There is a time for everything…a season for everything. I like to use this verse when talking about seasons. You could use some (or as much as you wish) of this chapter for copywork and/or memorization.

Spring –

Often times we hear spring compared to Jesus resurrection – things coming to life again after death! Discuss how Jesus resurrection gives us HOPE and makes us think of all things NEW. Read the Easter story from your Bible or from a children’s book. Discuss with your child how when Jesus died, all hope was lost. The people were weeping, the disciples did not know what to think about their beloved Jesus being gone. But, just like spring always comes, Jesus rose from the grave!

Math

Counting -

For counting fun, look through the book and count all the different types of animals you see in this story!

Springtime Math -

For springtime math, I always enjoy doing jellybean math! There are lots of things you can do with jellybeans, depending on your kids’ ages! Here are a few ideas: put in a jar and estimate how many jelly beans there are, count and see who was closest, line up by 5’s, 10’s and practice skip counting, sort by color, see which color has the most, see which color has the least, graph the sorted jellybeans.

Science

Animal Tracks –

Look through this book and see if you can find animal tracks on any of the pages! What animal do you think made these tracks?

If you have an opportunity, go outside and pretend to be animal track detectives! Can you find any tracks? Can you determine who they belong to?

Seasons -

First, see if your child can name the 4 seasons. Make a chart of the 4 seasons then flip through the book again and list on your chart every reference you see to each season. For a craft to go with this, take a big piece of white paper and fold it into ¼’s. Each square will represent a season. Cut out (or color) 4 brown trunks and glue 1 on each square. Using tissue paper, cut small squares of different colors for each season. For spring – have pinks, and pastel colors for flowers blooming. For summer, have lots of green leaves to glue on for leaves. For fall, have reds, browns, oranges, etc. For winter, we used blues and grays and glued the leaves onto the ground instead of on top of the tree.

Elm Tree –

The bunny wakes up under an elm tree – look up what an elm tree looks like and learn a few of its characteristics. Go to this site and look at a picture of an elm tree. Maybe you can draw an elm tree in your nature journal!

Animals –

There are many animals mentioned in this book – you could choose to study any of them more in depth. (Rabbit, trout, owl, bumblebee, sparrows, brown squirrels) In particular, with this book, you may wish to take a “rabbit trail” down the rabbit trail and learn more about rabbits! J

Plants -

There are also several plants named in this book. Maybe you can make a list of each plant named and try to find a picture of each for your nature journal.

Language Arts

Poetry -

Here is a poem by Tom Robinson called Rabbit. I found this poem in the book, Favorite Poems Old and New. You can use this poem to memorize, for copywork or to have your child illustrate.

I’d like to run like a rabbit in hops

With occasional intermediate stops.

He is so cute when he lifts his ears

And looks around to see what he hears.

List Making -

Make a list of all the animals from the story.

Arts and Crafts

Drawing –

The illustrator, Betty Peterson, has really neat illustrations in this book! See if you can use only black on white paper to draw a bunny like she has! You will only be drawing the outline and features, instead of coloring it in.

Crafts and Fun ideas -

Make some bunny ears together and practice your hopping! Don’t forget to paint on a pink nose and possibly some whiskers! http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/m-ears.htm

Baking -

To finish up your bunny unit, bake some bunny cupcakes together! There are lots of ideas online for these; here is a really cute one!