wiggle room in the guides to allow each child to work on a sub-topic that may interest each one.

I think you’ll love these country crates and I can’t wait to see the other country crates that are released.

What I love too is when a company is generous and hosts a sweet giveaway in addition to giving you a discount.

Be sure to enter the giveaway because there will be two winners and you have several chances to win. You never know; you may win. Don’t forget to use the coupon, as well as to share with your friends.

Hope you win!

How to purchase it.

►Product Name: STEAMworld Country Crates. Includes everything needed to do the activities. Materials included for science, math, art and engineering. Basic homeschool supplies like scissors, glue, tape and pencils are not included in the country crate. There is a duo option for extra material to include siblings.
►Website: STEAMworld Learning.
►Suitable for grades: 4th to 8th, but so it’s  so flexible to include all of your children.
►Format: A physical product that will be shipped to you.
►Cost: $39.95. Remember to use the code: steam2017 for a discount.

You may also love reading 5 BEST Books to Create an Around the World Unit Study (and Hands-on Activities), Geoscavenge – A Rock and Mineral Hunt: Day 6 Hands-on Learning and 11 AWESOME Ways to Learn Geography (Other Than Labeling a Map).

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.