Pilgrims and Native Americans!

This “season” in general has so much to offer.  History, family, thankfulness, appreciation, care for others… the list goes on.  It is easily my favorite.  I love it all!  This week, we took the opportunity to learn about Native Americans and Pilgrims.  More than other weeks, this one took a bit more explanation for H to understand.  Nonetheless, this week was really enjoyable. 

Our week:

Our learning activities were the following:

Learn new words: Pilgrim and Native American – Because we have not really discussed whom these groups of people are, we had to start from the beginning.  I love teaching new concepts and watching him piece them together over the course of our learning.  All of the activities, books we read, and crafts we completed were structured to help my little darlings understand our learning objective for the week.

The letter “I” – We use action letters from http://littleadventurespreschoolblogspot.com. H traces the letter I and learns about words starting with I. 

Mini-Puzzles – H really enjoys puzzles and manipulation, this is a wonderful activity for him.  In the learning pack from Little Adventures (as referenced above) they have wonderful puzzles designed for ages 15 months to 36 months. 

Bean/Seed Counting – When playing with sensory bins, H is encouraged to separate and count the different components. 

Games and Activities:

“Sail” the Ocean: Using chalk, I created a map of the Pilgrim’s travel to the United States.  H hopped to and fro like the pilgrims.  This idea stems from our Gymboree classes where H pretends to be different animals.  Last week he was a frog and loved hopping from lily pad to lily pad.  I thought I’d apply the concept to pilgrim travel.

Bean/Seed Sensory Bin – We enjoyed putting beans and seeds together to use as a sensory activity.  Sensory bins are always a great time for both kids.  Admittedly, Innes loves the sensory bins more, but you can do so much with them, we do them as often as we can.

Ice-cube Pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria Ships – I created ice-cube ships by freezing pieces of straw in ice cube trays.  We cut sails and placed them on the straws.  Both kids had a blast blowing the ice-ships across their mini oceans.  Note – make sure you make ice cubes that are large enough to support the straw mast and sail. 

Teepee – I made an indoor teepee for the kids to play in.  We discussed the difference between our home and a teepee.  Haakon aptly noted that the teepee was too small.

Art Projects:

Corn Husk Dolls – This was a bit tough.  I used corn husk (hey it’s almost time for tamales!) to create corn husk dolls.  While making the dolls with Haakon, I let Innes tear the husks apart. 

Dream Catchers – We used embroidery circles to create our dream catchers. H was able to help create the dream catcher, but Innes could only decorate.  We strung beads onto string to help with fine motor skills for the kids, and pasted pom-poms for decoration.

Hand-Print Pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria – Using a few different mediums, we painted our little hearts out.  To create the ocean, we used bubble wrap.  To create the ships, we used our hands, and to create the clouds, we used cotton balls. 

Bubble-Wrap Indian Corn – The kids so enjoyed painting with bubble wrap, we did it again.  This time, we created Indian corn.  To enjoy bubble wrap painting, simply paint the “bubble” side and turn it over to paint the paper.  I have also seen where you paint and cut the bubble wrap itself. 

Pilgrim Hats and Native American Headdress – The kids created the Native American Headdress.  I made the pilgrim hats.  Both really enjoyed wearing their different “hats”. 

Books:

The Littlest Pilgrim

A Kids Guide to Native American History – a great resource for crafts and activities

Gus the Pilgrim Turkey

The Story of Thanksgiving

Cradle Me

Trips:

The Archeological Museum – We have an Archeological Museum and were able to take a trip to check out the museum.  With really awesome exhibits and hiking trails, this was a neat way to appreciate the Native Americans indigenous to our area.  Haakon enjoys fossils so, to be honest, probably enjoyed that more.  

What we missed: I had planned on counting using ships.  I ran out of cutting enthusiasm and thus, no ship counting.  I saw a post where dots were placed on the sails of the ship and the corresponding number was written on the ship.  The child should count the dots and select the correct number.  They also had this concept with adding the dots on each sail for older children. 

With hope, I have posted this with enough time so that, if you wish, you can incorporate some of these activities into your holiday.  If we do this correctly, we can focus this holiday season on the items that really matter: our families, generosity of self and spirit, and love.