The Hobbit: A Unit Study
Thursday, February 21, 2013 at 5:01AM
We have just finished a study of The Hobbit.
What fun we had!
The culmination of my son's study was a book report, research report, display board, and hands on project for a local Homeschool Literature Fair.
This book was quite an undertaking for my 8 year old. First of all, I read the book aloud to both of my children. It took about a month, but what great reading times we had!
After reading the book my son did the following activities:
Hobbit Copywork from Walking by the Way
I was so proud of Grant. He completed every single page of the copywork. We three hole punched the set and tied it together with black yarn, which looked quite spiffy on the burlap which covered his display board.
Making a String of Dwarves
I found some cute graphics online of Thorin Oakenshield and Company, printed them, and let Grant cut and paste them onto little triangle cardstock penants. This was all good for his fine motor skills.
Researching Dragons
After reading about Smaug, Grant was intrigued with dragons. We used two great resources.
Dragonology - Take it with a grain of salt, or not. I think the lore of dragons is fascinating and my kids did, too.
Ancient Mysteries: Dragons: Myths & Legends - available on Netflix Instant
Grant went through his Dragonology book and found facts that interested him, wrote them on sticky notes, and then I typed them. We printed these out for his display board. (Download the Ringbearer Font for free.)
I just love how rustic everything looked with the burlap backing. Covering display boards with fabric of some kind makes the whole project look so much neater.
Hobbit Runes
Have a little fun writing your name in Hobbit Runes.
Here's an automatic name generator. We printed out Grant's full name and put it on his display board.
Make a Salt Dough Map of Bilbo's Journey
Thanks to my friend, Kris, I had the instructions for a salt dough map.
I found a map of Bilbo's journey and enlarged it to 11x17.
Grant studied an online map of the journey, too. This was a great visual for him before we started the map! He sat with me while I typed the key for the map and made sure I had everything right (he's my particular child!)
Grant did almost the whole map by himself... it was an exercise in me sitting back and just letting him do it the way HE wanted to. He learned so much and wants to make more salt dough maps!
By the way, all of these ideas are cataloged on a board I created on Pinterest: The Hobbit.
Adding LEGO to the Project
Of course Grant wanted to include his LEGO set - Escape from Mirkwood. He also made Beorn's house, where the dwarves take shelter for the night.
There are a lot of Hobbit LEGO sets which I'm sure would enhance the story even more!
Character Sketches
I created simple character sketch notebooking pages for Grant to complete. I downloaded a picture of the character and added lines for writing. Then I asked Grant to write his description of the character. We added these to the board.
Dressing the Part
I admit it. He suckered me into getting the Bilbo Baggins costume and Sting, the sword. Oh, what fun he's having, though. I also told him this will be a Halloween costume, too!
We had to give him hairy toes, as well. Just get a brown boa from the craft store and wrap it around some flip flops.
"May the hair on your toes never fall out!"
The real joy came in watching Grant proudly speak about his project at the literature fair.
He was interviewed by two judges and I could see him talking their ears off out of the corner of my eye. (Parents were encouraged to stand back and let their child do this all by themself - excellent!)
I honestly think Grant thought he was Bilbo Baggins for the day!
And guess what?
My little guy won second place in his age group!
The next time I am inclined to tell my child that something is too hard for them (I might have suggested he use a different book for the literature fair - boy, was I wrong!) I'm going to bite my tongue and let them reach for that lofty goal.
The Hobbit was a perfect unit study for this age and we're all sad it's over!
Reader Comments (17)
What a great unit study! Congratulations to your son. My 11-year-old (as of yesterday) would love this. We use Sonlight and The Hobbit is part of our read-aloud program this year. I used an audio book the first time we read it last year because I trusted the reader's pronunciation of the unusual words. You did a great job pulling all of this together. I'm off to look at all the links and see if I can surprise my son with some fun projects based on a book he loves.
Tell him he did wonderfully! Wow! I am amazed. That is a well done project. Love the furry feet. What animal did he get a hold of for that one?
This is wonderful, Mary! I love it! I read The Hobbit for the first time myself a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I love the idea of the literature faire, too. I'd love to know more about how it is organized.
Love it! The hairy toes are fabulous!! Congrats to Grant!
That was one great project. Congrats. My daughter read The Hobbit last year and we still haven't seen the new movie. Hoping to read the Lord of the Rings series soon. Of course she has seen all of The Lord of the Rings movies over and over.
Blessings
Diane
That is quite impressive! Congratulations, Grant... an award well earned!
This is WONDERFUL Mary! What a great job he did and what great resources. Keilee read this along with me and said, "WHAT?? He only got 2nd place? He should have won" ;) We LOVED the hairy feet.
Very cool! Great job, Grant! Neat projects and a very cool study!
This looks fabulous! I've got to do a salt map - I've been reading about them for literally years. I may have to steal several of your ideas - perhaps we'll begin our school year in the fall reading The Hobbit! Thank you for sharing!
Looks like he did a great job and had fun doing it!
I love all that you did! What an AWESOME study. I think you all did a great job and I am sure he will remeber it always.
Blessings, Dawn
Very fun! My son was Frodo last Halloween. He had hairy toes too (we used an old Chewbacca costume).
How fun was that!?!? I mean how much work was that!?!? :)
I can't wait to do fun things like this when my oldest is big enough. I enjoyed seeing how all those instagram pics came to produce this kind of a project. Very well done Mary, and I will for sure keep this in mind as we pursue The Hobbit in the future.
I love it!! Great job to your son. What a nice accomplishment. I am going to follow your pin board. My son has wanted be to read the hobbit for a while. I think he will love some of these ideas!
Wow, this is amazing, totally inspiring, and those flip flops are the BEST!!
I appreciated your last comment about biting your tongue and encouraging him toward a lofty goal. I'm having the similar mommy conflicts with my 7-year old because he's reading at a much higher level than his age.
I love your posts because they help me see a step ahead of where I am now :).
Thanks for linking up!
Wow! I know some people that will love this unit study :-)
I've just spend that good part of this morning on your blog, you have some wonderful things here and a gorgeous blog. Thank you :-)
Thank you for this post! My son has requested a unit study on the Hobbit and this post is very inspiring!