If you wake up early in the morning and one of the first things you do is head outside to count chickens, gather eggs, and let them all out to wander, you and your children are going to really enjoy our brand new chicken preschool theme.
This is a fun way to include some academic learning through the summer. Maybe you have chickens at your place. Or maybe you can take a field trip to a nearby farm. Then use these resources to re-enforce learning and practice math and language skills.
Maybe all you or your children have ever done is pet chickens at the local petting zoo. Or maybe you're all dreaming of the day you can have your own flock. In any case, you'll love this. In the schedule below, I've provided enough material for two weeks of chicken fun.
How to Use This Chicken Unit Study
On each day, you will find a suggested book to read, something to make, and an activity. I also recommend that you do a few pages of seatwork each day. I've provided two different chicken workbooks for you to choose from.
If you don't want to spend two weeks on the same topic, you could combine days, or just pick and choose enough days to fill one week. There is no right or wrong way to approach this.
And if you love learning with nature themes as much as we do, we have an amazing white-tailed deer theme, a polar bear unit study, or a woodland animals theme you can dive into next!
Have extra fun when you get these super cute little chicken plastic animals for your child.
Why a Chicken Study for Kids?
Last summer we started our first chicken flock at our off grid homestead. The girls, who were nine and six at the time, were fascinated by the 20 Western Rustic chicks that arrived in April.
We ended up getting another 16 chickens before the summer was over! And that's chicken math - a topic for another post.
Learning to care for chicks as part of our homeschooling and homesteading lifestyle has been a great science lesson for the girls. Before the chicks arrived, they took Outschool classes to prepare.
If you're considering getting chickens to secure your food supply or get started homesteading, I highly recommend signing your children up for an Outschool class.
This online platform offers all sorts of classes for kids. And right now there are a TON of classes about raising chickens. Try these chicken classes for kids to start:
Hatching Real Chickens: A Comprehensive Study of Chicken Life Cycle (ages 4 - 6)
Hatching Real Chickens: A Comprehensive Study of Chicken Life Cycle (ages 7 - 9)
Backyard Chicken Club (ages 9 - 12)
Want to save on your first Outschool class? Sign up through MY LINK right here (it's my affiliate link) to get $20 back on your first class. As I recall, the chicken class was less than $20, so your child could end up trying it for free!
Chicken Preschool Theme Week One
And now, onto the chicken unit study for preschoolers! Note, I used this with my daughter who is seven and she really enjoyed it although I thought it would be better for younger kids.
To round it out and use it with your older students, add in an Outschool class and grab the big list of 21 free chicken resources for kids at the link down at the bottom of this post.
Day One
Read: Little Chick by Amy Hest
Make: Fold Your Own Corner Chicken Bookmarks from Red Ted Art.
Do: Play with a Feeding Chickens Sensory Bin from TotSchool.
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Two
Read: Chicken in Space by Adam Lehrhaupt
Make: Paper Chicken Craft from Messy Little Monsters
Do: Chicken Sound Experiment from Kid Spot.
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Three
Read: Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman
Make: Fluffy Chicken Craft from Simple Everyday Mom.
Do: Watch this video of Chickens Hatching from The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Four
Read: Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman
Make: Spring Chick Craft from Daisies and Pie Co.
Do: Have an Egg Drop Challenge from I Game Mom.
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Five
Read: Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett
Make: Potato Masher Chicken Painting from Happy Toddler Playtime.
Do: Demonstrate Osmosis with a Chicken Egg from Steamsational.
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Chicken Preschool Theme Week Two
Day Six
Read: My Dog's a Chicken by Susan McElroy Montanari
Make: Adorable Chick Finger Puppets from I Heart Crafty Things.
Do: Chicken Play Dough Tray Invitation to Play from Finding Myself Young
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Seven
Read: Bear and Chicken by Jannie Ho
Make: Chicken Paper Plate Craft from Darcy and Brian
Do: Mummify a Chicken Science from Adventures in Mommydom
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Eight
Read: Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
Make: Handprint Chicken with Chicks from Artsy Craftsy Mom
Do: Retelling the Little Red Hen through Sensory Play with Fun-A-Day.
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Nine
Read: This Little Chick by John Lawrence
Make: Paper Plate Chicken Purse from Red Ted Art
Do: Lifecycle of a Chicken Science Activity from Natural Beach Living.
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Day Ten
Read: Chicks and Chickens by Gail Gibbons
Make: Fork Print Chick Craft from Crafty Morning.
Do: A Homemade Balance Scale to Weigh Chickens from JDaniel4sMom
Complete: Three or four pages of seatwork covering basic skills.
Our Chicken Preschool Theme is perfect when you add our Chicken Counting Book and our Chicken K-2 Printable. Spend a little bit of time each day covering basic skills at your child's level.
During preschool, they could be working on number recognition, counting, letter recognition, hand-eye coordination, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills with just a little bit of seatwork.
Chicken Counting Book for Chicken Preschool Theme
Our Chicken Counting Book covers the following skills: number recognition, counting, one-to-one correspondence, number words, and handwriting. You will find the following pages inside this 43-page book.
- Counting Pages 1-20, with a place to practice writing the number.
- Ten-Square Pages for Numbers 1-20, asking your child to color the appropriate number of squares for each number (or use chart stickers.)
- Counting Activity for numbers 1-10, without the number provided, where your child needs to count and come up with the correct number.
- Ten Writing Practice Pages for Numbers 1-10.
Learn more and see sample pages by clicking "view product" down below.
K-2 Printable for our Chicken Preschool Theme
In the Chicken K-2 Printable, your child will be challenged by a variety of basic skill builders. All 36 pages have cute chickens, eggs, and farm accessories sure to bring a smile to your child's face. You will find the following pages inside.
- Four Mazes of Different Skill Levels to work on visual perceptual skills and problem-solving.
- Four Chicken Words Handwriting Pages
- Four Counting Pages for beginning to count.
- One Simple Word Search
- One Simple Crossword Puzzle
- Two Chicken Puzzles to cut and assemble.
- Two Chicken Sudoku Puzzles
- Chicken Patterning Pages
- One Chicken Dice
- A Chicken Movement Game (using the dice) – two pages
- A Chicken Board Game (also using the dice
- An Alphabet Maze
- A Numbers Maze for 1-30
- Two Chicken Writing Prompts
- Solutions for all puzzles.
Learn more about the Chicken Learning Fun Printables and see sample pages when you click "view product" below.
This post is part of the Homestead in Your Homeschool Series which is included in the Homeschooling Fun Through the Summer series 2021.
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