Am. History Crafts

Make a Pioneer Quilt Craft

What a great way to get some hands on quilts with small scraps of cloth. Even young children can help with the sewing process and they’ll be left with a lasting memory of their pioneer studies.

Materials:

Feather
Ink
Scissors
Paper

Suggest Resources for a Unit Study:

Art Project Tutorial:

Step 1

Look in your fabric scrap bag for materials that you can cut into square shapes to be used for the quilt. You can even find unusable clothing (with stains and rips or something) that still have a few squares that can be salvaged from them. Try the Free bins at Garage sales too!

Step 2

Once you have your fabrics, cut them into equal sized squares. We used 6 squares of fabric that measures 10 inches by 10 inches. We picked three blues, and three greens, but you can use any colors you like.

Step 3

Arrange your fabrics in the pattern you would like them to be. Since we had six, we just alternated the colors. Sew the squares together horizontally first, then vertically.

Step 4

We used a piece of scrap fleece we had left over from another project. We laid out the squares on top of the fleece and cut a piece to match the size. Then with right sides together we sewed around the edges leaving a small opening for turning.

Step 5

After turning the quilt back to the right sides, we stitched up the hole After turning the quilt back to the in the side.

All Done!

Snuggle in with your scrap quilt! Use it for one of your stuffed animals, dolls, or even baby brother!

Quill Pen Craft for Kids

Yarn dolls are fun for kids to create, but they need a bit of help with the tying! Let them choose their favorite color, and follow along for adorable results. Be sure to have lots of yard on hand as children will want to make one for each of their family members.

Materials:

Yarn
Scissors
Cardboard

Suggest Resources for a Unit Study:

Art Project Tutorial:

Step 1

Choosing a feather: You'll need a large feather, one that has a hollow center so that you can draw the ink up into the middle

Step 2

Cut the end off of the feather at a slant. You'll want to end up with a pointy tip (sort of like a calligraphy pen)

Step 3

Then cut a small vertical slit up into the tip of the pen (again, like a calligraphy pen). This will help the feather draw up and hold the ink for writing.

Step 4

Dip the end of your quill pen into the ink well.

Step 5

After you dip the feather in the ink, it should hold enough to draw with. You'll have to re-dip every

All Done!

Encourage children to pretend they're on the Oregon Trail, and write a letter back home to a loved one. Smaller children can make Trail Maps, have them draw the in all the paths, then wrinkle up the sheet to make it look old.

Make a Map

You might make a trail map with your new pen!

Tricorn Hat Craft

This is a great craft to make when learning about George Washington or even for your classroom celebrations on President’s Day. Be sure to check out our free George Washington Lapbook to expand this into a thematic unit.

Materials:

Construction Paper
Stapler
Glitter glue or Star Stickers

Suggest Resources for a Unit Study:

Art Project Tutorial:

Step 1

Draw the outline shape for your hat. This is just freehand but if you need you can find lots of template online.

Step 2

Decorate your hat with glue and glitter. Consider making one part of the hat with a special star or something. Gold foil stickers would look great on these! Let dry.

Step 3

When dry hold two pieces of the hat back to back and staple the edges.

Step 4

Go around the hat stapling the sides of the hat together. You can make it smaller or larger at this point to fit your child's head.

Step 5

Try on your new tricorn hat and have fun celebrating President's Day!

Mount Rushmore Art Project for Kids

Children love to learn about our National Landmarks, especially Mt. Rushmore and all the hard work that was put into it. There are some amazing websites and videos online for children to watch how it was made, but it’s always more fun to recreate this landmark with some creative sculpture.

Materials:

Clay or Playdough
Sculpting Tools

Suggest Resources for a Unit Study:

Art Project Tutorial:

Step 1

Find a visual photograph of Mount Rushmore to base your sculpture on. Roll out four logs of clay, each one will be a different figure

Step 2

Gather a variety of tools you can use for sculpting. Popsicle sticks, straws, knives, spoons, etc.....anything that can be used to create texture or help with sculpting.

Step 3

Begin to shape your log by defining an area for the head separate from the shoulders. Use your fingers to pinch in the indentations.

Step 4

Use your fingers to pinch out a nose. Use your tools to make indentations for the eyes and mouth.

Step 5

Flatten and shape a separate pieces of clay to use for the hair

Step 6

Use tools to add texture to the hair and your fingers to merge it the hairline to the forehead.

Step 7

Roll out two oval eyes

Step 8

Press the eyes into their sockets. Add eyebrows, and lips.

Step 9

Use a small pointy tool to add in the eyeball.

Step 10

Continue to work your sculpture until you are satisfied with your result.

Repeat x 4

Repeat the above steps for each figure in Mount Rushmore. Consider the side and placement, direction of the face etc.....

All Done!

Your Mount Rushmore sculpture is complete! This would make an excellent project alongside a National Landmark Unit Study.

American Flag Craft for Kids

This is a fun twist to making an American Flag. Children use white crayon to make the stars then paint over them with blue watercolor. The stripes are made with masking tape and red watercolor paint.

Materials:

Sheet of Paper
White Crayon
Masking Tape
Watercolors

Suggest Resources for a Unit Study:

Art Project Tutorial:

Step 1

Draw a pencil outline for where the blue of the flag will be in the shape of a rectangle. Take a white crayon, press hard and make stars

Step 2

Using masking tape, lay out strips alongside the rectangle to the other end of the paper. The paper under the tape will be the white stripes.

Step 3

Using blue watercolor paint over your stars

Step 4

Using Red watercolor, paint over your stripes. Wait for your project to dry then carefully remove the tapes from your paper

All Done!

Hang your flag up in your classroom, or on a pole! Or you can write the pledge of allegiance on the back.

Pledge of Allegiance Printables

March 18, 2013 By Valerie Mcclintick 2 Comments

Even though we don’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning in our homeschool classroom, my children have learned it through various extra curricular groups and activities.

Awana, American Heritage Girls, Boy Scouts and even church activities all make sure that children know this important patriotic pledge.

So I didn’t make this set as a way to memorize the pledge,
though you certainly could use it as such,
but I created this set more as a kick starter for a discussion about our nations position under God.

There is a coloring page for young children
a tracer page for early students,
and blank notebooking pages for older children.

I also wanted to include this chart that features the pledge written in the shape of a cross. This might be a good sheet to hang in your classroom, or as a cover of a notebooking binder.

Click Here to download this Set!

And if you’re looking for more resources
be sure you check newest release from our sponsors, Learn Our History.
They are offering a Free DVD that will helps children understand how all of our rights and freedom come directly from God, in “One Nation Under God.”

You can watch a preview of the video here, and learn how to join!

So now I’m wondering, Do you recite the Pledge of Allegiance in your classroom each morning?

Heritage History Giveaway!

September 29, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 187 Comments

UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN DRAWN!

First Winner was comment #160: Ann R. who said, “My girls enjoy the Little House books. My son enjoys books about knights and the Lord of the Rings.”

Second Winner was comment #67: Melody Lunsford who said, “Christian Europe and British Middle Ages would go along with our Mystery of History Vol. 2 material. Thank You for having a giveaway!”

Congratulation to both of our winners!

Don’t worry if you didn’t win, you can still take advantage of the
FREE Curriculum CD Offer below, but do note that it only goes through the end of October.

It’s time for another fantastic giveaway from our sponsors!

But First, Write Down This Code!
valerie7
It will get you a Free Curriculum CD from Heritage History.
You can read about the offer here

Now, on to the giveaway…

When I first learned of Heritage History,
I was a bit confused as to what products they offered,
and what would be the best fit for our family.

So I wanted to take a second to show you the different ways
Heritage History can become a part of your daily learning:

1. Read pre-1923 books online for FREE.

You can choose from hundreds of living books, and search by author, genre, title, and even civilization. If that weren’t enough, they have color coded them by reading ability.
Bookmark or Pin this page, you’ll love it.

For those of you interested, you can read the Worldview
Heritage History uses to selected each title.

2.Order single E-books based on your current studies.

The benefits of ordering a book can make all the difference in how you access the resources.
When you order an e-book you receive a PDF version and two different e-book versions.
This allows you to print multiple copies to use in your classroom,
and to save the book to your personal computer or tablet. Also the formatting of a purchased book
has been handled with detail. The captions, tables and other parts of the book have been preserved.
You can download a FREE e-book here to see the difference!
(instructions for loading it to your tablet can be found here)

3. Order a Collection of e-books surrounding a theme or topic:

Heritage History offers TWO different types of CD Collections:
Classical Libraries
Classical Curriculum

These collections of e-books have been specifically chosen to help ease the burden for homeschooling families. With these selections, you can easily provide your children with living books that compliment your current studies.

As with the single e-books, each CD comes with a PDF and two e-book versions of each title.
There are on average about 50 different titles for each collection,
and the price of the CD’s range from $19.99 to $24.99

Last month Heritage History has sent us a CD copy of
Early America from their Classical Library Collection

I was happy to see that it was filled with over 80 titles covering the American colonies to the First World War.

The American library focuses less on politics than many American History curriculums, but includes biographies and short stories about explorers, settlers, inventors, military heroes, writers, presidents, and Indian leaders. American Indian history is treated thoroughly, with over sixteen books on the subject. American Negro and Spanish American histories are also covered thoroughly.

My children are still considered early readers (green books)
so I was happy to see this series by James Otis:

It made me giggle because these are like the original Dear America Journals.

Storytelling just never goes out of style,
children love to read personal accounts of a living history.

We will be using these alongside our American History studies through out the year.

You can read more about the James Otis series here.

See all the 80+ titles included in the Early America series here.

So now that you know all about Heritage History,
are you ready to WIN some classical titles for your classroom?

Heritage History is offering up winner’s choice
of one Classical Library CD, and one Classical Curriculum CD!

There will be TWO Winners!

How to Enter:
1. Check out the Classical Library CD’s, and the Classical Curriculum CD’s.
Come back and tell me which title from each that you would want.
(If you’re the winner, you’ll get BOTH your picks, so choose wisely!)

Additional Entry:
2. Leave me comment with your children’s favorite History story.

Contest ends Friday, October 4, 2012 11:59pm.
Winner will be drawn at random, and this post will be updated.

Disclaimer: As an affiliate of Heritage History I received free product for review purposes, and a percentage of sales is credited back to me. All opinions are my honest thoughts about this product.

You can read our review of the Young Readers Collection here.

Patriotic Printables & Resources

September 11, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 4 Comments

Don’t you love teaching during an election year?
To be honest this is actually only my second election as a homeschooler.
But this year I’m really excited because this is the first year that I’ll have TWO students
that actually understand and grasp what I’m teaching.

So, I decided that now would be a great time to start a notebook on American Government.
I say “start” because I think this is going to be something we add to over the years.

One of my favorite things about notebooking is that you can open
up the notebook and add another sheet. It’s buildable knowlege.

The goal is that over the months and years the notebook will become familiar. Memorable even.
A visual representation for facts and truths that my children can draw upon in future years.

So to set-up the notebook I simply divided our binder into sections.

Obviously, I had to make printables….cause normal store bought dividers would NEVER do.

I also premade a few thematic minibooks for the children to fill in as we learn.

I used these resources:

Patriotic Shape Books

Let’s Learn Minibooks: Our Nation

For each section I thought I’d share some of the resources we’ll be adding in this year:

Constitution:

Printable Consitution Booklet

Amazing Constitution Printables from Joy Christian School

Founding Fathers Memory Game

Branches of Government Printable from Not So Wimpy Resources

Tons of Constitution Printables from this great Squidoo Lens

Executive Branch:

Presidential Nominee Fact Sheets

Paper White House Craft

White House Contact Information
so children can write a letter to the president.

Executive Branch Online Learning

Legislative Branch:

My Senators/My Representitives Fact Sheets

Last year we took a trip to our state capitol! I would highly recommend taking your children too!
We are including the photos, postcards, flattened pennies and other memorabilia in this section.

I hope we can expand this section when my children are older.

Judicial Branch

Hmmmm….a trip to the courthouse maybe?…

About our State:

Basic Facts about our State.

State Coloring Pages

State Flower/Bird/Animal Printables

State Coin

Mini Lapbook from Fortunately for You Books.

General Links:

Star Spangled Banner Printables

Patriotic Stationary from Busy Bee Kids Printables

Separation of Powers Flap Book

U.S. Symbols Matching Game

National Landmark File Folder Game

Fantastic List of MORE Election Resources from Spell Outloud

So that’s what we’ve got so far!
I’d love if you’d leave me any links or ideas for teaching about the Judicial branch,
that one has me creatively blocked for some reason :)

Heritage History

May 20, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 2 Comments

Last year I wrote a post entitled 10 Things I bet ya didn’t know about me.

I posted 10 because it’s a nice round number, and it seemed like a good place to stop.

But if I had to write a #11, this would be it:

#11. I love to read.

As a child I would read anything and everything that I could get my hands on.

Sometimes this was not such a good thing.

*ahem

Flash Forward 20 years and you’ll see that my 9 year old daughter shares my passion for reading.

Christmas and Birthdays are easy for this little girl.

Her stocking is filled with little brown rectangles and she cherishes every single one.

With her I hear, “Can we go to the library” more often then “Can we go to McDonnalds?”

What could be better right?

Well, if you have an avid reader you probably already know that
keeping the bookshelf stocked can be a bit of a challenge.

And if you’re a homeschooler you know how wonderful it is when you find an appropriate book….
a Classic even that teaches your children about important facts in a fun, and memorable way.

I believe the term for these types of stories are called Living Books!

“Putting the story back into History-
Heritage History promotes traditional narrative history. Our online library contains biographies, legends, adapted literature, and introductory histories. All were written for the general reader and are easy and enjoyable to read.”

So here’s the deal with Heritage History:

Isn’t that neat?

Heritage History has over 400 titles, and you can purchase a single book, or an entire collection!

We were sent the Young Reader’s Curriculum

Every book in this curriculum was written pre-1923
You can check out theYoung Readers Book List here.

The Young Readers library is one of our largest collections, with over eighty books to choose from. Many of the books in this collect are simple enough for a fluent reader to complete in only a few hours, so avid readers may be able to read dozens of books from the collection before moving on to more challenging curriculums. Reading a few dozen of these books will expose students to hundreds of famous historical characters and will be an excellent foundation for future learning.

Ok.

Stop right here.

I HAVE to tell you that I was a bit worried when I saw that these were pre-1923 books.

Wait….Wait….Wait. Back up even further here.

Let me just say something here:

We are not KJVer’s.

I simply can’t get through the thee’s and the thou’s and the thy’s
without spitting all over myself
and that never makes for good worship.

Anyway, when I saw that a lot of these books had that old world ring to them,
I was a bit worried.

Read:
A bit worried was I that my eldest would find the text
a daunting reversal of mirrored context, neglecting to partake
in the fanciful pleasure of each winnowed passage.

(I’m 74% sure that actually makes sense.)

In short, I wondered if it was going to be too much for my little 9 year old girl to handle.

Would she get all tongue twisted and frusterated?
Would she just skip over the seemingly backwards sentences and simply go for the general idea?

Nope. She read them.
She understood them.
She enjoyed them.
She wanted more.

(And of course I secretly took Homeschool Mom credit for providing her
such a wonderful resource that I knew she would like)

Ahem.

Actually all of the stories in the Young Readers Collection are chosen
because they are told in a “child-friendly, easy-to-understand manner.”
You can read them online to get an idea of the tone.
(Green books are for Young Readers)

Quite a contrast to fact drilling, public school, History books that i grew up on!

What a great way to learn!

Just as a side note here: I believe I remember a certain someone
who used easy to understand parables in His teaching as well.

Just Sayin’

Anyway,I really love that Heritage History is providing these classic stories in an updated format, making it easy for today’s homeschooling families. You can easily print multiple copies, and reuse your teaching materials for your upcoming students. Some of the more difficult passages make excellent read alouds as well.

There are also additional resources like Teacher Guides, maps and clipart for you to use alongside the books.

(I smell a Notebooking project)

You can pick up the Young Readers Collection for $24.95

There are quite a few other collections for older children as well, and right now if you purchase multiple CD’s Heritage History is running a special deal you can take advantage of!

Be sure to check them out on Facebook, and subscribe to their newsletter.
(Which enters you in a giveaway for a Kindle Fire!)

Overall, I’m really excited about having this resource at my fingertips. I know that I’ll be putting our new books to good use, and tying them into all of our unit studies over the coming years.

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this product for review purposes. Check out what other TOS Crew Review Bloggers thought of Heritage History!

Fourth of July Printables

June 28, 2011 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Are you busy planning for the Fourth of July?
Here is a quick list of some of helpful resources:

Preschool Fourth of July Bible Printables

K-5 Fourth of July Bible Printables

Fourth of July Bible Treat Printables

Fourth of July Lapbook

Fourth of July File Folder Game

Patriotic Crafts & Activities

Additionally, here are some more resources from around the web:

Lots more 4th of July Printables from Carisa @ 1plus1plus1equals1.com

Learn the 50 States & Capitols Song….My kids love this and we’re more then halfway through! There are lots of other songs if this isn’t you’re style :)

Patriotic Songs w/ Printable Lyrics. Scroll down to “Listen to the Song”

And if you’re planning a party in your classroom this year,
you still have enough time to order goodies through Oriental Trading and get them in time!

Soooo, How will you be celebrating this year?
I’m thinking Rib Eye….I cook a steak like Ree,
but I like to throw on a bit of Garlic Salt too.
What about You?

Tlingit Crafts

February 14, 2011 By Valerie Mcclintick 1 Comment

We are wrapping up our learning about Northwest Native American tribes.

For our basic outline we are using Evan Moor History Pockets,
which is taking us through 8 different North American Tribes.

Our focus the last couple of weeks was the Tlingit tribe,
and we had many different crafts and activites to go with our lessons:

Tlingit Artwork

Potlach Hat

Plank House Craft

Totem Pole Carving Craft

Woven Basket Craft

Woven Blanket Craft

You’ll find photo instructions and tutorials for all these crafts
in our Native American Craft Section Here.

These would be great to go alongside our Inuit Crafts (Eskimo) as you study Northwest Native Americans.

Back in Crafty Action

January 15, 2011 By Valerie Mcclintick 1 Comment

Today was a day full of acomplishment!

No only have we made it through our second week back in homeshool, but we actually got past all the required work to have time for some Crafty Fun!

We didn’t return to craftiness with anything too complicated, just a little construction paper and some glitter, but I am excited that we are slowly making our way back to the NORM around here!

What did we make with these exotic supplies?

Why, Tricorn Hats of course!

I’ve added a photo tutorial for this little hat to our slew of Patriotic Crafts here. We are busy learning about George Washington around here to be sure and staytuned for more Presidential and Patriotic Crafts! Be sure to bookmark these as February is a great month to celebrate our nations leaders!

And for those of you who are wondering….

We included the baby in our homeschool as much as possible this week.

He did start to nod off when we got out our History books, but who could blame him….it was nap time.

Pssst: I’m Loving my newest purchase for him,
he seems to think it’s quite comfy too!
(More on that later!)

Mayflower Craft

November 24, 2009 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

This is actually a craft we did a few years back, but I’ve finally put up a photo tutorial for how to make it. They turned out really colorful too, because this time we used paint instead of markers.

Additionally, I thought it might be fun to have children draw pictures of different items and resources that were aboard the Mayflower and put them into the pocket.

If you haven’t already noticed, for each craft I offer some “Discussion” ideas. (You’ll see them to the right of the “Materials” list) These discussion questions are meant to be things you can be thinking about and teaching on as you complete the craft. It’s my experience (what little of it that I have) that my kids are very receptive to information when it is paired with hands on activities, and they actually commit it to memory easier when we’re having fun learning about it. It’s also useful to have something tangible for the visual learner in all of us, and I think crafts are a great way to fill that need when they are paired with educational topics.

Blah Blah, right? You know, just in case you were wondering what all that discussion stuff was.

Anyway,

Here are the Photo Instructions

I’ve paired this with the book, “If you sailed on the Mayflower” which has more then enough information to teach children all about the Separatists, and they’re journey to the New World, in search of religious freedoms.

Mount Rushmore Craft

November 21, 2009 By Valerie Mcclintick 3 Comments

Isn’t this the most adorable Mount Rushmore Craft?

We’re learning about different American Symbols, icons and landmarks and I stumbled across this craft last week and had to make it!

Thankfully Sandy from Busy Bee Kids Crafts let us share this adorable craft with you!

If you’ve never been over to BBKC, let me tell you that this is not the only adorable craft you’ll find there!

Some of my favorites are the Paper Bag Turkey, and the Corn Wrapped Place Setting (perfect for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday!)

You can check out these and more in their Kids Craft Index.

American Symbols: Bald Eagle Craft

November 11, 2009 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Since Sissy is officially in First Grade, it’s time for us to learn all about American Symbols! So over the next few weeks I’ll be adding in some fun Patriotic Themed crafts and activities that we do.

Yes, I do realized that it is November and the rest of the world is doing Thanksgiving stuff.

But that’s just how we roll.

Maybe you’ll find something you like and you can bookmark it for June and July activities next year?

Anyway, I’ve paired these crafts up with a series of books called “American Symbols” which are geared towards children ages 4-8.

For our first craft we did the Bald Eagle:

Here are Photo Instructions

Stay tuned for more American Symbol Crafts!