Squirrel Unit

 Hi! Future Ticia 2024 here, and years ago I wrote two posts about squirrels, and they were good, but they could be great if I combined them into one AMAZING SQUIRREL UNIT! So, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to combine these two good posts, into one AMAZING squirrel unit with some more material, like some good squirrel books, and some fun YouTube videos, and turn this into an series of science lessons for land animals, which I still do not have a landing page for. Sigh. A very deep sigh.

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Squirrel Unit book list

I haven’t yet read these, I’m going to create this list and then go to the library to check them out. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, so I cannot vouch for all of these books yet.

Emphasis on YET.

I also weighted this list towards nonfiction, but I was noticing the fiction books I picked leaned towards fall, for some reason I associate squirrels with fall. I’m not sure why.

• Animals in my yard: Squirrels– I’ve read others in this series and liked them, so I’m going to assume this is good too
• Backyard Animals: Squirrels–
• Baby squirrels-I always like to find books featuring the infant of the animal because kids love that
• Hello, squirrels: scampering through the seasons–
• Those darn squirrels!– this is the first in a series, I’m curious to read it
• Mr. Squirrel and the Moon–
• Pumpkin Soup– I do remember reading this one to my kids when they were little. I bought it back when I taught, and it’s a fun book
• Squirrel and John Muir–
• Pearl and Squirrel Give Thanks– Very clearly a thanksgiving book, so if you’re teaching around Thanksgiving, pull this one out
• The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin– Oh man, I totally forgot Beatrix Potter had a squirrel book, that’s another good addition

Squirrel YouTube videos

Now I can almost guarantee every young kids’ science show has a video about squirrels, so look up Wild Kratts and search for their squirrel video, I know they have a flying squirrels video, my kids certainly watched it enough to know that exists.

And, because I’ve always wondered this, how do squirrels find their nuts again?

I now return you to Past Ticia 2013

We’re chugging along in our study of Land Animals, and we reached the Rodents chapter.  Apologia decided to split Rodents into 3 parts, and they flew through mice, and settled onto squirrel like rodents.  Or maybe that’s just what we did.

Rodent animal sort

First I made a quick rodent animal sort (Future Ticia 2024 you can find that on the Subscriber page, JOIN MY NEWSLETTER.

 Then the kids had a lot of fun sorting through the pictures and figuring out which ones were actually rodents and which ones weren’t.  It was made a little complicated by the fact that I didn’t always remember which animals I had there, until I studied it a bit better.

Then we read all about squirrels, how they move, what they eat, and where they live.  The kids were really intrigued by the idea of how squirrels climb and jump from tree to tree.  So I decided a field trip was in order.

Squirrels Unit active lesson: climb like a squirrel

Future Ticia 2024 now has “Walk like an Egyptian” in her head, so you must too.

We went to a local park that had a series of exercise equipment.  You know the kind that was popping up in parks all over during the 90s.

Or maybe that’s just Texas where they did that.  Either way it’s a familiar sight to me from my childhood/teens.  We followed the track around and at each of the different stations tried to climb it or act like a squirrel.

I even got in on the fun, though Batman’s finger is also part of the shot, and it’s not exactly a….. flattering shot.  But, we all tried climbing like squirrels, or jumping form place to place.

We decided that squirrels get a lot of exercise, and then I released them to run like squirrels on their own for a good 30 minutes at the playground while I walked around the track some more and got some more exercise.

It was a gorgeous day out, 70-something degrees, and perfect weather.  I was kind of wishing I had shorts on, but that was not so.  Of course, now 3 days later we have rain, and it’s in the 50s heading lower.

Texas…………

We ran out of time to finish up the other ideas I came up with as we were reading about squirrels, so expect to hear more about them later.

More Land Animal Learning Fun

Future Ticia taking a second before we get into our second week of studying squirrels for this squirrel unit, and give you a bit more of our land animals lessons.

• How does a cow’s stomach work?
• how far can a kangaroo jump?
• Preschool Dinosaur Unit
• Elephant booklist
• Zoo animals preschool unit

I haven’t updated most of my science lessons from our 2nd grade year yet, which is why most of what I’ve linked is from our preschool and kindergarten. I’m slowly updating, but it’s a slow process.

Very slow, like updating this post is almost like writing a brand new post. But, now on to.

Finishing our squirrel unit: Creating a squirrel nest

Back to past Ticia 2013, this is a science lesson art craft, and a great way to get your more of an art-minded child interested in science.

As I mentioned last week, we’ve been studying squirrels .  It’s been fun to learn about squirrels, their habits, and squirrel nests (I didn’t know about them prior to learning about them this time).

Looking at that last “paragraph,” I think I use parenthetical expressions too often.  I know they’re bad grammar, but I’ve always liked them.  As I read them, I always think of them as one of those asides that get put into plays and movies when characters break the fourth wall.  But, I digress.

Squirrels build their nests out of leaves they’ve collected, a few sticks, and whatever soft things they find.  This is my new theory for where all of my socks disappear to.  I think I can find scientific proof for it.  Maybe they climb into my dryer from the vent on the outside………

I had the kids go outside and gather up some leaves for me.  This is a 5-gallon bucket they found somewhere full to the brim with leaves.  And there’s still piles and piles of it out there.  I guess we need to do some raking………

Then they headed upstairs and gathered fabric scraps for me from the basket they are free to use pieces from.

I decided to have them draw on the backs of paper from the recycling bin, so they were recycling just like the squirrels were.  Also, Princess had gone through 2 million sheets of paper in the past week, and I was tired of being out of paper.

So, they happily drew squirrels that could nest in.

Then they started to add a small layer of leaves to be the basis of the nest.  Squirrels have an outer layer of leaves on their nest.

Then they dug into the fabric pile and started cutting and gluing away.  I had a really hard time because Batman immediately grabbed the pinwheel you see him cutting up.  It was a perfectly constructed pinwheel, the points even met in the center.  But, I’d put it in there for them to use (I thought he’d use it whole), so I restrained myself from telling him not to use it.  IT WAS SO HARD!!!!!!!!!!!  So hard! (Future Ticia 2024 still cringes to see that pinwheel square cut up)

Eventually, they were all done and shared their creations with me.

Can you guess which one the girls did versus the boys?  Superman told me his squirrels were having a party and completely covered their nest in decorations………….  You wouldn’t believe the amount of work he put into the decorations, that you now can’t see.

 Okay back to Future Ticia 2024, I’m going to add some fun squirrel videos that are not particularly educational, but just make me happy.

Just because these videos make me smile squirrel videos

I like Mark Rober videos, I don’t watch them all the time, but every now and then he latches onto ideas that I watch and then I make my family watch them and then I watch whenever I need a smile.

So now I’m going to make you watch them, because clearly you need to watch the insanity of squirrels solving Ninja Warrior Courses or Walnut Heists, or Summer Games.

Seriously, if I had a brain to create things like this, this is what my backyard would be like, and Jeff would not be happy.

Actually, Jeff has pre-emptively banned things like this from coming into our backyard. He banned my cardboard stair slide idea.

But, he was the one who suggested we tie the wagon to the back of the car during the Snowpocalypse of ’21 for car sledding, so I’m not the only one coming up with crazy ideas.

Just saying… I return you to past Ticia 2013 for the final sentence…

But, they understood it and were happy as clams.  Coming soon: Beavers!