Homeschooling Chicken Project Ideas

[schmije]

I have a friend who homeschools her two boys, ages 6 & 8. We're getting a batch of chicks in a couple of weeks, and she is going to take a few to raise at home as a learning experience for the boys. Does anybody have any good ideas of projects that they can do with the chicks? Some of our thoughts are: keeping a journal, weighing them, measuring their food, reading about chickens, etc.

This will be a short-term project (probably 4-6 weeks), since they don't have a place to keep grown chickens where they live.

 

[maplesky7]

i say...behaviors...like pecking orders. ha ha...wouldn't that be fun?

 

[JennsPeeps]

How about weighing them & their food to see how much weight in food they convert to body weight over a week?

Or count feathers on their wings daily?

 

[maplesky7]

put a bug in their area and see who will catch it first? ha ha.


who can jump up the highest to roost? ...mine always start getting on top of the feeder jars...stinkers.

how many times they wake up and fall asleep in a 15 minute span?

 

[schmije]

Good ideas. Thanks guys. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Harley's girl]

Are they different breeds? If so she could compare how fast one breed goes compared to the other.

 

[BayCityBabe]

There are a number of downloads available online - through various State Extension offices and through 4-H. There are "parts of a chicken" coloring sheets. Stuff like that. I love the idea of a chicken journal. For that age, assignments can vary from chicken facts, drawings and even write a story ("what if").
What I have found useful, as a homeschooler, is having each project in a binder.

 

[schmije]

We ordered six different breeds. I suggested that their chicks all be different breeds, so they can tell them apart easily. They'll probably take 4-6 of them. They want to try to figure out what breed each chick is and what it will look like as an adult. Maybe the kids can draw pictures of them.

They're also looking into 4-H for ideas as well.

 

[patandchickens]

Homeschooling Chicken Project Ideas

LOL, I would think that almost everyone here homeschools their chickens, or at least I don't know of ANYONE who sends them elsewhere to be educated...

What about learning about the parts of the chicken and then making a diagram or model with labels. Writing a story about a chicken. Learning about the diversity of chicken breeds (i.e. leaf thru a book on chicken breeds, or cruise Feathersite

) and writing a brief essay on what breed they think is neatest and why. Writing up a simple set of directions on how to care for a chick. If appropriate to the kids' stage, simple graphs of the numbers they collect. Design "the ultimate chicken coop" (thinking about what chicks and chickens really like, and need, in life) and make drawings and text to explain what it'd be like.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I think it would be cute to have them draw pictures of the chicks every week or so. That way they are sort of keeping a journal, but in a much easier way of doing it for children that age!

They could also dissect an egg and draw that too. That would basically consist of cracking it open and learning about the insides. They could even compare a farm fresh egg to a store bought egg.

Other neat activities would be naming some easy parts of the chicken and learning the differences between male and female chickens.