Bring Science to Life With Lesson Plans for Eric Carle Books

Perhaps one of the most beloved of all children’s book authors and illustrators is Eric Carle. His work focuses on a variety of topics from nature. From ladybugs to caterpillars, from cats to fireflies, Carle covers it in rich color and fascinating textures. While an author study seems like a natural way to introduce kids to Eric Carle’s work, you might want to try a more integrated approach.

Books like "A House for a Hermit Crab" or "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" can be used to teach a variety of life science topics. Take "A House for a Hermit Crab," for example. This book makes a wonderful introduction to ocean life. The story begins with Hermit Crab outgrowing his shell. He then sets out across the ocean floor to find a new, bigger shell. Even though he finds one, its plain and not like his old one. Hermit Crab meets many new friends who help him decorate his new shell. As each friend is introduced, kids get to “meet” a new marine animal. You can read the story and talk about the sea anemone, an animal many people mistake for a plant because of its wavy “petal-like” tentacles. You can introduce students to coral or a colony of polyps. You can also talk about different types of crabs – why is Hermit Crab looking for a new shell anyway? Don’t crabs grow their own shells?

Older students can learn about symbiosis while reading "A House for a Hermit Crab." After reading the book, you can talk about mutually beneficial relationships in nature. In the ocean, sea anemones are often found attached to the shells of hermit crabs. They get a free ride around the ocean, and a better chance to find and capture prey. Their host, and transporter, gets an unending food supply as it scavenges from the leftovers the anemone drops. The hermit crab also has some protection since each of the anemone’s tentacles contains stinging cells that deter predators.

You also partner with one or more colleagues to do a series of activities. Each teacher can prepare a read aloud, lesson, and activity related to one of Eric Carle’s books. Then, teachers can trade classes. For example, when kids come to you, they can be immersed for the afternoon in the world of Hermit Crab’s ocean. They can hear the story, act it out using animal cut-outs, draw their own ideal home, and observe a cage of real hermit crabs, diagramming their body parts and labeling the special adaptations they have to help them survive.

Then, when they go to your partner’s room, they’ll be immersed in life on a milkweed leaf. They’ll observe tiny butterfly eggs, look at hungry caterpillars through magnifying glasses, create tissue paper butterflies, and make a life cycle wheel showing all of the stages of a butterfly's life.

With a little imagination, the bright colors in Eric Carle’s world can bring your science lessons, and your classrooms, to life. Check out the following links to get your life science/Eric Carle lessons started.

Lesson Plans for Eric Carle Books:

Under the Deep Blue Sea

This lesson includes several activities that relate to ocean life and can be tied into a study of "A House for a Hermit Crab." The lesson includes activities related to ocean habitats, ocean organisms, and adaptations of animals beneath the sea.

Science/Technology Butterfly Unit

This lesson teaches students how to create their own butterfly terrarium and then observe their butterfly’s life cycle and growth. It is an interdisciplinary lesson that can be used with a variety of ages.

Howdy Partner!

This lesson discusses different types of symbiotic relationships, and teaches students that life is a web of interconnectedness.