This project is inspired by Millicent Selsam’s book, Benny's Animals And How He Put Them In Order (A Science I Can Read Book). The book is out of print but is usually available from the library. While we really enjoyed reading this along with the project, you can do without it.
Have your kids cut out a wide variety of animal pictures, the more the better. Ask them to figure out some way to sort them. Let them try different schemes based on size, color, where the animals live, etc.
Read the book up to where Benny sorts them into vertebrates and invertebrates and ask your kids to do the same. Read the rest of the book, which describes the five Classes of vertebrates: Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, and Amphibians, and then ask your kids to sort their pictures into these groups. Glue each group onto separate pieces of paper and randomly write in some of the characteristics of that Class (like “feathers” for birds or “milk” for mammals.) We even made a page for all the invertebrates.
You can see our finished project here.
And check out this fun online Animal Characteristics Game.
Kris is science-loving, Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom of 3. Visit her AtHomeScience blog for more books, tips, and resources.
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That sounds like a fun book for my son. Thanks!
What a wonderful post. I ordered the book today from Amazon.com and I'm looking forward to sharing this with my children. I just may have to blog about it too!
Thank you for sharing. I had not heard of this book and I found your post through a google search for "animal classification homeschool."