Animal Unit: Vertebrate-Invertebrate Animals Worksheet Packet (100+ Pages)
Animal Unit
We have a 100+ page packet all about animals! The Animal Unit covers various topics such as body coverings (feathers, fur, scales, skin), the different types of animals (vertebrates, invertebrates), animal characteristics, insects vs. spiders, domesticated vs. wild animals, animal tracks, animal homes and shelters, herbivores, carnivores & omnivores, and much more!
In our animal unit, we spent quite a bit of time on animal classification. First, we discussed first at the five animal groups and their characteristics before moving on to the invertebrate groups. In this unit, we also talked about domesticated vs. wild animals. And finally, the kids did some fun activities on animal tracks.
We are doing basically two units for our study of the biosphere, this one (which is geared a bit more for my 2nd grader, though useful review for my older two) and a more advanced unit that will go into more depth about animal relationships. As you may recall, we started off with a review of the 4 main earth systems (those worksheets are free at this post: Earth’s 4 Major Systems (Free): Atmosphere, Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere).
Here’s a bit more detail about what we covered in our Animal Unit:
Animal Body Coverings – Feathers, Fur, Scales or Skin? — This packet includes a general notebook page about how different animal body coverings are from one another. Animals use coloring, texture and markings to blend into their environments. There is a sorting mat and pictures of animals with the different types of body coverings.
Animal Classification (Vertebrates) — I made ED some printable worksheets about the types of animals. She did a cutting/pasting activity and then we went into quite some depth about the 5 animal groups (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and their characteristics. My older two used those same sheets to take notes on the different animal characteristics.
Animal Characteristics –– The next day, we spent quite a bit of time going over the characteristics. We went into a lot of depth about the exceptions (which mammals lay eggs, examples of reptiles that give birth to live young, etc.). For that reason, the chart they filled out took a lot of discussion!! (You can see the chart I made for them below. On the right is a page I made for them about some of the animal characteristic exceptions.) If your kids are younger, you might not go into that kind of depth, but my kids love animals, so it fostered a lot of discussion for our family! 🙂 The kids had to check off which animal groups had various characteristics/traits such as:
- have feathers
- warm blooded
- lay eggs in water
- breathe with lungs
- have beaks or bills… etc. etc.
What am I? – 5 Animal Group Worksheets
Invertebrate Groups — Next we moved on to the invertebrate animals.ED did her “research project” this semester on insects, so this was perfect timing! The kids talked about the difference between insects and spiders. Then they brainstormed other invertebrates. I said that LD (age 12) had to come up with 20 different invertebrates, DD (age 10) had to come up with 15 and ED (age 7) had to come up with 10. They all did! And that was perfect because by the time they brainstormed all of those sea creatures, they had basically covered all the invertebrate groups we were going to cover!
We talked about how scientists classify the various groups and we filled in the chart below (and talked about groups that have legs and those that don’t… those that have tentacles and those that don’t, etc. etc). Another day, the kids cut out examples of some of the groups we had discussed:
- crustaceans – crabs/lobsters
- echinoderms – starfish
- porifera – sponges
- cnidarians – jellyfish
- etc.
Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores
Domesticated vs. Wild Animals — In this unit, we talked about the difference between domesticated and wild animals. And we also talked about the fact that some wild animals have been tamed/trained, but that does not mean that the entire species is affected. I had the kids brainstorm some animals that are generally wild, but that have individuals that are trained (to do tricks or behave in certain ways). They came up with a pretty good list (elephants, tigers, lions, dolphins, whales, raccoon, even fish can be trained to come to feed at certain times). Included in the packet are some Montessori 3-part cards with domesticated and wild animals. And, there is a cut and paste activity for kids to place into the two separate groups.
I added in a page that goes into more detail about how/when/why animals were domesticated (which is not pictured below).
Animal Tracks — Finally, I thought the kids would have a lot of fun doing animal tracks again. It has been years since we covered this! 🙂 In this part of the packet, there are Animal Track Montessori 3-Part Cards. There are also several pages of animal track matching which is what my kids did. We then went on a hike at our local park and tried to spot as many different animal tracks as we could. Fun!
There is also a food web activity in this packet, but we are not going to use these until the second (more advanced) part of our unit which we are covering next. (The Biosphere… biomes, animal habitats; climate zones; the individual/population/community/ecosystem/biome; feeding relationships; the food chain, food webs and the energy pyramid; biological interations – symbiosis, mutualism, amensalism, etc.; and other topics.)
If you are interested in this unit, it is now available for purchase. I bought a ton of graphics for this packet. I hope you like it! 🙂
The Animal Unit packet is well over 100 pages. Our units are PDF downloads. It is $5.99.
Once you pay for this packet, you will immediately receive a link to download this file (which will open in a browser window). You will also receive an email from Sendowl (the service I use) to your Paypal email address, which will have a link you can click on to download the Animal Unit. (It will say, “You can download your digital products…” with a clickable link.)
If you have any questions or issues just email me at — liesl at homeschoolden dot com.
Be sure to check out the BUNDLE options below! This unit is included in the Big Animal BUNDLES below!
Animal Unit
$5.99
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link!
The Animal Unit is included in both Big Animal BUNDLES or in the Bundle of 2:
$19.99 Big Animal BUNDLE – This Bundle includes 8 PDF packets. 1) Animal Unit, 2) World Animals Packet, 3) Rainforest Packet, 4) Life Cycles Packet, 5) Winter Packet & Hibernation Unit Plus three mini-units on 6) wolves, 7) cicadas and 8) chameleons. See the Big Animal BUNDLE page for more details.
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link!
Big Animal BUNDLE 2
Big Animal BUNDLE 2 includes all of the units above, plus the Mitten Activities Packet, Dinosaur Packet and the new Australia Packet!
$29.99 Big Animal BUNDLE 2 This second animal bundle option includes1) Animal Unit, 2) World Animals Packet, 3) Rainforest Packet, 4) Life Cycles Packet, 5) Winter Packet plus the 6) Cicada Packet 7) Chameleons Packet 8) Wolves Packet 9) Mitten Activity Packet 10) Dinosaur Unit and the 11) Australia Unit.
These units are all sold separately as well. See the Big Animal BUNDLE page for more details about each of these units.
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link. You can always email me if you need help! ~Liesl
Scroll down for pictures or visit the Big Animal BUNDLE page for more details about each of these units.
Nature Studies BUNDLE
$14.99 $17.99 Nature Studies BUNDLE The Nature Studies Bundle currently includes the 1) Fungi vs Plants Packet, 2) Deciduous vs Coniferous Trees Packet 3) the Camouflage Packet 4) Producer Consumer Decomposer/Detritivore Packet. When other packets are added to the bundle, you will get an update from SendOwl (the automatic delivery service I use) to your PayPal email address at no extra cost! I hope to add a new packet on Pollinators in the Spring 2024.
These packets are also sold separately over on our Nature Studies Page!
BUNDLE of 2: Animal Packet and World Animal Cards
$10.00 Purchase the BUNDLE: Animal Packet and World Animal Cards
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link!
For more details about World Animal Cards and Activity Packet including the Montessori Style Cards, visit this post: Animals Around the World
The Big Animal BUNDLE includes 8 packets. 1) Animal Unit, 2) World Animals Packet, 3) Rainforest Packet, 4) Life Cycles Packet, 5) Winter Packet – plus 6) the Cicadas Packet 7) the Chameleon Packet and 8) Wolves Mini-Unit
Quick Previews
- Animal Packet Quick Preview
- World Animal Packet Quick Preview
- Rainforest Packet Quick Preview
- Life Cycle Packet Quick Preview
- Winter Packet and Hibernation Unit Quick Preview
- Cicadas Packet
- Chameleon Packet
- Wolves Packet
These units are also sold separately. See the Big Animal BUNDLE page for more details.
Big Animal BUNDLE: $19.99
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link!
The Big Animal BUNDLE includes 8 packets. 1) Animal Unit, 2) World Animals Packet, 3) Rainforest Packet, 4) Life Cycles Packet, 5) Winter Packet – plus several mini units 6) the Cicadas Packet and 7) the Chameleon Packet. 8) the Wolves Mini-Unit.
These Animal Units can each be purchased individually as well.
Life Cycles Packet (click here for more details): This new 50+ page Life Cycles Packet helps kids become familiar with the different stages in the life cycles of the chicken, sea turtle, frog, mosquito, butterfly, dragonfly, bee, mouse, and ladybug.
You might also be interested in our Rainforest Packet – this link takes you to the post where you can find out more!
$4.99 Amazon Rainforest Packet (50 pages)
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link from SendOwl (the delivery service I use)!
Animal Mini-Units:
Biology Unit (find out more at this post): After our family did the Animal Unit, we went on to study the biosphere. We talked about the different biomes, animal feeding relationships and more.
$8.99 Biology Unit: Biomes, habitats, ecosystem, biological interactions, feeding relationships (70 pages)
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link from SendOwl (the delivery service I use)!
$8.99 Ocean Unit – Layers of the Ocean/Ocean Zone
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link from SendOwl (the delivery service I use)!
See our Biology BUNDLE page for more details:
Don’t forget to check your PayPal email address for the download link.
Whew! So that’s about it for today!
You may be interested in these related posts:
- Earth’s 4 Major Systems (Free): Atmosphere, Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere – We reviewed the 4 major Earth systems when we started our biology unit.
- Homeschool Science: Year in Review and What’s Coming Up (2016-2017)
- States of Matter, Changing States of Matter Unit
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Happy Homeschooling, everyone!! ~Liesl
