Homeschooling at Walt Disney World

My youngest son LOVES animals so we are very excited to shift our science focus to animals and habitats.  Our first stop on this journey will be the animals (and their habitats) of Africa.

We are going to spend just a week or two on the subject therefore I don’t need any materials that are overly complex.  I have found a couple of wonderful resource to help us map out our adventure.

The first is Enchanted Learning which has numerous printouts on the subject.  The site’s main menu offers the ability to find information based on animal names, biomes (for Africa you could look at deserts, grasslands, etc.), or geography (select Africa).  The site offers printable books, “label me” sheets, facts and information, coloring pages, craft ideas and more.  We will probably use the animal pages as they provide information about the characteristics of the animal as well as printable sheets to color and label.  We’ll select a few animals each day that we would like to learn more about.

We will also be using a resource called “Discovering the Continents: Animals of Africa” (available through CurrClick).

Here is a description, from the author:  In this unit we will be looking at the different habitats and what animals they support. We will learn about predators, prey and scavengers and the amazing partnerships some animals have developed to survive and thrive. We will also be looking at game reserves and nature conservancies and the role they play in Africa. We will learn about different animals and tracking them.

This unit study package includes many hands-on activities like lap-n-note pages, animal alphabet cards, an African Safari game and journal pages.  This is a downloadable file that will appeal to a wide variety of ages.

All of these at-home efforts will lead up to a day of fun and learning at Animal Kingdom.  Before we head out we will be sure to learn about some of the animals we will meet as we travel the Kilimanjaro Safari and Pangani Forest Trail.

We’ll fill in the details on our “Learning” part of our trip after we return from the African safari!