Train Mini-Unit

My son Troubles, requested that we learn about trains, so I made up a little unit for him!

We browsed over Eyewitness Trains and Usbourne Trains.  There are lots of great tidbits of information and pictures to enjoy.  We don't read everything in this type of book...that would be TOO much!

We enjoyed Mailing May and used her story for a little map work.  We specifically learned about trestles here.  Model railroads can be a great way for kids to learn about real ones!  This is an amazing video of a German model railway.  It's massive!

Other books we read:
The Little Train by Lois Lenski
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
The Little Train by Graham Greene
Casey Jones by Carol Beach York
Black and White by David Macaulay

I asked my Facebook friends for book suggestions and they recommended:
Tootles by Gertrude Crampton
Down by the Station by Will Hillenbrand
The Freight Train by Donald Crews
Coolies by Yin
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

We listened to Johnny Cash sing about Casey Jones here and watched the Disney cartoon, too.

They built and played with our Fisher Price Flip Track Mountain.  It's been a while since I brought this tub out, so it really held their attention.

I made a word search with train words using Discovery Puzzlemaker. We printed off some coloring pages.

We're not all that far from the California State Railroad Museum.  Who knows, maybe we'll take a trip there this year!

Animal Tracks and Wildlife Signs Science Unit-Part Two

We have been using Crinkleroot's Animal Tracks and Wildlife Signs as a science spine for the Littles for the past few weeks.  I blogged about the first part of the book here.  We're finally done so the book can be returned to the library. I really do need to invest in them for our own shelves.  Here's the remaining activities:

We met Owl next.  As I began reading about Owl, I asked each child what they already knew about owls.  I was pleased that they knew so much already!  They learned nothing new from this section, but did enjoy doing a virtual owl pellet dissection.  If I had planned ahead, I would have ordered a pellet kit.  They are inexpensive and a fun, hands-on activity that they would have enjoyed.  We did an owl coloring page and talked about owl characters in books we've read.  There are many!

We read about Snowshoe Rabbit and Bobcat on the same day, since they are a common prey/predator pair.  The Lambies enjoyed learning about the way the Lord camouflages the hare during the different seasons.  They were also amazed at the size of his feet!  I used this amazing video (even though it has a lynx rather than a bobcat) to show how agile he can be.  Be sure to preview this one if you have sensitive littles.

We watched several videos of bobcats winning the race and enjoying their meal afterward.  We also enjoyed the "Bobcat Kittens" videos.  This is the coloring page we used.  We discussed how wild animals are not pets, of course, and how, now matter how very cute they are, we mustn't touch any wild animal we may see in the forest. I have at least one child who wants to be a wildlife rehabilitator when they grow up.

We live close enough to take a trip to CatHaven and I plan to take all the children there this spring or summer. They even have a 'Track and Trail' class they can take!

Red Fox came next.  We have some foxes around here and saw one once, running across the road.  None of the Littles remembered it, though.  We watched a video or three and looked at this page.  We're not in Virginia, but I appreciated the big pictures and simple summaries. Note, too, the links at the bottom to useful videos and a coloring page.  (Can you NOT mention Redd Foxx during this lesson?)

Last but not least was the Grouse.  What a pretty bird!  We used this site to learn a bit more about this handsome fellow.  There are tabs for additional info, including the interesting sounds a male makes with his wings and a video, too. I printed off this coloring page.

So, that's all for this Crinkleroot book.  I let the children color a picture of Crinkleroot himself, too, so they could remember this fun unit and all we did.  I hope you find it in your library and share it with your children, too!

Animal Tracks and Wildlife Signs Science Unit

I've been using this Crinkleroot book for science for the Littles.  We love Crinkleroot!

The first animal mentioned is Beaver.  We read the section here, then went through Getting To Know Nature's Children: Beavers.  We did a coloring page and watched some videos on YouTube.

Otters are next.  The kids had fun sliding down the back of the bathtub like an otter slides down a muddy bank.  I showed them pictures we had taken when we saw the otter exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium a few years back.  Of course we also watched some videos, including the MBA Otter-Cam and colored a page.

Raccoon is the next one we met.  In addition to videos, we did a coloring page and read Jim Arnosky's Raccoons and Ripe Corn.  We discussed why raccoons are considered pests in some places and how dexterous they are.  We looked at the anatomy of their hands and how they have functional (but not opposable) thumbs.  I taped down the children's thumbs to show them how hard life would be without thumbs!

I found a great video showing Beaver and Otter together during wintertime.  I now can ask a Little is he or she is acting like Beaver or Otter and they will have a character trait to identify.

Whitetail Deer was next.  We saw a doe and her two fawns last summer when we were camping and the children have a great memory of it.  We learned about how bucks grow their antlers and why.  We learned how they shed them every year.  The Lambies spoke of trying to find some next time we are in the forest before the mice nibble them away.  I let them feel some faux-velvet so they knew the texture of the velvet on the antlers as they grow. We read Deer At The Brook and watched a clip or two of the graceful creatures.

I'll continue blogging our activities for the second part of the book when we are finished with them!

Thanksgiving Mini Unit

It's nearing Thanksgiving! Time for the little ones to learn all about pilgrims, Native Americans and turkeys, right?

Books we read:

Mousekin's Thanksgiving

Cranberry Thanksgiving

On the Mayflower

Samuel Eaton's Day

Sarah Morton's Day

Tapenum's Day

Three Young Pilgrims

We read portions of Turkey, Pilgrims and Indian Corn.

We listened to real Turkey Calls and watched some videos of wild turkeys. We compared their lives to that of factory turkeys.

We made the Cranberry Bread recipe from Cranberry Thanksgiving. That was a lot of fun! I also made a Gluten-Free version so I could enjoy it, too. I also want to try the grain-free version. I'll blog pictures of the baking later on in their own post.

I printed off a few coloring pages:

Turkey

Pilgrim's Give Thanks

Mayflower

Feast

There are, of course, many crafts ideas for Thanksgiving/turkeys. I am NOT fond of arts-and-crafts. When we actually do a crafty thing, the Little really enjoy it, though. Now that the Bigs are big, they can run crafts, and they enjoy it! Hooray!

Hen Mini-Unit

Today's letter is "H". We chose to study Hens. What a great spring activity. Besides, May is National Egg Month and what better way to celebrate eggs, than to learn about hens?

We read a few good books:

The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone
Henny Penny by Paul Galdone
Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox

We enjoyed a few fun activities:

Hen online puzzle

Online Farm and HenHouse game

Hen and chicks coloring page

"H" Tracing Page

Of course, we ate a good snack...

Chicken salad sandwiches

I also had a few dry wishbones that the children were able to snap.

For math, we learned that an egg is oval and why an oval isn't the same as a circle.

We also played a variation of Scrambled Egg Math. I took an egg carton and wrote numbers 0-9 inside each indention, along with an few extra 1's. I added two marbles. Each child got to shake the carton, then open it to see what numbers the marbles landed in. Then they counted out that many markers that were set nearby.

Black Bear Mini-Unit

Our school year has officially started! For my Littles (ages 9,9 and 6) we are beginning the year with a bear study. We're focusing on black bears, since they are our 'local' bear, with a sprinkling of grizzly, sun, koala, polar and panda for good measure. We had the good fortune of having a personal encounter with a black bear a few years ago while camping. The children were eating s'mores around the campfire in the afternoon. A bear came wandering near our camp, so my Honey, my SIL and I stood between the bear and the kids and watched him walk past. The children could see him well and they all, except Troubles, remember the experience.

For our study we read some books:

Bears for Kids by Jeff Fair
Black Bear Baby by Alan Lind
The Three Bears by Paul Galdone
Bearskin by Howard Pyle
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (This was made even more relevant by a recent gift to our family of pounds of blueberries from a friends bush.)
Little Bear (and the others in the series) by Elsa Holmelund Minarik
Jessie Bear stories by Nancy Carlstrom

If we want to spend more time with bear characters, we'll read some Paddington. We read both Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh's Corner last year. I have all my early readers read "The Bears on Hemlock Mountain", so I did not read it with them now.

We did not, please note, read any Berenstein Bears. I do not like them. Father Bear is portrayed as an idiot and he is looked at with scorn by Mother and the children. I won't have those disrespectful storylines in the house.

We watched some videos:

Baby Bear Squeaks
Lost Baby Bear Calls For Momma
Grizzly Roars
Sleepy Baby Bear

We used some other sites, too.

Here's a bear den webcam that we have kept an eye on.

Of course we discussed bear safety. This is old hat to my Lambies since we camp in bear country often.

We have seen a replica black bear paw, real teeth and even skulls several times in the ranger station that we visit when we go camping. I'd love to see a model of a black vs grizzly paw in real life. This would make a real impression!

(awesome picture from CoolRVers)

I created a pretty easy bear word search for them using this tool.

They did a coloring page or two.

Since bears love honey and seeds, we made these Sesame Honey Candies. We did not sprinkle them with ants or grubs to make them even more like a bears natural diet.

Gold Mini Unit

Gold! Everyone loves gold. It brings to mind a sense of adventure, like pirate gold, or security, like golden riches. We are studying gold today, but with a different mindset. Our memory verse is "How much better to get wisdom than gold!" Proverbs 16:16. There were many, many verses having to do with gold.

I used Printshop to design a bookmark with our verse on it. The children got to choose a colored ribbon to tie in a punched hole.


We did a pot of gold coloring page/handwriting page.

I showed them some gold that my husband and I panned out of the American River years ago and my golden ring and earrings. We also looked at pictures of ancient golden jewelry.

We read parts of some books:

King Midas and the Golden Touch by Nathanial Hawthorne, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
The Story of California by May McNeer, the gold rush section
Eyewitness: Rocks and Minerals, the gold section
The Wild West by Tim Wood, the gold rush section

I didn't use anything from it, but this is a neat looking resource!

We could have had goldfish for snack, but I can't stand the ingredients in those things. I could have made hardtack, but didn't think that would go over well. Instead, we juiced some beautiful oranges and had some fresh OJ with sandwiches.

Flower Mini-Unit

Today we are studying flowers. It's a lovely 74 today and it seems like the perfect thing to learn about for "F".

Coloring Page

Handwriting Page

We observed the lettuce plants, the pea flowers and the sprouting carrots in our garden.

We took a walk and identified the many flowers gracing the neighbors yards. We took pictures till the camera battery died! All the trees are in bloom and there are hundreds of bees working on the blossoms. What a nice way to tie in previous lessons!

We learned the different parts of flowers.

We read:
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
Flowers
Wildflowers of California's Central Valley and Sierra

Thumbprint flowers would have been a fun activity, too, but we didn't have time to get to it. GirlofGod made the children a flower balloon, instead.

Earwig Mini-Unit

Earwigs are today's topics! These little creatures are often seen but little studied. Did you know it's very easy to tell males from females? Just check out their pincers!

How to Recognize an Earwig

Earwig coloring page

"E" in sign language coloring sheet

We collected several earwigs from our yard and observed them in a jar. We found one "Big Queen" earwig and five tiny ones.

We talked about what earwigs eat (plant matter and occasionally other bugs) and what they do not (whatever is in people's ear canals). We discussed their life cycle: how they lay eggs, protect them and care for the nymphs that hatch and how they grow.

We sang the ABC song, and our version, too, which is personalized with the units we have done. We talked about the many sounds of "E". We also played with the Pattern Blocks and talked of shapes and colors. The girls built and built with those blocks!

A fun day was had all around. In fact, the little darling above wanted to take the earwig specimens home, believe it or not!

Dinosaur Mini-Unit

D is for Dinosaur! What a fun little study. We had to take a couple of weeks off due to coughs and colds, but preschool mini-units are now ready to continue. Here are links to the pages I used:

D is for Dinosaur handwriting page, take your pick, there are SO many!
This week's first coloring page
This week's second coloring page

We looked at pictures, read portions and discussed MANY cool dino books:

Dinosaurs By Design
D is for Dinosaur
Life in the Great Ice Age
A is for Adam
What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?
Dry Bones and Other Fossils
The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs
Fossils
EyeWitness Dinosaur
EyeWitness Fossils
Dinosaur Hunters
Dinosaur Dinners

We explored our box filled with assorted fossils, rock and bones. We even have a real dinosaur bone that they got to hold. We got ours years ago from a company that no longer offers them. Many of these fossils came as a gift from a friend in Illinois. Thanks, Newtons!

We played with the many plastic dinosaurs that we have. Some Littles liked that more than others.

We ate Salted Dinosaur Eggs for snack. I just spiderweb cracked the hard-boiled eggs and soaked them in food coloring/water solution for a while (KoolAid also works) but here's a very detailed blog about it with a cool picture.

Several of the children also played a short game of Monopoly Junior, Dinosaur Edition. What a day we had. Fun was had all around and we are looking forward to next time when we study "Ee".

*ETA: We found a neat show on Netflix, free for the streaming for members: Dragons or Dinosaurs.

Cricket Mini-Unit

This week's preschool lesson is "C" for cricket. I could have choose many other topics, but I thought crickets would be fun and unusual. Other reasons: 'boy' topics are often ignored in preschool and I like tough kids that aren't afraid of insects! Knowledge is power!

We read:
A Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood
and the appropriate sections of:
Grasshoppers and Crickets by Dorothy Childs Hogner
Bugs of Northern California by Acorn & Sheldon

I almost always have crickets on hand to feed our numerous cricket-eating pets, so I got an observation cube out and captured one. They loved seeing it up close.

For my older students, I saved "How to Draw a Cricket" lesson.
I printed this coloring page for them to enjoy and this handwriting page.
We watched a male cricket chirping here.

We made "Crickets on a Log" and "Cricket Food" (recipe below) for our snack.
We learned about what crickets eat.
We talked about people eating crickets.

We practiced putting manipulatives into groups according to size (big, bigger, biggest) and talked about rectangles.

Recipe for "Cricket Food"

8 oz coconut milk
2 carrots
large handful raw spinach
large handful mixed salad greens
2 Tbsp raw honey
1/4 of a large avocado
1 frozen banana
water and ice

Blend and drink.

Bee Mini-Unit

This weeks' mini-lesson was on the letter 'B' and Bees. We also counted groups of objects and tried to group counters to match a given numeral. Here are some of the links I used for printables and activities:

Online Bee Puzzle
'B' Handwriting Page
'Bee" Copywork Page
Bee-keeper Coloring Page
A Magnified Bee Wing

We made No-Bake Granola Balls for snack and had so much fun! I pulled out our bee-keeping equipment and let the children wear the beekeeper's hat and work the smoker.

We read a couple of good books:
"The Queen With Bees in Her Hair" by Cheryl Harness
"The Honey Makers" by Gail Gibbons

We had a fun day!

Apple Mini-Unit

We are having a friend's children over once a week for informal preschool lessons. "M" is 4 years old and "C" is 3 years old. They are SO adorable! This weeks lesson focused on the letter 'A', apples and the number '0'. I also did some assessment work with "M" so I know better what to teach next week. Today we used online printables, story books and some things I had on hand.

"A" handwriting sheet
Apple coloring page
Apple Poems-we used "Johnny Appleseed"

We read Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg and How Do Apples Grow by Betty Maestro.

For lunch we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sliced Granny Smith apples and homemade applesauce. We saved the seeds from the sliced apples in a baggie, so they could carry apple seeds just like Johnny Appleseed did.

When "C" was telling back the story of Johnny Appleseed to me, he continually called him 'Johnny Applesauce". How cute is that?

To introduce the concept of 'zero', I had "M" hold out her empty hand. I asked her how many pieces of candy she had in her hand. She giggled and said, "None". I told her the number that means 'none' is ZERO. Then I asked silly things like, "How many hats are on your head?", "ZERO". "How many elephants do you have for pets?", "ZERO!" I mixed it up by asking questions that were answered with other numbers: "How many eyes do you have?", "How many people are in this room?"

"M" was able to remember the word "ZERO" and used it properly when her Mama came to pick her up. We had a lot of fun and I am privileged to be able to help this dear family! I'm sure looking forward to next week!

ETA: I like this site, too! I'll certainly be using it next week.

Lion Mini-Unit

I pulled an old favorite from the shelf the other day. It was "Andy and the Lion" by James Daugherty. Remember that one? I love the graceful illustrations: the swing of Andy's books from their tether, the torment in the lion's face as Andy pulls the thorn; and the relief afterward... Troubles, Missy and the 3 year old I babysit listened to the story.

Then we watched this clip, this clip, and this clip on YouTube. After the little one went home, we watched this amazing video. We were astounded! The next day I read "Lion" by William Pene Du Bois (and discovered that I have two copies each with different covers) and "The Monkey, The Lion and The Snake" by Kurt Werth.

We learned that ancient people drew lions on the walls of caves:

We learned some new lion-related words: pride, savanna, predator, mane, carnivore. We located where lions live on the map. The Littles created lions out of playdough:

We printed off a lion coloring page.

We read about Jesus being called the Lion of the tribe of Judah and discussed why he would be called that. We also recalled how David killed a lion that threatened his sheep and that Sampson defended himself against an attacking lion and killed it.

Other books that will be read together over the next few days are:

Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and A Prologue by Maurice Sendak (sang by Carole King in this clip)
The Happy Lion by Lousie Fatio
The Happy Lion's Quest by Lousie Fatio
The Tawny, Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson
Herbert the Lion by Clare Turlay Newberry
Various Aesop's Fables with lions as characters (there are many!)
A Peaceable Kingdom illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen (not really about lions, but the cover is beautiful!)
Dandelion by Don Freeman
The Big Cats by Herbert Zim (Lion section only)
ZooBooks: The Big Cats (Troubles has been most fascinated by this one)

ETA more books (I can't believe I forgot about Bill Peet!):
Randy's Dandy Lions by Bill Peet
Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure by Bill Peet

Shipwreck and Treasure Hunting Mini Unit

We watched a couple of episodes of "Treasure Quest" on Netflix last night. It's an interesting show that makes treasure hunting look very exciting! Today I pulled out some appropriate books and let the Lambies spend some fun time learning about various shipwrecks and treasure. I thought I'd share the books so you could share them with your family!

True Life Treasure Hunts by Judy Donnelly
Sunken Treasure by Gail Gibbons
The Treasury
Treasure Hunt by George Sullivan
The Mutiny on the Bounty by Russell T. Clement
EyeWitness: Shipwreck
Ghost Liners by Rick Archbold
True Tales of Buried Treasure by Edward Rowe Snow
True Tales of Terrible Shipwrecks by Edward Rowe Snow
The Vasa Saga by Bertil Almqvist
Vasa published by the Vasa Museum in Stockholm
The Swedish Warship Vasa published by the Vasa Museum in Stockholm
The Martyr of the Catacombs by an Anonymous Christian-found on an abandoned sailing ship in 1876

The Little Lambies made some treasure, too. Crowns, scepters and necklaces were made from paper and crayons, and lots of "what-if" stories were made up. The Legos are out, so I bet there'll be some sailing adventures soon. Their imaginations have definitely been sparked by this study! Too bad my camera battery is dead. I think we'll watch some Gillian's Island this afternoon.

We'll see where this interest takes them over the next few days! Do you have favorite books on the topic? Please share in the comments.

Hymn Study: All of the Way My Savior Leads Me

Fanny Crosby was a very prolific hymn writer. She was blinded as a newborn, but said as an adult that she would not be sighted if she had a choice. She said she might not have written and sang hymns of praise to the Lord if she had been distracted by all the beautiful things around her. How many today would have such a humble and contented attitude? I doubt I would.

"Oh what a happy soul I am,

Although I cannot see;

I am resolved that in this world

Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy,

That other people don't;

To weep and sigh because I'm blind,

I cannot, and I won't."

All of the Way My Savior Leads Me was written in response to an incident from Mrs. Crosy's life:

This hymn came to Fanny as a result of a prayer. Struggling financially, she desperately needed some money. As her usual custom, Fanny began to pray. A few minutes later, a gentleman offered her five dollars, the exact amount she needed. Later recalling the incident, she said, "I have no way of accounting for this except to believe that God put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money." The poem she wrote afterward became "All The Way My Savior Leads Me" - Aldrin Lapitan

Here are some resources we used to study this great hymn and hymnwriter.

Sang by the late Rich Mullins

Performed by Chris Tomlin

Played beautifully on a piano

A Biographical Sketch

Lyrics:

vs.1
All the way my Savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.

vs.2
All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread;
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.

vs.3
All the way my Savior leads me
O the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages—
Jesus led me all the way;
This my song through endless ages—
Jesus led me all the way.

Frogs and Toads Mini-Unit

My son Troubles is a frog-fanatic. He is fascinated by frogs. We caught one a few weeks ago in our yard. It was only about 2" long and FAST! We tried to hold on to it, but it jumped everywhere, including onto Troubles' cheek. He laughed and laughed about that! We managed to get it into a glass jar and observe it that way. We noted its colors, its smooth skin and especially the pads on its tiny little toes. Well, ever since, he's been talking frogs almost daily. We have learned and learned about frogs. I thought I'd share some of the frog activities we've done.


I made a coloring page out of the picture above. I added "Frog are amphibians. Toads are amphibians" as a copywork activity.

We watched frogs eat different things here.

We read quite a few books: the Frog and Toad series, How Do Frogs Swallow With Their Eyes?, Tadpole and Frog, Eyewitness: Amphibians, Frogs and Toad by Herbert Zim, The Tale of a Tadpole, From Tadpole to Frog, and some others I don't recall.

I printed off this Frog Dot-to-Dot.

Here's a bunch of frog themed math ideas.

There were a few cute links at FrogLand.

We listened to a bullfrog sing here.

Since Troubles loves anatomy so, I let him (and everyone else, of course) play around on this virtual dissection site. I found quite a few dissection sites that had real pictures. I didn't really want them to play there.

This has been a fun little study, and not too intensive since it was spread over a few weeks, along with others interesting studies. I'm pretty sure The Littles interest in frogs and toads will continue. I'll likely be adding links and/or pictures as time goes on.

Wee Gillis: A Mini Unit

We began this study after reading "Wee Gillis". I am so fond of Robert Lawson's illustrations! The Little Lambies: Troubles, Missy and Jack all listened and learned quite a bit about Scotland just from one reading.

We looked up the location of Scotland compared to our location in California and Israel. We always address geographical locations from these two points. We named the seven continents and they deduced which continents Scotland is located on. We spoke of what countries are to the north, south, east and west of Scotland.

We Google-traveled a road or two and looked around on street view. How green it is! Of course it's because it rains so much.



We looked at Loch Ness and discussed the Monster. I read to them a few appropriate pages of Jaws, Claws and Dinosaurs by William Gibbons and Kent Hovind.

We listened to bagpipe music. We listened to other traditional Scottish songs, too.

We learned about haggis. The children decided they did not want a sample of that!



We looked at pictures of long-haired cows and Scottish stags.

The Flag of Scotland was built out of Legos (thanks to Renee for the idea!).

We spoke about kilts and why men wear them. We discussed plaid and tartans and their meaning. This craft seemed appropriate.

I made a coloring page out of this image of Wee Gillis.



We practiced blowing balloons up in one breath to show how very strong Gillis' lungs must have been!

This was a fun little study. I think the Little Lambies learned a lot!

Dragonfly Mini Unit

My little Lambies are learning about dragonflies right now. It all started with a chapter we read in "Among the Pond People" by Clara Dillingham Pierson. I always bring up images of the animals we are reading about so the children can imagine the story better. The Snapping Turtle was illustrated with this picture:



The Dragonfly Children were illustrated thusly:



I printed these for the Littles to color: Dragonfly Lifecycle and Dragonfly and the older children (just those who wanted to participate) drew them using this tutorial: Draw a Dragonfly.

Eyewitness Insects has a beautifully photographed series of an emerging damselfly. A dragonfly's emergence is very similar. My copy of this book is older and has a different picture on the cover than the one I linked to. It seems that the insides are the same though.

I read "Sir Small and the Dragonfly" to Missy and Troubles. They got a laugh out of it.

Best of all, I found a perfectly undamaged deceased dragonfly while I was walking last week, so I had a wonderful specimen to show them. They got to see the compound eyes close up, see the intricate veining in the wings and observe the many jointed legs. We could not pry open the mandibles, but they did get a close look. We used magnifying glasses and also the microscope. It was a good day of science for the Littles.