June Fun Learning Holidays
Looking for ways to supplement your homeschool curriculum? How about short unit studies to explore a variety of topics? These fun holidays are a great way to celebrate and provide engaging learning opportunities for your kids. Here’s my list of June homeschool unit study ideas using fun holidays.
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What to Celebrate in the Month of June
Every month has designated awareness holidays. Take advantage of these holidays to introduce your kids to a new experience or get them to try something new. Also, if your child wants to dig in, use these holidays to spend additional time focused on a particular area of interest.
Let’s look at some of the monthly awareness themes for the month of June that you can use to supplement your homeschool curriculum.
Aquarium Month
Visit an aquarium near you, or if you’re ready for the commitment, start your own freshwater aquarium with a tank and some colorful fish your kids will love.
Largest Aquariums in the World: YouTube video covering the 10 largest aquariums in the world
Prime Time Aquatics: Videos detailing everything from setting up your first aquarium to maintenance, and unique aquascapes.
Candy Month
Watch how jelly beans are made with this video from Discovery UK.
Browse through the huge selection of candy recipes from Shugary Sweets and pick a few to try. Your kids will love to make their own homemade candy!
Great Outdoors Month
Obviously, get outside to celebrate this one. Here are a few ideas for your outdoor adventures.
- camping
- hiking
- nature walk
- kayaking
- visit an arboretum
- go to the beach
- outdoor scavenger hunt
- enjoy the view from the top of a hill or mountain
- cloud-watching
- climb a tree
- paint or sketch a nature scene
- eat outside
Try a sampling of nature studies from Our Journey Westward. There are 10 creative nature walk ideas with a fun follow-up activity suggestion. The ten studies are: Animal Signs, Beautiful Birds, Captivating Clouds, Incredible Creeks, Ever-Changing Erosion, A Fungus Among Us, Peaceful Ponds, Remarkable Rain, Delightful Deciduous Trees, and Wonderful Wildflowers.
National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month
Load your plates with fruit and veggies this month! You can start a garden, visit a farmer’s market, or learn about the nutrients we get from fruit and vegetables. Let your kids choose some new healthy foods to try, or have a blind taste test! You might also choose to learn about canning or preserving fruits and vegetables from your garden. Here are a few resources for fruit and vegetable unit studies.
DIY Homeschooler: Links to lesson plans, notebooking pages, USDA nutrition information, and more.
Family Consumer Sciences: Fruit classification activity, fruit selection, and hands-on baking.
National Rose Month
June is also National Rose Month—a perfect opportunity to visit a beautiful rose garden! Bring sketchbooks and art supplies to draw or paint if your kids enjoy art, or have them get creative with a camera to capture the beauty.
How to Draw a Rose Step-by-Step Tutorial (YouTube)
Grab your free Music Practice Checkoff Chart
National Week Holidays for June
Next up are the national awareness weeks to use as homeschool learning opportunities during the month of June.
Fishing Week: 1st week
If you can, take your kids fishing this week. The International Game Fish Association offers a free online Intro to Fishing class your kids can take if they’re interested in learning the basics.
Email Week: 2nd week
If your kids are old enough to have their own email address, teach them how to handle email. They will benefit from learning to check email at a few designated times per day (once a day is probably sufficient until they’re in high school). Teach them how to create folders, auto-responders, signatures, and unsubscribe to junk mail, along with how to compose a professional email. A professional email should be treated the same way a written letter was in the past. No emojis, slang, or LOLs!
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National Day Holidays for June
Now we’re on to the individual day holidays for the month of June. Choose a few to incorporate into your homeschool for a variety of learning and fun.
World Bicycle Day: June 3
Explore the history of the bicycle, learn about bicycle maintenance, or go on a family bike ride.
7 Crazy Bikes You Have to See to Believe (YouTube): Wow your kids with this collection of new bicycle inventions by ordinary people.
Evolution of the Bicycle (YouTube): Quick visual history from the velocipede (hobby horse) to the mountain bike.
Intro to Bike Maintenance (REI video class): Five-video series covering tools, parts of the bike, fixing a flat, and more.
National Cheese Day: June 4
Taste test a variety of cheese today, visit a cheese factory, or try making your own cheese at home.
A Brief History of Cheese (YouTube: Ted-Ed)
How to Make Cheese at Home: Easy 2-Ingredient Cheese Recipe (YouTube)
Cheese Making Process (YouTube)
National Trails Day: June 4
Head out to walk, run, hike, bike, or ride a horse on a trail today! Check out the links below to find trails in your area.
National Hot Air Balloon Day: June 5
If you happen to live somewhere near a hot air balloon operator, you can make it a field trip to go watch the process of taking off and landing.
Find a simple hot air balloon unit study from Homeschool Helper Online or watch a short video about How Hot Air Balloons Work.
Finally, for a unique story to capture your kids’ attention, watch Weird History’s video, How 2 Families Escaped East Germany in a Homemade Balloon.
D-Day: June 6
Take a moment of silence to observe this day, remembering the many soldiers who lost their lives during the June 6, 1944 storming of the beaches of Normandy, France.
Read a condensed history of D-Day from History.com or for mature middle and high school students, watch the short video from America the Story of Us: D-Day Invasion.
World Ocean Day: June 8
There are dozens of wonderful unit study options for studying oceans. Here’s a brief list of ideas to consider.
Ocean Unit Study from Natural Beach Living (elementary age)
Ocean Unit Study from Eclectic Homeschooling (upper elementary to high school using books and video)
Thousands of ocean unit resources are available at Teachers Pay Teachers to engage in learning about our world’s oceans.
Ballpoint Pen Day: June 10
Ballpoint Pen Day celebrates the date in 1943 that Laslo and Georg Biro filed their patent for the ballpoint pen.
Biro and the Ballpoint Pen (YouTube)
How a Retractable Ballpoint Pen Works (YouTube)
Simple Ballpoint Pen Shading Tips (YouTube)
Herb and Spices Day: June 10
Take a trip around the world to learn the history of spices or discover medicinal uses of herbs with a unit study focused on herbs and spices.
The National Center for Agricultural Literacy at Utah State University has a useful lesson plan for introducing herbs and spices of the world to middle and high school students. This study includes fun hands-on activities, printable resources, video, and instruction for a student end-of-unit presentation.
You can download a free PDF file called A Taste of Herbs and Spices from Family Consumer Sciences. The file contains links to articles, video, and interactive games, plus a taste testing activity.
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Sewing Machine Day: June 13
Take some time to acknowledge the difference sewing machines have made in our daily lives.
The Forgotten History of Sewing Machines (YouTube)
How Does a Sewing Machine Work? (YouTube)
National Nature Photography Day: June 15
If your kids are interested in photography, have them take a camera (or phone) outside and take photos of nature. The video links below offer tips and inspiration for young photographers.
Tips for iPhone landscape photography (YouTube playlist)
Award Winning 13 Year-Old Photographer (YouTube)
International Landscape Photographer of the Year compilation
International Waterfall Day: June 16
Take a look at some of the world’s most beautiful waterfalls to celebrate today, and a quick explanation of how waterfalls form. PBS’ Nature has an episode on Victoria Falls, along with a helpful visualization of the scale of Victoria Falls. Finally, use Google Earth’s guided tour to magnificent waterfalls around the world.
National Bald Eagle Day: June 20
Find a thorough list of resources for a bald eagle unit study at Walking in High Cotton. Your kids may also enjoy the bald eagle live cams at explore.org.
World Rainforest Day: June 22
Visit the Rainforest Alliance for a variety of resources, including coloring pages short printable articles kids will enjoy about chocolate, bananas, and how much rain a rainforest gets.
Find informative videos and craft ideas for your rainforest unit study from Susan Evans.
Log Cabin Day: June 25
The National Park Service provides a downloadable lesson plan on log cabins in America, intended for middle school use.
Your kids will love building their own popsicle stick log cabin.
A Brief History of Log Cabins in America (YouTube)
National Canoe Day: June 26
For patient kids who are interested, The Birth of a Dugout Canoe is a lovely short documentary detailing the process of building a traditional canoe. Contrast that with How It’s Made: Aluminum Canoes.
Have your kids make paper towel tube canoes as a fun hands-on craft activity.
National Meteor Watch Day: June 30
Meteor Showers 101 (YouTube – National Geographic)
Visit the meteor shower calendar from the American Meteor Society to get details on meteor shower viewing in your area.
See Frederic Church’s painting, The Meteor of 1860, and read about the connection between his painting and Walt Whitman’s poetry.
Read: 99 Fun Paper Activities for Kids
Visit my homeschool resources page for monthly unit study ideas, projects, and homeschool planning help!
How to Use Fun Holidays for Unit Studies in June
The key to using fun holiday lists like this in your homeschool is to keep it simple. Don’t try to celebrate every single holiday or awareness theme. You and your kids will be overwhelmed.
One way to implement these supplemental learning activities is to keep a list of fun holidays. Then, note down the ones you celebrate with the year and what you did. Next year, come back to the list and pick another one or two to celebrate.
There are, of course, more “national days” you could choose to celebrate that are not included in this list, many of them focused on food. It’s fun to choose a few of these as well to add in treats here and there or as a way to have your kids try new foods.
Find additional June fun holidays that aren’t necessarily learning-related in these two articles.
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