Fun with Taxonomy – Hands on Homeschool Science!

Do you think teaching science in your homeschool has to be dull and dry?  Think again!  There are many ways to incorporate hands on learning to your studies.   For one of our learning experiences I brought in our stash of stuffed animals to help my kids with the concept of Taxonomy.

Fun with Taxonomy – Hands on Homeschool!

In our study of  Apologia’s Flying Creatures and Biology we first thought of our own Classification System Mnemonic to help remember Taxonomy:  Klingons (Kingdom) Pop (Phylum) Corn (Class) On (Order) Friendly (Family) Gas (Genus) Stoves (Species).  Then we gathered  the plethora of stuffed animals in the house and tried to fit them into Kingdom, Phylum, Class and in some cases Order.

Armed with Apologia’s Flying Creatures and older brother’s Apologia Biology book  plus the internet, my kids did a good job organizing and classifying.  They had fun AND it was a great way to help them visualize this aspect of science!

Kingdom Animalia….where did all these animals come from and who paid for them ?

Phylum Chordata ….. still a pile load of creatures!

Phylum Arthropoda

Class Crondichthyes

Class Crustacea – a tasty bunch!

Class Aves

Class Mammalia – still more!

Order Perissodactyla – My daughter’s favorite

Order Carnivora (The bears were absent from this picture!)

Order Rodentia

Order Arteodactyla

Order Hexanchiformes

Order Primates