Welcome to what we did for our pets topic in our home school.
FJ chose three pets to study; dogs, cats and hamsters. We had so much fun but spent more time on dogs than the other two as we are huge dog lovers, so we got a bit carried away!
Peanut butter dog treats.
Our boys loved these! I just had a look on Pinterest to find some recipes and went with the easiest which we had the ingredients for. These were super easy to make and FJ decided to try one as they only contain normal human ingredients and she actually really liked them so the dogs had to fight her for them!
Dog Bandanas.
We discovered that I am terrible at sewing! If FJ decides that she wants to learn more about sewing them I am going to have to learn myself as I only really know how to sew on a button! Poor Cody’s bandana was rather long so I also need to improve my measuring skills. The main thing is that FJ enjoyed having a go and even though Cody’s was too long, he actually really enjoyed wearing it and didn’t want me to take it off him.
Dog paw decorations.
We made our first ever batch of salt dough. I had never heard of this before, but it is so simple to make. We made the dough and got each of our three dogs to push a paw into the dough so that they had left their pawprint in the dough. We then used a cookie cutter to cut around the paws and we made a small hole so that we will be able to string them up later. We then baked the paws on a low heat for an hour to speed up the drying process but they can be left to air dry.
Then we painted them, using a different colour to highlight the pawprints. We used acrylic paint so that they had a lovely shine, but if you use normal paint then you could add a coat of PVA mixed with water to add a shine once the paint has dried. Once all painted and dry we used ribbon to attach to a cardboard tube which we had painted so that it is all together in one decoration.
Faith really enjoyed this and made a handprint with the leftover dough so I expect we will be doing other projects with salt dough while she is enjoying it so much.
Dog cupcakes
We have made these before but quite a few years ago now, so we decided to have a go at them again. They are very yummy, but quite naughty with all of the decorations to make the dog faces. I always seem to struggle to find the recommended biscuits for the ears, last time we used rich tea fingers and this time we used Viennese fingers.
Hamster pictures
FJ loves drawing so I found a guide to drawing a hamster which we both had a go at.
Hamster acoustic poems
I do love acoustic poems as I think that they are fun and good to help with descriptive writing. FJ is not as keen as I am but she doesn’t mind doing the odd one. If she ever gets the bug, I can imagine doing so many as I find them slightly addictive!
Pet studies
Dog study – looking at the roles of dogs in society, owner responsibility, diet and facts.
Cat study – looking at types of cat, how they can see in the dark and facts.
Hamster study – looking at owner responsibilities, equipment, diet and facts.
Movies and Documentaries
- The Lion in your living room
- Nine lives
- A dog’s life
- Bolt
So, there you have it. These are the activities which we completed for our home school pets topic.
