Unit Study Exploration Box

One of the goals this year in our homeschool is to encourage more independent learning. So I rearranged the school room to make craft supplies, games, books, etc more accessible. I made themed activity bins. And I have created a Unit Study Exploration Box. I will be sharing more about our  homeschool room in two weeks as part of the Not Back To School Blog Hop.

So what is a Unit Study Exploration Box? 

Well each month this SPECIAL box will be filled with various items that coincide with our monthly unit study allowing the kids to do some exploration independently. 

It was very simple and inexpensive to make this box. I got the flat box at a local grocery store for FREE and decorated the front with a piece of scrapbook paper and a quote made with letter stickers. The quote is from Mark Twain, "Explore, Dream, Discover" and I thought it was very fitting for our new creation. I bought a plastic food tray and some little plastic bins from Dollar Tree. For this particular unit study (which is on sand) I did purchase a little basket of sea shells and a strainer at Dollar Tree also. All of the other items are things we had around the house.

Inside the folder are the Scientific Observation Sheets which I recently created as well as a laminated map and magazine cut outs that go along with our sand unit study. On the map the kids can label places that coincide with our unit study. For our sand unit study they will label beaches and deserts. 

I have made sure our microscopes were close by and added additional tools such as a magnet wand, mirror, strainer and magnifying glass in the bin at the back of the box. I have also selected several books that coincide with our unit study and placed them in a 3 tier plastic organizer. Again this was all stuff I already had on hand. 

Whats else is in our Sand Exploration Box?

-Sand samples that I received from friends and Atlanta Sand and Supply. On the bottom of each container I placed a piece of tape with the sand type written on it. 

-Seashells, starfish, oyster shell and sand dollars.

-Plastic animals that you would find living in the sand. 

-Piece of sand paper and sand paint sample.

-Jars with experiments and samples: disappearing marble (physics), how to make sand and samples of glass.

-Container with fake pearls.

-And in the center of the tray we created a little beach scene. Gwyn made the pipe cleaner people.

Each month this box will be changed to reflect our current unit study which I will post about throughout the year.