Animal Life Cycles

Animal life cycles are truly amazing to study! This fun, nature-based science curriculum will open the eyes of your 1st-8th graders to all of the wonders. By the end, they will be able to make fantastic scientific comparisons and even identify various animal groups and the stages of their life cycles.

From embryos to adults and everything in between, learn how animals grow in stages. From stage to stage, you will see the life cycle similarities of animals within each group. You’ll also be able to easily compare the similarities and differences in life cycles from animal group to animal group.

The curriculum begins with a solid understanding of the definition of cycles as they pertain to science and then each subsequent lesson focuses on one particular group of animals:

• mammals
• fish
• birds
• reptiles
• amphibians
• arthropods

The final lesson (out of eight) digs a little deeper into the topic of metamorphosis, particularly the complete and incomplete metamorphoses of insects in the arthropod animal group. 

Words like metamorphosis, arthropods, and others seem like they might be awfully big for the younger crowd, but the lessons in this curriculum are presented in ways that all ages between 1st-8th can enjoy and grab hold of the concepts – even the giant science vocabulary. Approachable text, YouTube videos, meaningful nature journaling, and other easy activities all work together to help students of all ages feel successful and challenged.

Since we’re talking about science vocabulary, take a look at some of the other amazing words your children should understand by the end of the study: warm-blooded, cold-blooded, vertebrate, invertebrate, exoskeleton, appendage, spawn, oviparous, larva, ectothermic, endothermic, nymph, and so, so many more!  

Unlike other curriculum guides in the Nature Study Made Easy series, this one includes an optional project that builds over the course of six lessons and ends with student presentations. Your children will be very excited to complete the project…and I think you’ll be very excited by the knowledge they will share during the presentations.

As always, you have the choice to use what you want and leave behind the extras, but you will never be overwhelmed with too many activities to choose from. If you choose to do several activities for each lesson and complete one or more daily, the study can easily last eight weeks or more. In that case, you’ll likely have wonderful experiences creating nature journal pages, doing kid-friendly research, and taking nature walks to put the new knowledge into action. And, yes, every single moment can count as science!

• 34 pages
• Digital curriculum
• Appropriate for black and white printing
• Printing is not necessary
• Content suitable for charter schools