How do you create an instant unit study? Start with a theme. Pick up a pile of books at the library. Do a huge number of related activities. Plan a culminating project. Document the process. I like unit studies the whole family can do. The theme is Construction. Why? Your four-year old already has a complete collection of trucks. The concrete blocks can serve a presents. The topic is cement. The youngest kiddo has his cement mixer truck ready.
Here are 20 children’s books about construction.
IWhat about older kiddos? One construction topic is cement. Read The Case of the Flaking Floor, which is about cement. Here, here, and here are fact sheets about cement.
Are there activities? Try Flour Concrete and Composites (newspaper and ice). NASA has this unit, Museum in a Box: Composites. The pix and information is excellent. But it’s based on a kit with carbon fibers, Nitinol, and density cubes. Here are simple instructions for Nitinol or memory wire.
Take pix! What is your final project? Make Concrete Blocks or Engineered Concrete. Make Stepping Stones as presents. Think Engineering has Handcraft Cement Shape. Summarize your findings: slide deck, video, lapbook, or list. Look at you creating your own unit study!
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