Nutcracker–Unit Study

My lovely ballerinas love all things Nutcracker, so we absolutely HAD to do a Nutcracker Unit Study this year.

I had planned to create my own unit, then I found this easy to follow unit study on line.  Then I found a larger unit study from the San Francisco Ballet, so I combined the two.  I also used resources from a unit study at Joyful Songs – Music Education Blog.   Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better Homegrown Learners posted a free Nutcracker Unit as well.  Throw in the ballet lapbook at Homeschool Share and there really is no need to reinvent the “Nutcracker wheel”.  Instead I decided to put them all together and make these great studies merge into one, and make them easy for everyone to find.

Here is a lovely rendition of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy for your enjoyment.

If your budding ballerina would like to choreograph her own Nutcracker, print out these lovely puppets for her to color and glue to popsicle sticks and she’ll be in business!

If you’d like to see photos of Olivia and Lindsey in various past roles in the Nutcracker, visit this post…and this one too.

Books we used:

The Story of the Nutcracker; E.T.A. Hoffman
Eyewitness Classics, The Nutcracker; by DK Publishing
The Nutcracker – A Young Readers Edition; adapted by Don Daily
Ballet; by Kate Castle
Looking at Paintings of Dancers; by Peggy Roalf
To Dance To Dream; by Maxine Drury
The Kingfisher Treasury of Ballet Stories; collected by Caroline Plaisted
The Ultimate Ballet Sticker Book; by DK Publishing

Happy homeschooling holidays!!