This is a unit study I did with my children as we study our way through
the United States. This is for the state of Hawaii. I have children
in several grade levels. You will need to adjust activities and assignments
to your appropriate grade level. We kept all of our work in a binder
with sheet protectors for enjoyment and review at a later date.
Beginning activities:
Color the state flag for Hawaii.
Color a map of Hawaii. These can all be located on the internet. I highly
recommend enchantedlearning.com.
Locate Hawaii on a large United States Wall Map.
Make a Hawaiian meal:
We often close our unit with this activity but it can be at the
beginning too. Suggestion for meals: Hawaiian chicken, fresh pineapple,
spinach salad, coconut cake - there are other ideas you can get from
internet etc. too. We also made a Hawaiian version of trail mix - dried
bananas, coconut, macadamia nuts, raisins etc. There are recipes for
this on the internet.
Science:
Look up pictures of the hibiscus flower (Hawaii's state flower) on the
internet. Read about its characteristics. Have your child draw and color
a Hibiscus. Grow a hibiscus - these can be found at your local nursery,
Lowes's etc.
Study humpback whales, which live in the ocean near Hawaii. Have your
child do an animal report on the humpback whale. (what they eat, habitat,
what unusual characteristics they have etc. and have them draw a picture.
You could also study the Hawaiian goose which is the state bird, the
candlenut tree, which is the state tree. We did not do this and I don't
have activities for these areas.
Make a volcano - there are lots of books and sources for this information
on how to make a volcano. Do a web search.
Discuss Hawaiian facts such as: 1. the largest active volcano in the
world is on the island of Hawaii (Mauna Loa). 2. Hawaii is the only
state that used to be a monarchy. Other unique facts are readily available
on the web. 3. The islands are actually peaks of volcanoes. There are
132 islands, 7 of which are inhabited. 4. Hawaii is the only U.S. state
not part of the North American continent.
History:
Study about monarchies. Have your older children do a monarchy
report. Study specifically about King Kamehameha.
Art:
Some of these activities I have intermingled with the other subjects.
We made lei's. To make a lei - Cut out cardstock flowers - smaller ages
may need help with that. Cut a slit in the middle of the flower. Tie
a knot at the end of a piece of yarn. Make the length of the yarn long
enough to hang around your child's neck. After tying the knot, put the
yarn through the hole in the middle of the flower. Then take a piece
of drinking straw that is 1 to 1 1/2 inches long and feed the yarn through
the straw, then string another flower and continue the pattern, flower,
straw and so on until the lei is complete. Knot the pieces of yarn at
the end.
Make a crown while you are studying monarchies.
Writing activities:
Have your child write an adventure that happens to him or her in Hawaii.
Geography:
Have your child do a report on volcanoes and islands. Write the definition,
draw a picture etc. Do a Geography report on volcanos - have your child
write the definition of a volcano and draw a picture of it.
Disclaimer: All links
are for informational purposes only - a link to a web site does not imply
agreement with or endorsement of that site. Because of the changing nature
of the internet, always preview a site before viewing it with your children.
