Peanut Unit – Free

“The No-Nut Peanut” Teacher’s Kit is a free download from Virginia Carolinas Peanuts that includes 14 lessons, background information, activity sheets, songs, and recipes.

The unit includes great ideas for covering history, geography, science, the arts, and language arts while keeping peanuts the focus.

Some of the activities include studying Dr. George Washington Carver, making a 30-minute peanut commercial, charting peanut plant growth, analyzing the nutritional value in peanuts, learning about southern crops, covering the types of sentences, and playing a Jeopardy-type game.

Learning about peanuts goes along perfectly with the Our Wonderful World book study and learning how plants grow!

Additional Resources

Short Peanut History
Also from the Virginia Carolinas Peanuts site.

Origin and History of Peanuts
Nice summary from Virginia Carolinas Peanuts

Peanut Trivia
Fun facts. Did you know that the “Astro Nut,” the peanut that went to the moon, is now worth over a million dollars?

George Washington Carver
Biography for kids from the Library of Congress.

1904 World’s Fair Virtual Tour
Step back in time to when the world meets peanut butter!

How the Peanut Grows
Scientifically speaking.

Burl Ives & Johnny Cash Sing “Goober Peas”

Books

George Washington Carver: Man’s Slave Becomes God’s Scientist by David Collins
One of the Sower’s Series biographies.

George Washington Carver: An American Biography by Rackham Holt
Free public domain download.

Units & Lesson Plans

Peanuts for George Washington Carver
40-page Core Knowledge lesson plan with all types of activities and printables.

Growing Peanuts in the Garden
How to plant, grow, and store your own peanuts.

Growing Peanuts for Science Projects
Instructions from the USDA.

The Great American Peanut
25-page 4-H leader’s guide from Cornell with background information, history, biographies, activities, and recipes.  Packed with information — and fun!

Notebooking Helps

Parts and Composition of a Peanut
Labeled diagram for notebook.