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Pioneer 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!

Yarn Doll 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

If you have cardboard this will make the first step easier. You need to cut a bunch of strings of yarn that are the same size. Using the cardboard, simply wrap your yarn around and around until you've got the amount you want.

Step 2

Cut the yarn at one end. This will make need the cardboard.

Step 3

To make the head we twisted, then turned our twist inward to make the bulge

Step 4

Once you have the bulge of the head, you want to tie it off with a spare string. Tie tightly, and keep all your knots on the backside (choose a back)

Step 5: Boy

If you're making a boy, you'll want to seperate the yarn in the general direction that each of the strands will be going. Two arms at the side, and two legs below. Legs need to be thicker.

Step 6: Boy

Begin to tie off the arms. We did two ties along the arms, and then trimmed the ends so that it looked a bit neater.

Step 7: Boy

Tie a waist, and legs. We did two ties down the, one for the knee area, and the other for the ankle area.

Step 5 Girl

Just like with the boy, you'll want to seperate two arms, and a skirt below. For the girl however, you want to bring back your arms and tie them at the waist.

Step 6: Girl

Tie the arms at the shoulders, to form a Poofy sort of sleeve. Make sure your ties are in the backside of the doll.

Step 7: Girl

Tidy up your stray strands, and decide if you're girl is wearning pants or a skirt. (If pants copy the boy pattern on the left....If skirt see below)

Step 8

Trim up the ends of all your strands. For the boy make sure the hands and feet are even. For the girl, snip the ends of her skirt so that it's all the same length.

All Done!

Have fun playing with your Yarn Dolls. Perhaps even put Ma and Pa in your homemade covered wagons!

Covered Wagon Craft

No need to purchase expensive kits, you can make this covered wagon with resources and supplies you probably already have one hand.
These wagons take a little bit of gluing but they are sure to be a hit with your young ones as you learn about pioneer life and The Oregon Trail.

Materials:

Popsicle Sticks
Skill Sticks
Brown Paper Bag
Cardboard
Hot Glue or Wood Glue

Suggest Resources for a Unit Study:

Art Project Tutorial:

Step 1

Using your Skill Sticks create the bed of your wagon. We built ours three sticks high all the way around

Step 2

Using regular Popsicle sticks, create a frame by gluing four of them together at the corners.

Step 3

After the corners dry, glue more sticks across the middle to form a solid plank. Then turn it over and apply glue to the bottom two Popsicle Sticks.

Step 4

Set your Wagon bed onto the glue and let dry. If you're using a glue gun this step is much quicker, the wood glue will take a while to dry and you should set it somewhere where it won't be moved.

Step 5

(This is an optional step, we did to keep our canvas up) Using 4 Popsicle sticks, glue them around the sides of the wagon like posts.

Step 6

Cut a long rectangle shape from your paper bag. We used the side of the bag and that width worked pretty well. Curve up the edges as shown in the picture.

Step 7

Glue your paper bag to your wagon. We used wood glue, so we had to put on these little binder clips to hold it in place while it dried. If you have a glue gun, it would really speed up the process here.

Step 8

Using a small coffee cup, trace 4 circles onto your cardboard. Cut them out and poke a small hole in the center of each of them.

Step 9

Insert a Popsicle Stick into each of the wheels. You can use a glue gun around the sides if the hold is to big and they get loose.

Step 10

Glue the Popsicle sticks together to make the axle. You'll have two sets of wheels like this.

Step 11

Glue the axles to the bottom of your wagon. Make sure that your front and back wheels are sitting evenly, and make any necessary adjustments.

All Done

After your wagon is complete, it's time to fill it up with some pioneer goodies! Make little scrap quilts and boxes, pots and pans, or even a clay family to put inside!

Pioneer Feather Pen

May 22, 2009 By Valerie Mcclintick 3 Comments

I know.

I thought we were done learning about the Oregon Trail too.

Guess Not.

Last week we took a trip to one of the area parks around here

(cause that what sick homeschoolers do….they go feed the ducks.)

Tell me that little guy wouldn’t cheer up even the sickest of children.

And if he wouldn’t, this little herd might:

Anyway, besides getting to visit with all the adorable little spring goslings, we were also able to pick up some very large feathers.

(Okay, now normally I’m really freaked out by my kids picking up feathers.

Is that weird?

They just seem so dirty….diseased even……Am I wrong?)

But, seeing as how they were already sick,
I figured…what harm could come from it….LOL

(I’m not even sure that you can get sick from a bird?)

So anyway, we snagged a few feathers, and the homeschool teacher Mommmy inside of me immediately thought:

Feather Pens!

We mixed the ink:

Then got right to work!

My 3 year old especially loved this activity.

And I love that he actually held his Feather Pen with correct form!

Eventhough we’re officially done learning about the Oregon Trail, I paired this craft with the book, “Journey of a Pioneer” because it’s an early reader book that is read from a young girls diary as she travels the Oregon Trail.

This would make an excellent activity to follow up this story, as children can write their own special letters home, or even make a trail map!

If you want to make your own Feather Pens, I’ve got full photo instructions up on our main site:

You can click here for the tutorial and more learning ideas!

Pioneer Crafts: Yarn Dolls

April 18, 2009 By Valerie Mcclintick 3 Comments

Oregon Trail Crafts

Last week we rented an amazing video series from our local library, called Pioneer Life for Children. I couldn’t find an Amazon link to share with you, but I did find them for sale at LibraryVideo.com. (Obviously they’re kind of expensive, so be sure and check your library, or even put in a request for them to purchase a set if you can)

What’s neat about this series, is that they are about 20 minutes long each, and there is lots of information presented in ways children can understand and REMEMBER! We’ve been watching them over the week, and have definitely been inspired to create some more fun Pioneer Crafts for our collection!

……So what did we come up with?

Yarn Dolls!

Click Here for Full Photo Instructions for making a Yarn Doll

I must say, that these have got to be my favorite pioneer craft thus far…..My kids favorite too! They’ve spent ~~hours~~ Almost an hour sitting at the dining room table making a whole family of Yarn Dolls to put in their Covered Wagons!

And of course when you leave a 3 year old at the table with a bunch of yarn, this is what you end up with:

……not bad for 30 minutes of quiet time for Mom!

And of course, I’m happy that they’re keeping themselves busy, having fun, and learning a little bit about pioneer life along the way! These are quite simple to make, both of them did need a bit of help with the first couple of dolls, but once they got the hang of it they really took over, and made a variety of different characters!

Sissy even made this “Horse” from yarn and toothpicks.
(Yeah, apparently she snuck into the kitchen for more supplies, LOL)

I love Educational Free Play! There’s just no beating it.