Animal Classification Wall Chart

I had the idea to design this wall chart while my daughter, Samira was learning about Animal Classification. She made her Animal Classification Lapbook a couple of months ago and I thought this wall chart would be useful for all the kids to refer to anytime we need to look into Animal Classification.

The chart can be used to look up various animals from the different groups. And we can also practise identifying animals and putting them into their correct groups.

Under each sub group are a set of cards that can be removed and re-attached using sticky tack (although felt and velcro would work better, something I may re-do at a later date insha’Allah).

The Animal Kingdom is divided into two Phylum, the vertebrates and the invertebrates and the Phylum are then sub-divided into classes. There are 5 main classes of vertebrates and 4 classes of invertebrates.

I made a heading for each class. You can see in this picture below. Each heading includes details of the identifying features that are present in that class, i.e. Mammals are warm-blooded, give birth to live young, have hair or fur, etc.

The individual animal cards are then attached under the correct class heading on the wall chart. You can see that humans are classified as mammals but we have placed the picture of the human above the animals because of the unique position that Allah gave us when He favoured Mankind above all Creation.

Similarly, you can see under the Phylum invertebrates that there are various classes. Invertebrates are the most numerous of all the creation in the Animal Kingdom and some classes are sub-divided again into smaller groups. Such as the Arthropods who are sub-divided into crustaceans, insects and arachnids, each group having its own identify features that sets it apart from other arthropods.

Again, the cards are placed under the group headings. The group headings list the identify features so that the children can easily identify to which group the various animals belong.

If you would like to make your own wall chart you can find the printable files to download free from my File Share Widget which you will find as you scroll down the right of the screen.

Fossilisation Flapbook

This is my son, Yusef’s flapbook about the process of fossilisation. Flapbooks are a nice way of breaking down information that contains a sequence of events. It helps children to memorise and recall processes easily. Diagrams are particularly important. When children draw their own diagrams it helps them retain more information.

Yusef has been learning recently about fossils and rock formations and I thought this little flapbook was a nice way to help him remember the process of fossilisation.

We broke down the process into four steps that can be easily remembered. Yusef drew four diagrams and added details underneath to explain each step. This process focuses on the fossilisation of Ammonites.

To make this flapbook I folded a sheet of A3 card into half and then folded each half in half again. I then cut a slit up the centre of each outer half to make the individual flaps.

I printed off the title wording for Yusef to colour and stick onto the front of the flap book and when the flap is opened it reveals a diagram and some written information.

Here is the book when it is opened out completely.

Allah the Creator – Pizza Book

I was inspired to make this cute little pizza book after finding it on Umm Rashid’s blog.

I made it with my younger two daughters, Amina 4 and Basma 3. They made one each.

I like the idea that you can pack lots of information into a book that you can fold up and hold in your hand, masha’Allah.

First of all I cut out two very large circles of card. I didn’t have any large sheets, so I ended up taping two sheets together, which was actually helpful for creating a neat fold along the taped line which ran through the centre of the circle.

Then I folded each circle into half and then again into quarters. I then unfolded the circles which now showed 4 equal quarter sections. I then slit the circle up the length of one quarter to the centre of the circle, this helps with the neat folding of the finished book.

When the circle was prepared, I folded it up to prepare the front covers. I did this late in the evening while the girls were asleep, in preparation for the next day, so my older daughter Samira helped to make the front cover titles.

You will see below the elements for the pizza book which I printed for the girls to colour and glue down. I have made these printables available in my File Share widget for anyone wanting to use them, or you can print your own, or draw your own even.

When the book opens at the first fold it reveals two sections, one on the creation of the Heavens and the Earth and one on the creation of the Sun and the Moon.

The girls coloured the picture of the earth while we talked about Who created the earth and who lived on the land (animals and people) and who lived in the sea (fish). And then the girls stuck sticky silver stars around the earth to show the stars in the heavens.

The second section shows the Sun and Moon. while the girls coloured we talked about Who created the the Sun and Moon and why they had been created (for night and day).

I should mention here that because my girls are young I decided to make this book with them over 3 days, completing two sections a day. That way they weren’t over-whelmed and it helped them to better recall what they had learned the previous day.

When the Sun and Moon section folds down it reveals two further sections. One on the creation of the Seas and one on the creation of Plants and Trees.

We used some shiny blue card glued down to represent the ocean and the girls added some beautifully coloured fish. We talked about why Allah had created fish (“…so that we can catch them to make fishcakes…” was Amina’s answer, masha’Allah.)

Then we talked about the flowers and trees that Allah created and why Allah created trees (to produce fruit). Then the girls looked at the picture of the fruits and named them all as well as what colour they all are, masha’Allah.

The final two sections are revealed when the Plants and Trees section is folded down. Both of these sections are dedicated to the creation of Animals.

As Allah mentioned in the Qur’an in various ayat including ayah 40:79, He created animals for us to ride on and to eat:

Allah, it is He Who has made cattle for you, that you may ride on some of them, and of some you eat.

So one section was dedicated to animals that we ride on such as camels and horses, and one section was dedicated to animals that we eat. I discussed this with the girls and we talked about what each of the animals give us, i.e. milk from cows, wool from sheep, eggs from hens and the fact that we get meat from all three.

Finally here is a picture of what the pizza book looks like when it’s completely opened out.

Animal Classification Lapbook

This is my daughter, Samira’s Animal Classification Lapbook. We have been doing a lot to do with animals lately and alot of vocabulary has been cropping up relating to classification and I was fortunate enough to find this Animal Classification Lapbook on the Homeschool Share website.

Samira completed the lapbook and I also made a few extra worksheets for her to review what she had learned. We also made an Animal Classification Wall Chart for interactive learning.

Here’s what the lapbook includes as the first page folds out.

Here is a close up of the Wordsearch and Crossword puzzle that I made.

On the reverse is a Missing Word activity sheet.

Here is what the lapbook looks like when it’s opened out completely. It’s packed full of little mini books.

The first page contains mini books all about how animals are classified.

The next two pages are divided into booklets on Vertebrates and booklets on Invertebrates.

First up is a flap looking at the structure and classification of animals into their various groups.

Then there is a double flap to understand what are vertebrates and what are invertebrates.

At the bottom of the page is two mini books explaining that vertebrates are split into 5 main groups and invertebrates are split into 4 main groups and under the flaps Samira wrote the names of each of those groups.

In the vertebrates section the first minibook is all about mammals and how mammalian features are identified.

Then we have a stacked set of cards all about amphibians.

Below that is a matchbook about fish and a T-book all about reptiles.

Finally, completing the vertebrates section is a set of fact cards all about birds which are held together with string.

Moving onto the invertebrates section, the first flap is all about arthropods. Under the flap Samira explained what an arthropod is and listed a few examples.

Next is the echinoderm matchbook. Echinoderms include animals such as starfish, sea-urchins and sea cucumbers.

Next to that is an accordion book about annelids. The only examples of annelids that we were able to find seemed to be various forms of worms.

And finally, a collection of cards strung together containing facts about mollusks – land and sea varietes.

This was a very interesting project and even I learned a thing or two. If you would like to make your own lapbook you will find all the templates and worksheets available to download for free from my File Share Widget which you will find as you scroll down the right of the screen.

Chocolate Nest Cakes

Spring is well and truly in the air and I thought it would be fun to make some little cakes with a Spring Theme.

It’s a very simply, fun recipe that the kids can get stuck into: Chocolate Nest Cakes.

First I got my 2 year old, Basma, and 3 year old Amina to put the cake cases onto the tray.

My eldest daughter, Samira broke up the milk chocolate into a heat-proof bowl and then I melted it over a pan of boiling water.

 Yusef poured the Choco Snaps (chocolate coated puffed rice cereal) into a large mixing bowl. I poured in the melted chocolate and they all took turns to mix it up and coat the cereal.

Then they each took turns to spoon the mixture into the paper cake cases.

They filled each case and made a small dip in the middle of each mixture for the ‘eggs’. I brought a packet of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs for them to decorate their cakes and make them look like nests.

They patiently took turns to decorate their nests.

Later in the afternoon, after tidying up the garden, we enjoyed the Spring sunshine and ate our cakes.

YUMMY, MASHA’ALLAH!

Raising Butterflies – Day 10

We’ve only had our caterpillars for 10 days and already they’ve doubled, tripled and quadrupled in size! Masha’Allah!

When we first collected the caterpillars we were putting loose leaves from the comfrey plant into the tank for them to feed on, but they didn’t last much more than a day before wilting. So I decided instead to uproot one of the comfrey plants from the garden and pot it before putting it into the tank for the caterpillars.

They seemed quite impressed and in less than a week they had literally decimated it!  And as they stuffed themselves we found many remains of molted skins all over the tank.

 

Molted skin on a twig

Here is a picture of a leaf that one caterpillar munched through in less than 20 minutes.

It was quite amazing to watch them munching away and see the leaf slowly disappearing. And as a result of all this munching, there was also alot of pooing! It never even came to mind that caterpillars poo, but I guess like all creatures: what goes in must come out.

We started to notice a lot of very tiny pellets at the bottom of the tank and at first we wondered if they were eggs, but it soon became apparent, after witnessing a caterpillar in action, that these were caterpillar droppings. And as the caterpillars grow, their droppings get extremely large. In fact this caterpillar pellet is bigger than the caterpillar’s head!

Anyway, today I decided to get rid of the shrivelled up comfrey plant and replace it with a new one. I had to remove it leaf by leaf, separating the caterpillars and putting them into a plastic tuppaware box so that I could clean out the tank and put in the new pot of comfrey without squashing the little things.

We really got a close look and saw the difference in sizes, and we had an official count up and found we had 15 caterpillars altogether, so I’m guessing a few more sneaked in on the uprooted comfrey plant.

Our largest caterpillar, fondly referred to by the kids as ‘The Abi’ is now 4 cms long and more than 5mm wide. All of the caterpillars are now settled back into the tank to munch their way through another comfrey plant. I am going to look for some suitable branches in the next few days ready for when the first caterpillars decide to start making their cocoons insha’Allah.

'The Abi' close up

We got some fantastic close up shots and managed to do a more detailed anatomy diagram.

We are looking into how long it takes before our caterpillars enter the pupa stage and how long the pupa stage lasts.

More to come soon, insha’Allah

Raising Butterflies – Life Cycles

My daughter Samira recently completed her Butterfly Lapbook and was so keen to see the butterfly life cycle first hand. I promised that as soon as Spring comes we would try to collect some caterpillars for a project on Raising Butterflies.

Every year we always find lots of caterpillars in our garden around March time, so today I decided to go and collect the fish tank from the bottom of the garden to clean it up before we go on a caterpillar hunt. The tank had been sitting out since last summer and was covered in baby snails, so we collected a few baby snails to add to the tank too. We also spotted quite a few ladybirds which my 3 year old Basma also wanted to add to the tank! I have no idea about the ladybird life cycle but after reading this wonderful project about Raising Lady Bugs on Umm Abdul Basir’s blog I think it’s something we would love to try in the future insha’Allah

Our baby snails are smaller than a fingernail at the moment, masha'Allah!

Close up - this snails shell is only about 4-5mm tall

Once the tank was clean, the kids and I went out into the garden to where we usually spot the caterpillars. Straight away we found plenty of leaves with holes in them and a closer look revealed around 20 caterpillars perched on the leaves of a comfrey plant.

I cut off a few stems of the plant along with the leaves that we found the caterpillars on and put them into the tank. We collected around 12 caterpillars altogether.

We added in some small twigs for the caterpillars to crawl along.

Some of the caterpillars are slightly larger that the others. And we hope to have the opportunity to witness close up the caterpillars molting their skin.

Smallest Caterpillar 17mm long, 3mm wide / Largest Caterpillar 20mm long, 4mm wide

After the caterpillars were settled into their new home we went online to identify our caterpillars and find out what they will turn into. It was then that we found out, we aren’t actually raising butterflies, we are raising MOTHS.

We visited a website called UK Safari, where we was able to identify our caterpillars through the photo gallery. Our caterpillars will, insha’Allah, turn into the Scarlet Tiger Moth.

The Scarlet Tiger Moth is not like the common, duller moths that come out at night time. It is a brightly coloured,  day time moth.

Caterpillar stretching up and looking around

While we wait for our caterpillars to develop we are looking back and reminding ourselves of some caterpillar and butterfly facts, and learning a little more about the differences and similarities between butterflies and moths.

We managed to get a close up photo of one of the caterpillars as it crawled up the side of the tank. Samira identified and labelled the main body parts including the true legs and false legs. Most caterpillars have 16 legs: 3 pairs of true legs (characteristic of all insects)  close to the head end of the caterpillar and 5 pairs of false legs that support the rest of its body.

Insha’Allah we will be keeping a week by week photo and video diary of our caterpillars. Join us as we witness the marvels of Allah’s creation.

Masha’Allah!

Raising Frogs – Life Cycles

Back in the Spring of 2009, we started a mini project on Life Cycles, and I asked the kids to choose which life cycle they wanted to learn about. At the time Samira wanted to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly, while Yusef wanted to learn about the life cycle of the frog.

So it was rather fortunate that grandad found some frog spawn on his pond just around the same time. He collected some of the spawn for us and we were able to keep the tadpoles in a fish tank and watch them develop.

At the time, the kids completed a few activities on frogs and their life cycle while I kept a week by week photo diary of our little tadpoles and froglets. Unfortunately, all the photos seemed to have completely vanished from my hard-drive except for a few from Week 5.

We had been hoping to repeat the activities and learn more while watching another lot of tadpoles develop into froglets. But in 2010 the frogs spawned rather late and the tadpoles failed to develop.

Then this morning, we got a call from grandad to say that he and nanny have spotted some frog spawn on their pond and so, insha’Allah, we hope to collect some next weekend and start over a whole new week by week project.

The kids are very excited and can’t wait to get started, but in the meantime, we are looking back at the few photos we still have. I will share them with you below.

Week 5 - Swimming froglet. Below the water are a few tadpoles who are still developing

We put this little guy into a white bowl to get a better look at him.

Close up

Not much bigger than a thumb nail, masha'Allah

Resting on a rock in the tank

A little froglet with his long tail

So small, but already showing the patterned skin of a frog, masha’Allah

More to come soon insha’Allah …

Butterflies Lapbook

This is my daughter, Samira’s lapbook all about butterflies. We were planning to save this for the Spring but she was so keen to get started that she got it finished in time to share with you all just as Spring time begins, masha’Allah.

We were also planning to do a project on raising butterflies alongside this lapbook, but as of yet, we’ve not spotted any butterflies or caterpillars. Alhamdulillah, the weather is becoming milder and we are finally seeing some much needed sunshine, so insha’Allah we’ll be able to get out into the garden to have a look for some creepy crawlies soon.

When the lapbook opens out, inside are various mini-books and templates.

I found the lapbook templates and study unit on the Homeschool Share website. Some of the templates I made myself and you can find them available to download for free from my BOX.net file sharing widget, which you will see as you scroll down on the right on the menu screen. The other templates you can find here.

First up is a lovely little mini book all about the different flowers that butterflies like.

This is a little flap in which Samira wrote up a little bit of information on the life span of butterflies.

Next is a T-book all about how butterflies defend themselves from predators.

We were all really amazed at how this wonderful little creature camouflages and disguises itself … the Dead Leaf Butterfly is truly one of Allah’s wonders.

Next we looked at the anatomy of the butterfly, and although the diagram below doesn’t show great detail we learned from a book that like all insects, butterflies bodies are divided into 3 parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen.

As a reminder of our Honey Bee Project, we also learned that butterflies are important as pollinators too.

Samira wrote about how when a butterfly lands on a flower to sip the nectar, the pollen sticks to her legs and body and is carried on to other flowers.

Then Samira completed this mini-flap book all about the predators of the butterfly.

When the flap is opened it reveals 3 smaller flaps showing the different animal groups that are predators of the butterfly. Under those flaps Samira drew some pictures of the different predators.

Then she made this cute little flap book all about caterpillars.

On the front of each flap is a question about the caterpillar and Samira wrote the answers under the flaps.

Next we did a venn diagram looking at the differences and similarities between the moth and the butterfly.

We also learned what Butterflies and Caterpillars like to eat.

When learning about what caterpillars like to eat, Samira read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to the little ones, and we watched a great time-lapse video on the Swallowtail Butterfly which showed the caterpillars eating their eggshells after hatching, then eating their way through leaves, and as they grew, they molted and literally crawled out of their old skins, and then they would eat that too!!

After learning about the body parts of the butterfly, Samira was able to complete these wing-shaped maths flaps.

The maths problem is written on the front of the flap and then Samira wrote her answer inside.

Then we did a little lesson on symmetry, we learned about the AMAZING detail of the butterfly’s wings and how Allah has created them having perfect symmetry.

We read and discussed the following excerpt:

If you look at the wings of the butterflies in the photograph you will see perfect symmetry. These wings decorated with figures, spots and colours are masterpieces of art and the marvels of creation of Allah.

While examining these wings you will easily notice that the figures and the colours on both sides are identical, no matter how complex its design. Even the smallest spot appears identically on both sides. Hence, there occurs a perfect design and symmetry.

At the same time, a colour on this very delicate and fine wing never gets mixed with another colour and the existing colours are distinguished from the others with a distinct border. These colours are formed by series of spots arranged one on another. How can these spots, that would be scattered with a touch of a finger tip, be arranged, without any loss, to form the exactly identical design on both wings? Even an extra single spot would cause the symmetry to be corrupted. But you can not find any kind of disorder on any one of the butterfly wings on earth. Each of them has aesthetic and well-arranged appearance that looks as if it was the masterpiece of a talented artist. This is because the butterflies, like all other living beings, are created by the Superior Creator, Allah.

“He is Allah , the Creator, the Inventor of all things, the Bestower of Forms (or Colours). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth declare His Praises and Glory: and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.” (Surah Al-Hashr: 24)

I cut out a butterfly template and Samira painted one side of the template, then carefully, while the paint was still wet, she folded it over so that the pattern printed (almost) the same on the otherside. Then after it was dried, I added in the ayah from Surah al Hashr as a reminder of this remarkable piece of Creation, masha’Allah!

Then Samira put together this simple little book which explains the Life Cycle of the butterfly. We got this from Enchanted Learning.

Then I made some cards showing well known British butterflies. The lapbook templates do include cards for well known North America and Rainforest butterflies, but I thought it would be nice to learn about the butterflies we are likely to see. I visited this British Butterflies website where I was able to find out which species of butterflies we are likely to spot in our region at this time of the year (March) and I decided to make a few cards on these species.

At the end of this project, Samira chose a poem to use to do some copy work. It’s called The Caterpillar by Christina Rosetti:

Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry;
Take your walk
To the shady leaf or stalk.

May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.

She copied up the poem and illustrated the rhyming couplets.

Finally on the back of the lapbook, she put together a diagram of the Butterfly Lifecycle, masha’Allah.

We had great fun learning about this wonderful and amazing insect, and I’m sure you will too. Have fun this Spring and try making your own lapbook about the butterfly. For more Spring time ideas, why not check out our Honey Bee Lapbook or our fun art and craft Cress Caterpillar.

Check back soon for news of our Raising Butterflies project, insha’Allah.

Butterfly Life Cycle

Last Spring I got onto the subject of metamorphosis with my eldest two and after giving them some examples of the creatures that undergo this process I let them choose which animal they would each like to focus on. Yusef decided he would like to learn about the frog (which was rather fortunate, because at the time grandad had just discovered spawn in his pond. So we were able to take some and watch the process right before our eyes, masha’Allah!)

Samira chose the butterfly and after watching some videos on the internet about the Life Cycle of the Butterfly, she made this colourful poster. This Spring we are hoping to watch the process up close. Every Spring we get lots of caterpillars in our garden, so we will try collecting some, feeding them in a tank and hopefully watch them develop into butterflies (or moths, depending on the caterpillar species).

Samira is also going to make a lapbook all about butterflies, and we may even do the life cycle of the frog again so that the younger ones can join in - so lots planned for this coming Spring insha’Allah.