Colonial History Projects & Lapbook

Our next history unit for Homeschool in the Woods was Colonial Life.  We are enjoyed this hands on approach to American History.  It is hard to find the extra time to complete all the projects, but the projects bring the story to life.  I hope the girls will remember more this way!

We started off our Colonial Life unit with an excavation activity because that is how people have learned about the past!

Lauren kept a log of what was discovered in each layer of the soil.

Corynne helped us build our Jamestown fort since she had built one years ago in 5th grade!

The girls also completed a mini-lapbook about Jamestown.

Another project that the girls worked on was weaving a bed.  They started with stringing the bed frame.  Then then stuffed a pillow mattress and used their sewing skills to close the top.

Finally, they each weaved a cover for the bed.  This was a popular craft because they have been weave covers and rugs for their American Girls ever since I taught them how to make the bed cover!

Corynne helped with another Colonial craft.  They carved faces in apples.  After the apples dried, they decorated the "old, wrinkly skinned" people!

We also had a few cross-stitch lessons.  The girls completed the Felicity heart pillow craft kit.

We made punch tin candle holders...

After talking about crimes and punishments, the girls completed a tar-and-feather picture for their notebooks.

While reading the lessons, Lauren and Lyndsey did little foldables to emphasize important dates, people, and ways of life in the Colonial time.  They ended up with quite a collection for their lapbook.

Putting together the lapbook and reviewing all the material is definitely a fun project that takes a couple of days (or a long night)!  

View #1

View #2 with "BEES" page flipped down.

The bottom pocket if full of coloring sheets, diagrams of a plantation and a colonial house, a colonial cookbook, a daily life storybook, and some Felicity information.  The Clothing of the Colonists was a fun activity.  The girls put the different layers of clothes on transparencies, so you can lift off each layer to see the next.  We also pulled a lot of Reformation information into this unit.  We delved deep into Martin Luther, John Calvin, and many other Reformist because church reform/freedom was the primary reason people came to the New World.

The girls filled these lapbooks so full that I almost could not get them to close.  Actually, they sat under a heavy pile of books for weeks so that they would stay closed!