In searching for a great way two kick-start our lessons for the second day of the new school year, I chose to adapt an activity I found on Apologia’s Instagram feed.

The objective was to draw a bird house and then write a brief blurb about it, as if you were trying to sell it.The idea wasn’t too hard to replicate.

Instead of it just being about science, I figured we could expand the activities usefulness to include commerce, creative writing and some music appreciation in the background for good measure.

So, I created my own template and as we do from time to time, we put on some old vinyl records and hit the drawing board.

The new objective still included coming up with, and drawing their own nest. The difference, though, was that it could be any kind of nest related to the ant, beaver, crocodile or bird.

After the nests were drawn, the goal was to write a description under the separate headings of features and benefits.

What we ended up with was a

“Secret Ant Base” that looked like an ant and “came with 6 rooms, 1 room fit for a Queen, bomb shelter, nukes, rockets, and boats with all the accessories. [Benefits include] active security system and privacy.”

Second on the list was a

“Lovely House For Beavers”, featuring ‘’lots of room, lovely interior, with storage room for lots of food. [Benefits included] It’s safe, can be hot or cold, has an [underwater] escape hatch and comes with furniture”

Third on our list we saw a for sale sign put up on Beaver’s House from Narnia,

“Situated on a frozen lake, this lovely home has two beds built into the wall, windows with amazing views of the forest and water surrounding it.[Benefits include] having good neighbours who could be relied upon for help if ever needed”

Fourth on the list we had an

“Awesome Mansion For Birds”, featuring bedrooms, dining hall, attic, satellite radar dish, a boat that goes under water, guns and a scanner. [Benefits include] safety, security and peace of mind.”

Last on the list was a

“Ant Colony Housing”, which features two entry ways, storerooms, two large worker sleeping quarters, and one egg chamber. [Benefits include] being situated under a massive food and water source, with connecting tunnels.”

To finish the project off, each one of our homeschoolers wrote a summary consisting of two sentences or more, about why they think this would be a great product to buy.

The primary key learning area covered, for us here in Australia, is called HSIE (Human, Society and its Environment) – this is part of the government recognised standard called the Australian Curriculum – which includes history, social studies, indigenous Australian studies and commerce.

Whilst we have freedom to choose our syllabus from infants to primary, to Junior High School, the curriculum must include the key learning areas set by the government, and we must prove that we’ve adequately met them.

This turned out to be an exciting lesson in marketing a product; learning why great product knowledge is the key to building loyal customers and making a successful sale.

Secondary key learning areas that benefited from this small project included science and creative arts.

If you’re keen to give this activity a go, I’ve added my adapted template as a downloadable PDF in the bottom of this post. Feel free to adjust it, copy it, borrow or make it your own.

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PDF Link: For Sale: Build and Sell