Homeschool: Rainforest & the Zoo

Kyrie's folder was a look at the layers of the rain forest, which she spent time studying during this unit. 

The summer is speeding by and I am just finding time to post about this unit though now it seems so very long ago. Though sometimes our summer units take a bit more time to get through because we are taking time out to have playdates with our friends or do fun things like VBS or day camps. In fact, this unit happened so long ago, that it synced up perfectly with our African safari trek that was part of our Camp Kilimanjaro VBS experience. 

Degen's unit folder.

This unit is always a fun one because we learn about the jungle/rainforest habitat and all the animals that live there. We also talk about the animals that we might find in the zoo. There are a lot of fun and easy "extras" for this unit like stickers and puzzles and activity books. The local dollar store is a great place to find these extras that keep the kids motivated and having fun. 

A craft that Kyrie made during VBS. 

Extra activities

We had quite a few books to explore this unit. I use this unit to cover animals in general, and it gives the kids a chance to share what they already know from some of our past units. 

Kyrie working on an elephant mosaic.

The kids are always excited for a cooking project, so this unit, I decided that we would make some monkey cookies. The kids helped measure & mix ingredients for sugar cookies. Then we cut out out circles (big & small) to make monkey faces. I frosted the cookies with chocolate icing, and the kids helped add the decorations to make the faces. These were easy to put together and yum!

Some of our zoo/jungle snacks. Whenever I can find a way to tie our experiences back to what we are learning, I do.