Horton Hears a Who is one of my favorite stories. I love the characters, the anger, the determination, the loyalty, and the change of heart. Besides the best line in any book, A person is a person no matter how small!
However, it’s a cute little book for little kids. Recommending reading age is 3-8yrs old. What about the older siblings who have heard the story before at bedtime? Why not add a few unit study ideas to create an interesting learning environment. Unit Studies do not have to be weeks upon weeks of learning – you can create your own mini unit study for any book you read!
Horton Hears a Who Unit Study Ideas for older students
Try these ideas together after you’ve read Horton Hears a Who as a family!
Review
Right after you read the story be sure to fill out the Horton Hears a Who Book Review Sheet. This is a great chance to practice “Reading / Listening Comprehension” for the 3rd-5th graders. Print the free sheet by clicking on the image, fill it out, discuss, and then 3-hole punch for a Reading Binder.
Research Elephants & Print The Free Elephant Pack
Did you know Asian Elephants are different from African Elephants? You can learn about that by downloading our Elephant Pack! This pack includes mapping too! We planned an amazing family trip to Thailand to visit an Elephant Rescue & got up close & personal with some beautiful elephants! We learned a lot! Add the information you learn to the Elephant Pack or print the single page: Elephant Do / Are Worksheet.
Maybe you want to research kangaroos, gorillas, vultures, etc. Pick an animal from the story or all of them and learn more about them! Find more Animals Worksheets here or print a blank Animals Do / Are Worksheet! and have your student fill in their favorite animal.
Is your student interested more in flowers than animals? Take a walk around your neighborhood and write down all the types of flowers you see. We love Field Guides and keep them handy in our car. Track your walk with this Nature Walk Flowers Sheet. Younger students might enjoy this Petal, Stem, Roots Worksheet. Learn more about clovers – which is the flower in the book.
Geography
Decide which type of biome Horton lived in and traveled around. Then discuss those types of areas with your children. Learn about all the Land Biomes with this Land Biome Worksheet (we used this for review in Classical Conversations Cycle 2)
Throw in some Aquatic Biomes with our Aquatic Biomes Worksheet. (Again, another review for Classical Conversations Cycle 2)
Be sure to add crafting to your Geography Lessons!
Or just practice map skills with giant sidewalk chalk.
You can always check out ChalkPastel.com for chalk Mapping tutorials.
Draw Animals!
Drawing is such a fun way to wrap up a unit study or create a cover for the entire study. Draw one of the characters from the story or draw the real animal. You can find “how to draw” tutorials easily on YouTube like we did for this elephant.
Looking for more Book Review Sheets? I have a ton! Check them out here.