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More ideas for older students
Research and make a map of pork producers around the world
Research and make a world pig map
Write your own pig riddles and include them in your lapbook
Compare and contrast wild and domestic pigs in a Venn diagram minit book
Make a classification minit book for the type of pig that you wrote about in your report

More ideas for younger students
Pig Game
Try our Pigs! Unit

Research and Lessons

Pig Characteristics
What is a pig?   Pigs are mammals (they are warm blooded, have hair, and the mothers feed their own milk to the piglets).  Pigs have four legs with feet called hooves.  They have small eyes, small curly tails,  and short flat snouts. 

Coloring
Pigs have pink skin which makes them look pink in color when they are born.  However, their hair can be a variety of colors and patterns.  You'll find pigs with red, brown, black, white, and even spotted hair.   Piglets are born with a soft covering of hair; as they grow, the hair becomes rough and bristly.

The Snout
Pigs use their snouts to make grunting and squealing sounds.   It is also used to as a digging tool!  A snout can help a pig find a meal in the dirt-- grubs, snails, and plant roots.

Speaking of the snout (and squealing!), here's what pigs sound like to different people:

English: oink oink

Croatian: rok-rok

French: groin groin

Japanese: buubuu

Polish: chrum chrum

Thai: ood ood

Vietnamese: ut-it
 

Vocabulary:

Boar - a male hog

Crops - plants grown by a farmer (such as corn and soybeans)

Hoof - a pig's foot

Litter - a family of newborn pigs

Piglet - a baby pig

Pork producer - a farmer who raises and cares for hogs

Sow - a mother pig
Omnivore- feeds on plants and animals
Sounder- a group of pigs
Snout- a long nose or muzzle that sticks out
Pork- the meat from a pig

 

In the Mud
You may think pigs wallow (or roll) in the mud for fun, but that's not the reason.  What are the reasons?
1.  To cool off!  Pigs can't sweat but a nice romp in the mud will help them feel better on hot days.
2.  To protect their skin from sunburn.  (Next time you're out of suntan lotion, you may want to try it!  ~lol~)
3.  To protect their skin from insect bites.


Pork Products
Usually, when we think of pig products, the first things that come to mind are meat:  ham, bacon, pork chops, and sausage.  Pork is the most common meat eaten in the world today.   A 250-pound market hog yields about 150 pounds of pork.

Other products and that come from swine include:
insulin for the regulation of diabetes
alves for human heart surgery
suede for shoes and clothing
leather for clothing and luggage
gelatin for many food and non-food uses
brushes
bone China

Items that are made from pig by-products
water filters
insulation
rubber
antifreeze
certain plastics
floor waxes
crayons
chalk
glue
adhesives
fertilize

cosmetics


Diet
Pigs in the wild eat differently than pigs on the farm (based on what is available to them), but the one thing they have in common is that they are omnivorous (feeding on plants and animals) and will eat almost anything!  

Some items that pigs feed on include: worms, small animals (such as snakes), snails, roots, grubs, eggs, slop, corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, sorguhm  (usually the grains on the farm are harvested, dried up, and ground together making a concoction similar to granola)

What items from the list would be consumed by domestic (farm) pigs?
What items would be eaten by pigs in the wild?


Piglet Numbers
A mother piglet has 8-12 piglets in a litter.

A mother pig is pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.
When a piglet is born, it weighs betwen 2-5lbs. with an average of 3 lbs.
When a pig is 250 lbs., it is ready for market (this takes about 5 months).


Finding Pigs

Pigs can be found on every continent except Antarctica.  Most pigs are woodland creatures, but some kinds can live in swamps, in grasslands, and even on beaches!


Pig Farmer
Farmers are the people who raise animals and crops on a farm.  Different farmers raise different kinds of animals and crops.  Some farmers raise only pigs (this type of farmer is called a pork producer).  The main job of the farmer is to make sure the pigs are healthy and well fed.  They feed the pigs, keep their environments clean, and check on the pigs often to make sure they are well/healthy.  Farmers also keep themselves informed (learning new things) about how to care for pigs by reading books and even taking classes.

If you have a hog farm close by, take a field trip and let your student interview the farmer.  Here are some ideas for questions to ask.
1. How big were your pigs when you got them?
2.  How do you keep them from escaping?
3.  What do you feed them?
4.  How do you know how much to feed them?
5.  How do they get water?
6.  Why are they so dirty?
7.  Where do they sleep?
8.  How long will you keep them?
9.  When do they go to market?  How big will they be?


The Pigpen
Comparing a dirty room to a pigpen isn't a good comparison.  Pigs like to keep clean.  They divide their pen into three areas-- one area to feed in, a second area to sleep in, and a third area is designated (as far from their bed as possible) for waste.


Three Little Pigs Story
Spend some time with your student this week reading some different versions of The Three Little Pigs.  When finished, let your student re-write the tale.  He will need to choose a setting, characters, etc.   He could even change the repeating phrases that the characters are so well known for ("Little pigs, little pigs, let me in..."). 

A younger student could simply narrate one of the stories you read to him.


Pig Sayings
There are tons of pigs sayings used in our culture.  Here are a few (with meanings):
1.   In hog heaven - complete happiness
2.  Slippery as a greased pig- hard to hang on to
3.  Go hog-wild!- get excited
4.  Pig-headed- stubborn
5.  Don't be piggy- don't be greedy
6.  When pigs fly- that will never happen


Library List
The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
The Three Little Pigs by David Weisner
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf  by Jon Scieszka
Pigs by Gail Gibbons
All Pigs are Beautiful by Dick King
 

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