Steve Irwin’s show, Crocodile Hunter, is an engaging way to learn about wildlife. And he was quite a character himself! This unit study shares all about his life as a zookeeper and a television personality. Learn about Australia and reptiles, too!
Grab theWho Was Steve Irwin? book, sign-up to receive the FREE printable unit study and then explore the other resources below!
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The Book about Steve Irwin
The Steve Irwin unit study is based upon Who Was Steve Irwin?. This book shares how his family cultivated his love of animals during his childhood and how he later went on to be a TV personality who educated the world about wild animals. Learn how the Irwins started a zoo, helped save endangered animals and Steve’s path to becoming a TV personality.
You could use this book as a read aloud or have 3rd-5th graders read it on their own. We spread the book out over about three days.
The Steve Irwin FREE Printable Unit Study
The printable unit study includes the following:
Notebooking pages about Steve Irwin’s life.
A timeline activity to chart Mr. Irwin’s life and work.
Create Your Own Zoo Sign template: Use this to pretend to create your own zoo exhibit. Or let it inspire you to design your own sign.
Compare and Contrast Activities: These two pages allow you to compare freshwater and salt water crocodiles and to compare alligators to crocodiles.
Australian Animals: Match the picture of the animal to the label.
Australia Notebooking Page: Includes a map and the flag of Australia as well as lots of space to write facts about Australia.
A following direction activity that teaches Australian geography while sharing about Steve Irwin’s life.
Videos of Steve Irwin
This short video will give your children a good introduction to Steve Irwin. (Approx. 7 min.)
Several of his Crocodile Hunter shows (50 min. each) are also available on YouTube.
Learn about Reptiles
Many of the animals that Steve Irwin observed and helped were reptiles. Here is a little more information about reptiles. (4 minutes)
Learn more about reptiles over at Ducksters!
Draw Reptiles
Our favorite series of drawing videos, Art for Kids Hub, has several videos for drawing reptiles. Here is a great one to get you started! (10 minutes)
And here is a link to several other videos showing how to draw realistic and cartoonish reptiles.
Learn about Australia
Here is a great video that shares Australia’s history, geography, native animals and more! (13.5 minutes)
You can learn more about Australia over at Ducksters. This site can help your kids fill out the Australia notebooking page included in the printable packet above.
And for a detailed look at Australian animals, check out this video. (13 minutes)
Make Your Own Zoo
Have your child pretend they are like the Irwin family and create their own “zoo” at your house. They can use toy or stuffed animals or just draw animals to have in their zoo. Encourage them to create a sign for each animal so visitors can learn about where the animals come from, the food they eat, and a little bit about their personality. There is a sign template in the printable packet above or your children can create their own signs.
Study the Animals in Your Backyard
Have your children head outside and see what animals they can find around your house. Do they see bugs, worms, frogs, birds, squirrels? Remind them to be respectful and look, but don’t touch. And to be careful how close they get to some of them.
Encourage your children to look at the color of the animals, their markings, and body parts. Have them watch how they move, eat, and play. Maybe they want to draw an animal they find. Or maybe you can make a video of them talking about the animal just like Steve Irwin did!
Know of any other good resources for learning about Steve Irwin, reptiles or Australia? Please share below!
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