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I Am a Bunny Unit Study: Exploring Native Bugs and Plants

 We love creative thematic units. We use unit studies to learn about everything except our core curriculum (like math, science, and language arts). Today, I’m sharing with your our I Am a Bunny Unit Study based around the book I Am A Bunny
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illustrated by Richard Scarry. It was one of my favorite books growing up and my kids love it, too!
Love bugs? Love bunnies? Then you won't want to miss these I Am a Bunny unit study ideas exploring native bugs and plants! This free unit study is all-ages.

I Am a Bunny Unit Study: Younger Kids

Since I Am a Bunny is meant for a younger audience, I was a bit stumped on how to make a unit study appropriate for older children. If Bo was a little older, we would have discussed seasons and weather changes, using questions like:
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  • What do you wear in each season?
  • Is winter hot or cold?
  • What grows in each season?
  • Why does weather change?
  • What are the benefits to changing weather?
  • What do different temperatures feel like?
Since Monkey is beyond such questions, I decided to dig a little deeper for this subject. We ended up exploring the book from a naturalist standpoint.

I Am a Bunny Unit Study: Older Kids

We decided to become naturalists and explore bugs and plants native to Texas, since there were many plants and bugs mentioned in the book. I am sure other regions would also have easy-access guides to plants and bugs where you live.

Seasonal Plants Native to Texas

I had Monkey go out into the yard and find a variety of plants for each season. We used twigs for winter, flowers for spring, leaves for summer, and dead leaves for fall. We discussed the various types of plants that would emerge during each season in Texas.
Monkey then glued the bits of nature to a piece of paper that I had divided into four sections for each season. I thought about making a printable for it, but all I did was divide a piece of paper into four sections, and I’m pretty sure that’s too simple for a printable. 🙂
The City of Austin has a somewhat homeschool mini-unit studies. but it doesn’t have much on wildflowers. The homeschool mini-unit studies. can help you identify most wildflowers and weeds that grow in Texas.

Seasonal Bugs Native to Texas

Next, we discussed various bugs that we would find in each season in Texas.
I had Monkey draw a diagram of each seasonal bug. She chose a brown recluse spider for winter, a Lepidoptera moth for spring, a Cicada for summer, and a Ladybug for fall.
Note: I don’t think you would find spiders during the winter, but Monkey didn’t want to draw a roach, which is just about the only bug you will find here during the winter.
We read some  homeschool mini-unit studies. which is a comprehensive study on how to identify many insects common to Texas.
Our project was simple and educational- which is my favorite kind of project. Monkey loved that she got to go outside to hunt for the plants, and she also loved the hands-on aspect.
Love bugs? Love bunnies? Then you won't want to miss these I Am a Bunny unit study ideas exploring native bugs and plants! This free unit study is all-ages.
The completed study.

Additional Naturalist Resources

Further Ideas for Exploration

You could do almost any number of activities on this topic. If you want to continue the expansion on the topic, try these ideas:
Science:
  • Learn the life cycle of a tree.
  • Explore the life cycle of rabbits.
  • Explore the life cycle of butterflies.
  • Learn how to predict weather patterns.
  • Grow a garden (for a year-long study on plants).
Art:
  • Make a seasonal craft collage.
  • Explore the art style of Richard Scarry.
History: 
  • Explore the history of weather tracking.
  • Who was Richard Scarry?
  • Who was Ole Risom?
  • Study traditional clothing of people living in different climates.
Geography:
  • Explore regional differences in seasons and weather.
  • Explore how different temperatures produce different crops.
Math:
  • Learn how to convert various temperature measurements.
  • Count the leaves/butterflies/dandelions on each page.
  • Estimate how many leaves a tree has.
English:
  • Learn how to spell weather and season-related words. 
  • Write a paragraph or paper about a favorite season or holiday.
spring science bundle
elementary stem challenge cards

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