Amelia Earhart FREE Unit Study

Amelia Earhart was a woman who pushed the limits.  She admired other women who stepped outside of traditional roles.  At a young age, she became a famous aviatrix or female pilot. She enjoyed setting new records in her airplane and dabbled in many jobs and businesses.

In this FREE unit study, you and your children will learn all about Amelia Earhart and the early days of aviation.

Grab the Who Was Amelia Earhart? book, sign-up to receive the FREE printable unit study and then explore the other resources below!

The Book about Amelia Earhart

The Amelia Earhart unit study is based upon Who Was Amelia Earhart?. This book shares about Amelia’s childhood and how she became fascinated with flying. Learn about the records she broke, challenges she faced and about her tragic and mysterious disappearance.

You could use this book as a read aloud or have 3rd-5th graders read it on their own. The book works well spread out over 3-5 days.

The Amelia Earhart FREE Printable Unit Study

The printable unit study includes the following:

Notebooking pages about Amelia Earhart’s life.

A timeline activity to chart Amelia Earhart’s life and work.

A History of Flight Timeline activity.

What Do You Think Happened? writing prompt.  Students are encouraged to write a fictional account of Amelia’s last flight or to research the theories as to what happened to her plane and decide which they think is the most accurate.

Flight Instrument Crossword Puzzle: Learn about some of the instruments Ms. Earhart used on her plane.

Following Directions with Amelia Earhart: Help your children develop their listening skills and their world geography knowledge while learning about Amelia’s flights.

Videos about Amelia Earhart

This short video will give your children a good introduction to Amelia Earhart. (Approx. 5 min.)

Your children can research more about Amelia Earhart at Ducksters.com.

For a longer documentary about Amelia Earhart, check out the American Experience episode about her.

For moms: History Chicks Podcast does a great job of deep diving into biographies of historic women.  Here is their episode on Amelia Earhart, which fills in a lot more details of her life. (Note: These episodes are for adults.)

Other Famous Aviators

Charles Lindbergh was another famous aviator of Amelia Earhart’s time and served as an inspiration to her.  Here is a short biography of him.  (5 min.)

Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited with making the first successful manned flight of a heavier-than-air craft under its own power. Less than 20 years later, Amelia would begin flying.

See if you can find an airing of Breaking Through the Clouds, The First Women’s National Air Derby, on PBS or rent the movie here.

Learn about Flight

Humans tried to fly for centuries before becoming successful.  It still seems like a miracle to many that heavy airplanes stay in the sky!  Have a physics lesson by watching the videos below and then designing your own airplanes!

Here is a short video that explains how a plane is able to stay up in the air and moving. (3 min.):

If your children want a more technical explanation of how modern planes work, check out this video. (6 min.):

 

Now try airplane design yourself!  This video guides you through building paper airplanes with your own supplies using the principles you learned above.

Or you can buy a paper airplane kit:

Another fun activity is to experiment with these gliders:

Women’s Rights Movement

Amelia Earhart encouraged women to take on new roles that were not traditional for women.  She even kept a scrapbook throughout her life of a variety of women who accomplished non-traditional female achievements.  Here is a recording of a speech she gave about how science had benefited women in her lifetime. (4 min.)

Amelia Earhart was 23 when women gained the right to vote.  Here is more information on how women won this right.  This had a big influence on how Amelia viewed her role in society. (5 min.)

To learn more about the Women’s Rights Movement:

Or check out these Who Was… books about women in history!

Have you used any other fun resources to learn about Amelia Earhart?  Let us know!

Other Resources

Great books about Amelia Earhart for younger children:

Great coloring book:

For the adults to broaden their knowledge:

More Women’s History: