Our Journey Westward » Colonial Life

Embriodery Project

Cindy — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:42:00 +0000

We did many projects to go along with our Colonial Life unit study, but this one tops the list. Not only were these embroidered hand prints a wonderful handicraft activity, they turned out beautifully, too. So much so, that they are gracing my mantle right now and I plan to hang them on the wall soon.

Sorry, this isn’t the best picture. Place a piece of plain colored fabric tightly in an embroidery hoop. On the back side, trace your child’s hand with a pencil.

Using any stich you like, have your child embroider around the traced hand using a brightly colored embroidery thread. Remember, all the knots and not-so-pretty parts of the stiching will go on the side where you have traced the hand.

As part of the unit, we had made homemade buttons out of Sculpey clay. These just seemed to be a perfect addition to the embroidery.

The final product turned out to be quite a keepsake. I’ve written their names and the date on the back of each.

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Settling the New World and Colonial Life Unit

Cindy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:05:00 +0000

I love Colonial History and, after this unit, I think my children do, too. We covered everything from the first colonies of Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth to the settlement of all 13 original colonies to life in colonial times. Thanks to our “spine” books, the unit was packed full of great notebooking/lapbooking activities and tons of hands on experiences.

Some of the hands-on activities included making butter, playing leapfrog, bb gun target practice, sewing, embroidery, knot tying, writing with a homemade quill pen and ink, making candles, knitting, decoupage, making hasty pudding and so much more.

Mahayla’s assigned reading for the unit turned into the TWO books below. I only asked her to complete a “report” on one. I gave her a book called Better Than Book Reports: More Than 40 Creative Responses to Literature which gave her many ideas for fun book reports (mobiles, dioramas, timelines, etc.) She chose to write a book report and give an oral presentation.

Caleb’s assigned reading was:

Among many picture books, we also listened to:

I was able to find lots of fun freebies online for this unit, too…..

Jamestown Online is a fun game that allows you to make decisions like the original settlers would’ve had to make. In the end (it only takes a few minutes), you see how well your colony survived based on your choices. My kids loved it!

Colonial Williamsburg Kids Zone has all sorts of historical online games that also reinforces academic skills. They are short, sweet and fun!

PBS’s Colonial House site has several fun interactive games and quizzes. Would you have survived the colony?

Quia has a fun colonial quiz.

This Salem Witch Trial Site has a neat video about the trials.

The Colonial America 1600-1775 site is FULL of great links!

I’ll be sharing a few of our favorite projects from this unit in other posts later this week. Right now, we’re off to the Revolutionary War!

13 Colonies Lapbook/Notebook

Cindy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:42:00 +0000

We’re finishing up our Thirteen Colonies & Colonial Life Unit this week! I’ll be posting soon about the biggest chunk of the unit, but I wanted to take a minute to highlight the 13 Colonies lapbook/notebook we put together using:

I had to do the legwork of locating library books about each of the Thirteen Colonies, as well as Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth. But the wonderful activity ideas were ready and waiting in the book. It turned out to be a lovely way to document a bit of info on each of the colonies we learned about.

Horses Lapbook

Making Butter the Old Fashioned Way

Cindy — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:59:00 +0000

Well, not exactly!

We’ve been doing all sorts of hands-on learning during our Colonial History unit and one of the activities I had planned was making butter. At co-op over the years, the kids have had the opportunity to shake cream in baby food jars to make their own butter, so I didn’t think we needed that experience again. We don’t own a butter churn, but I had an idea that the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer might give us a modern day look at the butter making process. And it did!

Easy directions:

Add heavy cream to your mixer
Put on the whisk attachment
Turn it to level 8 or 10 for about five minutes
Be prepared to cover the bowl with a couple of towels toward the end to keep the liquid from splattering
When the liquid has separated from the butter fat, take the butter out and squeeze out the rest of the liquid
You can keep the liquid (buttermilk) for use in other recipes
Enjoy your fresh butter! It’s SO yummy!!