This summer, our family had fun with literature and used unit studies to expand each book into a complete education experience. One of the fun books we loved was A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon.
A Bad Case of Stripes Unit Study
In A Bad Case of Stripes, Camilla finds herself hiding what she truly loves in order to be what she thinks other people want her to be and as a result, contracts a very bizarre illness.
Through this list of links and ideas, you can build your own unit study based on this intriguing book.
Language Arts
Start by reading the book, A Bad Case of Stripes. Then, discuss the characters, settings, problem, solution, and main idea of the book. Expand your review of the book with these resources:
- Basic Language Arts Printables
- A Bad Case of Stripes Inspired Printables (below)
Art Project
- Decorate a paper doll like Camilla
- Make stripes over a black and white picture of your child like The Chaos and the Clutter
- Create a visual illusion from stripes
- Trace a life-size Camilla and decorate her with stripes like Make and Takes
- Draw striped self portraits like The Modern Art Smock
Math
- Use dry lima beans as a manipulative for counting, grouping, and more.
- Play a game and use lima beans to keep score.
Science
Theme: lima beans
- Have a lima bean dissection and label the part of a bean.
- Build a paper lima bean seed.
- Sprout a bean in a plastic bag.
- Examine different kinds of seeds.
Theme: rainbows
- Watch a rainbow in milk (seen above) like The Artful Parent
- Make a rainbow in a jar like Playdough to Plato
- Create rainbow prisms like Buggy and Buddy
Taste Test
- Serve lima beans for dinner
- Make Lima Bean Dip from Kitchen Counter Chronicles
Spiritual Lessons
Theme: Be yourself
- Read verses about being yourself.
- Review a mini-object lesson about self-esteem.
- Use these four self-esteem boosting activities.
- Review the God Made Me lesson at DLTK.
Theme: Respect others
- Learn about respect (Focus on the Family lesson plan).
- Review a mini-object lesson about respect.
- Use the discussion questions about respecting others.
More helpful resources for A Bad Case of the Stripes
Books for teaching self-esteem
Redefining Beautiful: What God Sees When God Sees You
Everybody Tells Me to Be Myself but I Don’t Know Who I Am, Revised Edition (Faithgirlz!)
Perfectly Unique: Praising God from Head to Foot
BeTween: A Preteen Girl’s Guide to Life
Movies with parallel themes
Veggie Tales: Dave and the Giant Pickle
Character Studies and resources
- Surround your child with edifying Scripture using Promise Packs from ScriptureArt. Use discount code MeetPenny25 to save 25%.
- Reward your children with Character Badges from The Modest Mom.
A Bad Case of Stripes Literacy Pack
Inspired by A Bad Case of Stripes and with clip art by The3AMTeacher, you can find this printable pack at my TpT Store.
Michelle Jacob says
what age group os this pack good for?
Ramona Acatecatl says
First Grade
GardenSquarealf says
I like it, thanks 🙂
Katie T. says
How do we get the packet?
Dana Miller says
This artdaily.cc/news/128266/Amazing-Museums-You-Can-Visit-Online#.X3r_Wmj7TIW opened my eyes. Now I understand that I will not allow myself to be deceived. Besides, I am glad that I learned a lot of new things.