Introduction to Embryology
Age range: 7-12
Grade: 2-5
Dr. Mary Fosnaught, 4-H and Youth Development Extension Associate with Poultry Science explains what embryology is and provides an overview of the curriculum.
Welcome to Embryology: Hatching!
“The 4-H Embryology beginner’s guide uses the experiential learning model to teach children to pick and count chicks, use an incubator, and build a brooder. Skills learned are observing, comparing, measuring, and communicating. This book walks youth through the growing processes inside eggs as the embryo grows.” –National 4-H
Have you ever wondered how to get from egg to chick? The Embryology: Hatching curriculum guide (available from Shop 4-H) cracks open youths’ curiosity about animal development by providing them with the unique eggsperience of incubating eggs. Youth can observe how the embryos change each day until the awesome moment when a baby chick emerges from its shell.
The resources on this site include facilitator tools, videos, games, and extension ideas. Some resources, like the extension activities, may need extra materials beyond those listed in the book.
All materials on this website have been developed by North Carolina 4-H to enhance, enrich, and extend the lessons in the National 4-H curriculum, 4-H Embryology: Hatching. They are not a replacement for the book. The pages on this site match the lessons in the book. Each page contains materials for four to five lessons that correspond to the activities in the book.
Virtual Assets
Integrating Literacy: Books About Chickens and Eggs
Need a read-aloud to go along with your Hatching unit? Check out this list of fiction and nonfiction titles.
Chicken Nuggets: Daily Facts
Want to know what is happening inside your eggs every day? These brief passages explain what happens to a chicken embryo on each day of the incubation period.
Embryology FAQs
Have a question about incubating chickens? Your local 4-H agent is always the best source for information. Answers to some of the most common questions our 4-H agents are asked can be found right here in this document.
Facilitator Support Videos
Visit our YouTube channel for videos that will walk you through the technical and logistical aspects of hatching eggs.
Facilitator Checklists
“To Do” checklists are a handy reminder about what to do at each step along the Hatching journey (“Setting Up an Incubator,” “Setting Eggs,” “Incubating Eggs”, and “Setting Up a Brooder Box”). Print the checklists out and place them on a clipboard near your incubator space
Use the sidebar menu above, or the links below to navigate the curriculum.
This curriculum is produced by National 4-H and can be located at shop4-h.org. The activities on this page are designed to enhance and work with the curriculum, they are not a substitute for the book content.
