Animal Science
- Animal Classification Sorting Boxes: lesson plan coming soon
Owl Pellet Dissection Kit: Use this kit developed by the experts from Cornell Lab of Ornithology K-12 to build science literacy through multidisciplinary lesson plans including hands on activities, a food web game, and group inquiry. This deluxe kit has reproducible student sheets, full-color posters and teaching resources. 15 complete dissection kits come with owl pellets, hand lenses and everything you need to make set up easy. *Time is need to order owl pellets*
Grass, Goats, and…Uninvited Guests! is a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, and agriculture, & math) curriculum focusing on small ruminant internal parasites, diagnostics, and treatment. This innovative, hands-on program uses goat or sheep stuffed animal models, group learning, and edible treats to teach the FAMACHA© system and hematocrit determination to diagnose anemia, dag scoring, body condition scoring, fecal worm egg counts, and treatment for worms.
Zoo STEM Challenge Kit: Build your very own zoo! A hands-on learning game that supports STEM curriculum, this activity asks students to use the provided supplies to complete challenges like building a tower for monkeys or a shelter for the polar bear. Wild learning fun awaits!
Life Cycle Figurine Kit: Students can learn about the life cycle of various insects and animals, including butterflies, chickens, bees, frogs, spiders, turtles, and more! Additional figurines
Dog Learning Kit: The Dog Learning Lab Kit is your answer for species-specific, hands-on, durable materials that make learning tactile and fun. It includes materials and suggestions for activities that cover anatomy, breeds, animal care and management, conformation, equipment, and facility management.
Horse Learning Kit: The Horse Learning Lab Kit is your answer for species-specific, hands-on, durable materials that make learning tactile and fun. It includes materials and suggestions for activities that cover anatomy, breeds, conformation, medicine labels and inserts, animal handling, nutrition, and tack and equipment.
Recommended grades: K-12
The embryology project through Henrico County 4-H is a hands-on, educational project that any Henrico County School can take part in. Youth learn the life cycle of a chicken, duck, or turkey from incubation to hatch! First time instructors must attend an Embryology Training session. Eggs cost $10-$20/dozen. Classroom visits can be set up.
Special Request:
- Significant amount of table space for incubator with no drafts and not by a window
- 3'x3' Floor/Table Space for Brooder
- Do not need to find a home for chicks, but can choose a home if desired
Requirements:
- Must pick up supplies/eggs from Henrico Extension Office
- 4-6 week commitment from start to finish
- An understanding that environmental effects play a major role in hatchability.
- Completion of the Group Enrollment Form (classroom demographics) or PowerSchool information.
- First time teachers must attend an Embryology Training session
Registration is open for 2023-2024 through November 10th: https://bit.ly/24embryology
Contact Carter Humphries at chumphries@vt.edu or 804-501-5160 to see about scheduling this program.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| If you could have any animal's front teeth, whose would you choose? What if you had Animal Teeth!? takes children on a fun, informative, and imaginative journey as they explore what it would be like if their own front teeth were replaced by those of a different animal. | |
| If you could have any animal's eyes, whose would you choose? What if you woke up one morning and your eyes weren't yours? What If You Had Animal Eyes? -- the next imaginative book in the What If You Had series -- explores what would happen if you looked in the mirror and saw a pair of animal eyes instead of your own! | |
| If you could have any animal's hair, whose would you choose? If you had a polar bear's double coat, you would never have to wear a hat when playing in the snow. If you had reindeer hair, it could help you stay afloat in water. And if you had a porcupine's hair, no bully would ever bother you again! | |
| With rhyming text and warm, expressive paintings, this lovely picture book takes the reader through a year of beekeeping from the point of view of a little girl helping her beloved grandpa, who's known in town as the Beeman. | |
| How do bees count? The bees at the Busy Bee Farm buzz through the sky as one big swarm, fly over two waving dandelions, find three wild strawberries dripping tasty nectar…As the children in Mr. Tate's class listen, they learn how bees work to produce honey and make food and flowers grow | |
| With the help of his Dairy Godmother, Chuck is taken—poof!—on a memorable and delicious adventure to a dairy farm. He finds out exactly where ice cream comes from and gains an even deeper love and appreciation for his favorite food. | |
| Following a day in the life of Clarabelle, one of 1,200 cows on a Wisconsin dairy farm, we learn what it takes for a cow to produce life-giving milk and also by-products like electricity. The manure that Clarabelle and her herdmates create not only generates electricity, it provides fresh bedding for cow stalls and fertilizer for the crops grown to feed the cows. | |
| Sonya raises her three chickens from the time they are tiny chicks. She feeds them, shelters them and loves them. Everywhere Sonya goes, her chicks are peeping at her heels. Under her care, the chicks grow into hens and even give Sonya a wonderful gift: an egg! | |
| Have you ever wondered how chubby caterpillars transform into beautiful, graceful butterflies? Or why some butterflies have bright, colorful wings while others look plain? Butterflies for Kids answers all your questions with fascinating facts, photos, and illustrations. Learn about the butterfly life cycle, their unusual behaviors, and impressive migrations. | |
| What’s that? A chicken followed you home? Now what do you do? This book leads a step-by-step, question-and-answer-style journey through the world of chickens. Along the way you’ll explore different breeds, discover different types of coops, and learn everything there is to know about chicken reproduction and hatching. | |
| Follow the journey of a young boy and girl as they find out about insect life cycles. This beautifully illustrated picture book explores the life cycle process and explains each stage in detail. | |
| Butterflies are all around us. It's hard to believe these majestic insects with impressive wingspans and beautifully colored and patterned wings were once creepy crawly caterpillars. How in the world does this transformation happen? This Level 1 Reader gives kids an up-close look at exactly how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. | |
| What happens when your tiny pet pig grows way too big? In this children's picture book, a young girl named Ella finally gets the pet of her dreams..a mini-pig. She loves her new pet and they do everything together. But, he does not stay little for long. Right before her eyes, her tiny pet pig grows into a giant hog! He grows so big that he can no longer participate in Ella's activities. Ella doesn't know what to do. Her wise mother teaches her a valuable lesson that helps Ella realize how much she loves her precious pet, no matter how big he is. Together, with a lot of love, they make everything work! | |
| Sophia Spencer has loved bugs ever since a butterfly landed on her shoulder--and wouldn't leave!--at a butterfly conservancy when she was only two-and-a-half years old. In preschool and kindergarten, Sophia was thrilled to share what she knew about grasshoppers (her very favorite insects), as well as ants and fireflies... but by first grade, not everyone shared her enthusiasm. Some students bullied her, and Sophia stopped talking about bugs altogether. | |
| Shabazz Larkin’s The Thing About Bees is a Norman Rockwell-inspired Sunday in the park, a love poem from a father to his two sons, and a tribute to the bees that pollinate the foods we love to eat. Children are introduced to different kinds of bees, “how not to get stung,” and how the things we fear are often things we don’t fully understand. | |
| Turkey is in trouble. Bad trouble. The kind of trouble where it’s almost Thanksgiving…and you’re the main course. But Turkey has an idea―what if he doesn’t look like a turkey? What if he looks like another animal instead? After many hilarious attempts, Turkey comes up with the perfect disguise to make this Thanksgiving the best ever! |
Pet Pals
Features 14 activities including pet selection, body part identification, pet art, communications, handling, housing and daily needs.
Winged Wonders
Interested in raising butterflies as a classroom project? Registration will open in February 2024.
Winged Wonders is a butterfly curriculum developed by North Carolina 4-H where youth observe the wonders of the natural world unfolding in front of them by raising painted lady butterflies from larva through adulthood. They explore the butterfly life cycle while engaging in hands-on activities that explore concepts of insect structures and functions, compare insect behaviors and life cycles, and demonstrate the role everyone can play in environmental stewardship.
Contact Carter Humphries at ccd296@vt.edu with any questions.