Lucille Ball is known as the ‘Queen of Television’ and the ‘Queen of Comedy’. Not only was she funny, but she also broke through barriers like convincing TV executives to allow her TV character to be married to a Cuban-American and to appear pregnant in the show. Later, she became the first female president of a major production company.
Now you can learn all about Lucille Ball and a bit about show biz in your homeschool! This unit study provides you with books, videos, links to her work, virtual museum tours, and printables!
Grab the books, sign-up to receive the FREE printable unit study and then explore the other resources below!
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The Books about Lucille Ball
The Lucille Ball unit study was created to use with Who Was Lucille Ball? (112 pages). You may choose to use this book as a read aloud or have 3rd graders and up read it independently. Younger children will enjoy I am Lucille Ball (Ordinary People Change the World) (40 pages).
The Lucille Ball Printable Unit Study
The printable portion of the unit study includes the following:
Notebooking pages about Lucille Ball’s life and career to complete while reading about her.
A timeline activity to chart Ball’s life and work.
Compare and Contrast Venn Diagram: Compare screwball comedy vs. situation comedy. Then watch an episode of I Love Lucy and pick out the different techniques.
Show Biz Crossword Puzzle: Fill in words related to show business during the time Lucy was working.
Breaking Barriers Writing Prompt with Graphic Organizer: Lucy pushed societal boundaries during her career. Pick one to write about.
Video about Lucille Ball
A kid-friendly biography of Lucille Ball. (5 min.)
Learn more about Lucille Ball at Kiddle.
Explore Lucille Ball’s Work
The original episodes of I Love Lucy are available for purchase on Amazon: The Best of I Love Lucy Season 1 (Episode 12 is one of her most famous.) and The Best of I Love Lucy Season 2 (Episode 6 is where she gives birth to little Ricky.) They are also available on Paramount Plus, if you have a subscription. Three seasons of The Lucy Show and all six seasons of Here’s Lucy are available for free with an Amazon Prime subscription.
Her last movie, Stone Pillow, which was a very different role for Lucy, is also available to on Amazon.
And episodes from her radio show, My Favorite Husband, can be listened to online. This is the show that led to I Love Lucy.
Virtual Museum Tours
There are two museums in Lucy’s hometown of Jamestown, NY. The first, the Lucy Desi Museum is dedicated to her and Desi Arnaz and their careers. The second, the National Comedy Center, has over fifty exhibits dedicated to comedy! You can learn a little bit more about them here (3 min.)
Check out the Lucy and Desi Museum website.
Check out the nearby National Comedy Center website.
Be A Comedian
Writing and telling jokes is actually pretty hard. Here are ten ways you can teach your child to be funny. You can also watch this video with your kids that has some specific ideas for writing funny material and then see where it takes you! (5 min.)
Resources for High Schoolers and Adults
Lucille Ball’s childhood and her marriage to Desi Arnaz were much more tumultuous tha
n this unit study alludes to. If you, as a parent, want to learn more or you have high schoolers that are interested, then I highly recommend these two podcast episodes from The History Chicks: Lucille Ball, Part One and Lucille Ball, Part Two.
Being the Ricardos (2021) gives a behind the scenes view into Lucy and Ricky’s personal and professional lives. It is available on Amazon Prime and has had mixed reviews from critics and viewers.
Her autobiography, Love Lucy, has received many good reviews.
She wrote it in the early 1960s, but it was not published until 1996.
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