Have you ever thought about who invented peanut butter? Have you thought about other ways to use peanuts?

George Washington Carver was the man responsible for peanut butter. (#YUM!)

In fact, he came up with over 300 ways to use peanuts. He was a scientist and professor. George Washington Carver was a pretty interesting person. So, it totally makes sense that he is part of our social studies curriculum in first grade.

Sometimes social studies can get a bit dry. So, I always try to be selective about the resources I use. Plus, I do my best to make social studies lessons interesting.

At first, I had a hard time finding high-quality materials about him. Eventually, I did find some video clips and good books. I also created a project for my students to do. These peanut people turned out super cute! #CraftivityCuteness

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While I didn’t find a perfect book for my littles to read, I found two great options to read aloud. My higher groups could probably read these books, but my lower readers couldn’t. Whether your kids read them independently or you read them aloud they’re great books for your George Washington Carver unit.

Here is a video about him from YouTube.

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If you can’t use YouTube you might want to check out BrainPOP Jr. (here) or BrainPOP (here) for additional video resources.

Personally, I like to get kids writing across the curriculum. So, I like to include a lot of “craftivities” and writing in all of our subjects. Check out how our peanut people turned out.

Some were simple and sweet. Others were ultra girly and a few even had to have cracked nuts! I love how they match the personalities of their creators. So cute!

This project is perfect for a unit on George Washington Carver, Black History Month, or just a unit on American inventors. I hope your class enjoys it as much as mine did.

Make Your Own Peanut Person

Prep. Print the template out. Each student needs one light brown peanut person and one sheet of dark brown peanuts. Each person will also need at least 1-2 of the white lined peanuts for writing.

Step 1. The students color their peanut people and then cut them out.

Step 2. Next, the students write keywords about George Washington Carver on the dark brown peanuts.

Step 3. Then, they use the keywords to write a paragraph about George Washington Carver on the lined paper and cut it out.

Step 4. Stack the writing under the peanut person and staple it to a large sheet of construction paper.

Step 5. Finally, glue the dark brown peanuts around the peanut person.

Download the Free Template Here

Planning lessons with fun, creative activities is part of being the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G teacher you were made to be, but it can be overwhelming to come up with all of them on your own. I want you to have time for LIFE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL. I’d love to share my best ideas with you. Stuff like…