Elephants lesson

We’ve been marching through our study of land animals, and have reached the chapter on Ungulates.  Last week we learned how ungulates are categorized.

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Elephants lesson supplies

Apologia land animals, measuring tape, sidewalk chalk, bowl of water, small toys, straws, tongs, and a towel to clean up the mess

This week we learned about elephants. 

We started off with their size.  Elephants are HUGE!

Elephant lesson, activity 1: measuring elephants and comparing sizes

After reading all about elephants we headed outside with a measuring tape and some sidewalk chalk.

First we measured ourselves to get a general idea of size.

Then we measured each of the elephants.  The range in size from only somewhat huge (Asian elephants at 7 feet) all the way up to ginormous (African elephants at 14 feet).

Then we figured out how many of us it takes to be an elephant.  We figured out one of the boys and me is taller than an Asian elephant.  All three kids are as tall as an African elephant.

We read some more about elephants, and learned how they take baths.  They spray dirt or water on themselves using their trunk.  Of course we had to try, but we don’t have trunks, so it took some creativity……..

Elephant lesson activity 2: trying an elephant trunk

Elephants do not actually drink through their trunks. They can “suck up” water through their trunk and then squirt it into their mouth. They can use their trunks for all sorts of things, carrying materials, giving themselves a bath, getting food to their mouth.

We attempted to imitate their abilities. We used our straws to try and suck up water to give toys baths, and to try and fill a cup to drink from.

Who doesn’t love a good experiment with a straw?  My kids certainly did, they spent 15 minutes after we were done trying it some more.

So, we spent the next few minutes trying to give their toy a bath like elephants do.  We discovered it was a lot of fun, but it took some concentration.

Next we had to try and move things like elephants do with our own trunks.  At the very end of their trunks are two finger-like extensions, they use to pick things up.  To simulate this we grabbed some tongs and some small toys.

Then we spent the next several minutes seeing how quickly we could pick up things with the tongs.  It was a difficult experiment, but one the kids really enjoyed.

For more Land Animal ideas check out my pinterest board or my posts

Let’s see what others did this week:

Each week I’m spotlighting a few posts that were shared previously.  Many posts get linked up later in the week and they don’t always get as many clicks as they deserve, so I’m trying to spotlight a few every week.

Over at Buggy and Buddy she made a great craft and science experiment: Chromatography butterflies.

Gift of Curiosity had a great post about magnets, I really loved the challenge to remove a paper clip using the magnet.  Reminds me of our how to get a popcorn kernel out of the ear challenge.

Over at All Things Beautiful, she shared a blast from the past (when her daughter was in elementary school) to help us learn how the earth, sun, and moon interact.

And another post from All Things Beautiful, this one tells us about the job of zookeepers.  If you haven’t read the posts in this series, you NEED to now.  I think I’ve found our summer project.

My last one, for whatever reason the picture is not showing up on my pin, and pinterest is mad at me, so you’ll have to take my word and  go visit the awesome post on skeletal system from Weiser Adademy.

More great learning ideas

I’ll add this later, says Future Ticia 2022