I was reading an article recently about artificial intelligence that was talking about how if you start the creation process using AI, then the end results produced by a group of test subjects all ended up pretty similar. The conclusion was that while AI can be useful to polish up your finished project, children should still be relying on their own brains in the initial stages of any project to get the most creative result possible. My kids did not use AI at all in this project two years ago and their creativity shines through. Even though all four kids had the same topic each week, what they produced was always dramatically different. I am planning to repeat this History Bingo in the Fall and I’ll have to give some thought as to whether or not I want them to use AI and at what stage, since they are now more familiar with using it as a learning tool.

Basically, the way this works is that each week kids learn about a topic in history and then create a project based on the Bingo Board. When I did this the first time while I was doing my student teaching, the whole process was very freeform. I created a list of topic related to American History (available in my Patreon membership) and then (roughly) each week they chose a topic to focus on from a list of 3 or so. We would typically watch YouTube videos or a documentary as a family in the evening one night after I got home from my student teaching, then they would have the rest of the week to dive deeper on their own, if they wanted to, and then produce something. The History Bingo board was primarily meant to be inspiration. They could use the word on the Bingo space to create their own idea, or by clicking on the word, they would be taken to a page with a list of ideas I came up with.

Each time they got Bingo, they would get to choose from a list of “prizes” such as being the one to choose the movie on family movie night, or the next flavor of ice cream we bought, or a game to play, or 15 extra minutes of video game time. This worked pretty well at first, but towards the end of the year, they were frequently filling in squares that resulted in double and sometimes triple bingos, so be prepared for that. There are 36 weeks of the school year and only 24 squares, so if you wanted, you could let kids repeat projects. If I’m being honest, my kids only completed 24 projects in the school year, but I was pretty happy with that. There were weeks when “producing work” got away from us, and other weeks when they wanted to continue what they were working on from the previous week. They learned something different each week, but didn’t always produce something to show it. Overall, I am happy with the amount of work they did though!

What pleased me the most was the way that each kid could play to their strengths. Two of my kids, my youngest and my oldest, REALLY enjoyed creating videos. My youngest couldn’t write yet when we did this, so it made sense that recording himself talking or acting out scripts was easier for him. My daughter on the other hand choose to include a lot of writing each week. She was creative in the type of writing she did (stories, fictional letters, to-do lists, how-to articles, advertisements, etc.), but most of her projects were mainly typing. My middle son loves art and often found a way to turn his Bingo quest into something artistic, like a painting, scupture, comic strip, or even Minecraft world. I would make him write a little something to go with it describing what he made, but he did not rely much on words.

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School
Time Required: Varies, but probably averages about 1 hour per week, not including learning/research time.
Difficulty: As easy or as hard as your kiddo wants!
Cost: Free

I am going to provide the History Bingo Board in two different formats. Either way, I recommend printing the first page with the actual board so that your kids can keep it at the front of a binder all year. You may want to keep this as a physical portfolio and add their projects or pictures of their projects to the binder. (Honestly, we did a digital portfolio using a free Google Site for each kid. I don’t have permission to share my kids’ sites, but maybe I’ll create a tutorial in the fall when we start over for the coming school year!)

Option 1: Printable PDF Document

Access your printable your History Bingo document here

Option 2: Editable Google Doc – I am including this option, because I want you to be able to modify it to suit your own family’s needs. However, please don’t use this for commercial purposes! If other families or teachers would like to use it, please direct them to this post.

Make a copy of the History Bingo Google Doc

In order to make a copy, you’ll want to select “File”, then “Make a copy,” then “Entire Presentation.” This will save it to your own Google Drive where you can edit is as you wish.

This is the general procedure I used:

1. First we would learn about something. When I did this a couple years ago, I spent a bit of effort choosing American History topics for each week. (That full list of topics is available in my Patreon membership, but here is a preview.)
   
   
   This coming year, I believe I will use Curiosity Chronicles Ancient History and read a chapter each week. The kids can continue learning about the same topic on their own using YouTube videos or other books if they want and as appropriate depending on their age.
   
2. Have them choose a square in the History Bingo Board game. They can use the word written in the box as their own inspiration, or if you click on the word, it will take you to a separate page in the document with some ideas that I came up with. For example:
   
   
   
3. The child then spends about an hour or so working on their project using as much creativity as they can!
   
4. When the child gets a bingo, celebrate!

Happy creative history learning!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Learning Activities for Kids

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Among the facts my kids learned were that the Nile Delta is triangular and that it opens into the sea. Also, the lower (southern) part of Egypt is at a higher elevation than the upper (northern) region which causes the river to flow up on the map. By making models of the pyramids and the Sphynx, they will remember that those landmarks are in Egypt. After reading about Egypt, one of my kids even decided to make a trash can to “put the brains in” since ancient Egyptians believed that particular organ served no purpose.

I actually did this activity with my kids over a year ago and it didn’t go exactly as planned. I’ve debated whether or not to even include these pictures or redo them. Since a whole year has passed and we have now moved on to the Middle Ages, I figured I might as well add it since it is instructive despite my failed vision. I may redo it someday. My original vision was that we would plant seeds along the banks of the Nile River, then we would pour water along the Nile to represent the banks of the Nile overflowing. We did this, and it sort of worked. I used garden cress seeds.

The problem was that I used my homemade playdough to create the Nile which is full of salt. As it would turn out, the expression “salting the earth” comes from the practice of pouring salt over the earth of those you defeated to prevent their crops from growing. Salt is not conducive to growing plants. I did have several sprouts, but very quickly, they all died. In the future, I would not use salt-filled play dough for the nice river. Maybe I would try using clay either colored blue from the store or painted blue after the fact.

If you are looking for a good reference book to go along with this activity, our family enjoys Time Traveler by Usborne. Not only does it discuss Ancient Egypt, you can also learn about the Middle Ages in Europe, the Vikings, and the Ancient Romans. If you are looking for even more ideas to supplement this activity, here is my post, Best Resources for Studying Ancient Egypt. You can also find more ancient history activities and free printables on my page, Ancient History Activities for Kids.

Nile River Delta Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: A few dollars for play dough or clay

Materials

• container such as a disposable 9×12″ casserole pan
• play dough or clay (I used homemade play dough, but if you would like to try growing seeds, I recommend clay. You may also want a couple different colors to show the river and the pyramids.)
• tray or cookie sheet to hold our model so it doesn’t get wobbly
• dirt
• paint (optional, if your clay is not the desired color)
• seeds such as garden cress (optional, if you would like to try growing a harvest along the Nile River)

Supplies

• shovel

Instructions

1. First, you will want to fill your pan with dirt.
   
2. Next get it wet to make it a little muddy.
   
3. Move the dirt around so that it is higher on one side than the other. This will show why the Nile River flows north to south. The water is traveling from higher elevation to lower elevation.
   
4. Use a picture of the Nile River to loosely sketch your river in the dirt. Make sure you include the Nile river delta in the lower elevation region! We used the Time Traveler book as a reference when we made our sketch.
   
5. Use your clay to mold the river and lay it down on top of your lines. If you were not using blue clay, feel free to paint it blue.
   
   
6. Next use the clay to scult some landmarks around the Nile River such as the Great Pyramids or the Sphinx.
   
   

Finally, just let your kids have fun! One of my kids decided to add some legs coming out of one of the pyramids as if it had fallen on a wicked witch.

If you are in the mood, try growing the plants along the Nile River to show how ancient farmers were able to use the flooding of the river to water their plants. Just remember, if you use play dough with salt, they will likely die quickly! One day when my younger kids are learning about ancient Egypt, I plan to try this again with clay.

Have fun learning about the Nile River!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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After spending some time learning about Ancient Egypt, I thought it would be fun to make some DIY “papyrus” using brown paper bags. (I know those can be hard to find nowadays. I’m pretty sure this activity would work equally well with any type of paper including white printer paper.)

We started off by reading about Ancient Egypt. For those who are homeschooling, I have always used Story of the World as our history spine, but over the past couple of years, I have been using History Quest to supplement. Personally, I think SOTW is better for younger kids and the accompanying activity book includes pages that are quick and easy samples for our charter school. However, History Quest is meatier and I feel it is more appropriate for my 11-year-old. Even for those who are not homeschooling, we also used this $8 Hieroglyphs book to go along with this activity which included fun stencils. This book is primarily what we used to learn about cartouches and figure out what we wanted to write.

All of our resources included basically the same alphabet for the letters which you can also find for free online. The Hieroglyphs book we used by Joyce Milton includes a lot more information about how the hieroglyphs developed and what they mean for those interested in deeper knowledge. We also watched this 7 minute YouTube video showing the actual papyrus making process so my kids knew what we were symbolically imitating.

My kids had so much fun working on their own “papyrus” that I don’t think they will ever forget what it is, how it’s made, and hopefully, where it came from.

Possibly more fun even than creating the papyrus was writing on it after it dried. I encouraged kids to try out some of the hieroglyphs from the book, but, except for my oldest, mostly they just had fun drawing their own pictures.

Papyrus and Hieroglyph Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 15 minutes to make papyrus, leave overnight to dry, 15 minutes for kids to write hieroglyphs
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $2 in used supplies

Materials

• paper (we used brown paper bags)
• wax paper to keep from sticking
• paper towels (to dry excess glue)
• black paint
• white school glue
• chopsticks
• water
• container to hold paint (not shown, we used an old sour cream container)

Supplies

• shallow container to hold glue mixture (we used a 9×13 baking dish)
• measuring glass
• fork or spoon to stir

Instructions

1. To start, place a sheet of wax paper in front of the child on the counter. This will keep the papyrus from gluing itself to the work surface. You may want to tape it down with masking tape.
   
2. Next, measure a half cup of glue.
   
3. Add a cup of water to the glue a bit at a time and stir to keep the consistency smooth. When you are done, you should have 1.5 cups of water/glue mixture.
   
4. Pour the mixture into a shallow container for dipping the “papyrus” strips into.
   
5. Next cut your paper into strips. I used brown paper bags, but off the bottom of the bag, and made strips that were about 1 inch wide and 4 to 6 inches long.
   
   
6. Have the child dip the strip into the glue mixture so it is fully covered.
   
7. Next have them place the wet strip onto their wax paper.
   
8. Repeat the process laying the next strip so that it overlaps the first one.
   
9. Keep adding more strips covered in glue so that some of the strips are vertical and some are horizontal causing the strips to seem to weave together.
   
10. Leave the “papyrus” paper to dry overnight. Once the top is starting to dry, you may want to start to peel it away from the wax paper to speed up the drying process.
    
11. Next comes the fun part. Pour some black paint into a container. We used an old sour cream container. Then let the kids draw on their papyrus with a chopstick. You can encourage them to use the hieroglyph alphabet to write out their name, but for younger kids, don’t be surprised if they would prefer to invent their own hieroglyphs.
    
    If you would like to have your child create a cartouche, a symbol for a royal name, all they need to do is write their name vertically inside an oval using sounds from the hieroglyph alphabet to approximate their name. For example, for my name, Michelle, I used M-SH-L plus the hieroglyph indicating that I am female. I think cartouches also frequenty have a horizontal line underneath the oval, but I did not include this.
    
    

Have fun writing like an ancient Egyptian with this papyrus and hieroglyph activity!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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This ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat activity was largely inspired by the ziggurat activity in the book, Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide. While we didn’t follow the procedure in this book exactly, the idea to stack boxes came from this book.

All we used to make this ziggurat were some material from packages we received the past month, sugar cubes, homemade air dry mud clay, and glue. I did have in mind that I wanted to do this activity with my kids for about a month before we actually did it which was helpful. During that month, I paid close attention to boxes that were going in our recycle. Whenever I was about to throw one out that was relatively square and flat, I set it aside. One of them was a contact solution box and one was a corndog box.

My kids had a blast working on this ziggurat. I thought there might be fighting, but thankfully they worked together. I built the base structure al on my own, then let my kids add on the sugar cubes and clay stairs. My four kids were somehow able to each work on one side of the ziggurat without fighting.

To go along with this ancient Mesopotamian ziggurat activity, we also read the Gilgamesh trilogy of picture books by Ludmila Zeman. While I think learning about Gilgamesh and the city of Uruk helped my kids appreciate the ziggurat even more, you don’t necessarily need this series. Check your library for books for kids about Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh the Hero by Geraldine McCaughrean is slightly longer, but another good option.

After I thought our ziggurat was complete, my 6 year old asked if we could build little houses around the ziggurat with sugar cubes and clay, so I said sure. That inspired me and I said, “Why don’t we pretend this is the city of Uruk where Gilgamesh lives?” We built a wall around the city since Uruk was known for its wall. My 6 year old then made 2 little people out of clay to represent Gilgamesh and his friend, Enkidu. In my opinion, this was learning at its best.

Ancient Mesopotamian Ziggurat Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies

Materials

• flat boxes of various sizes (ideally you will have 3 or 4 that stack on top of each other getting progressively smaller)
• large cardboard to use as base
• sugar cubes
• air dry clay (we used this recipe for mud clay)
• brown paper (optional – we just used the crumpled brown paper that came in packages and used this to wrap our boxes to give them a uniform look)
• paint (optional – we ended up not using it)
• glue (we used Elmer’s)
• paper plate or some other container to pour glue for dipping and paint if using

Supplies

• scissors
• packing tape
• tools for carving: skewers, forks, knives (optional)
• paintbrushes (optional – only if using paint)

Instructions

1. The first step was to make sure we had boxes of various sizes that could be stacked into a step pyramid shape. Once you have your boxes, tape them up so they hold their shape.
   
2. Next, I wrapped up the boxes in brown paper. You could also paint them. I did this step for my kiddos before we started just to make things easier.
   
3. Once you have your boxes of different sizes all wrapped up, hot glue each box on top of the next smallest box.
   You should end up with a stack of boxes in a ziggurat shape.
   
4. Next hot glue your ziggurat onto a cardboard base.
   
5. Cut out a piece of cardboard with a length slightly longer than your bottom box and a width that is about double the height of your bottom box. The exact dimensions are not crucial. Cut slits in that rectangle leaving a few inches uncut in the middle.
   
6. Make a triangular fold in the cardboard and tape it together as shown. Cut off any excess cardboard pieces.
   
7. Repeat on the other side. In the end, you should have a piece that looks roughly like this.
   
8. Hot glue this cardboard piece to the front of your ziggurat to represent stairs.
   
9. Now comes the fun part. Let your kids decorate the ziggurat with sugar cubes and clay. Paint is another option, though my kids ended up choosing not to paint their zigguart.
   
10. Since I have four kids, I let them each work on one side of the ziggurat. I showed them how they could use the clay to build a ramp, then use a skewer to create lines that looked like stairs.
    
11. Use pictures as guidance, then let their imaginations run wild on their homemade ziggurat!
    
    

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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If you are low on time, a simpler way to do the activity described below would just be to grab some play-doh or clay and a couple chopsticks or even pencils. Do an image search for “Cuneiform alphabet chart” then have your kids use the chart to write a short message. Know that any chart you find will be an oversimplification, but it wills till get the point across to your kids.

My kids all tried to write their names. In the image above, I wrote “mama” using the chart found in the Story of the World Ancient Times Activity Book. There is another chart in our History Quest: Early Times Study Guide which I suspect is slightly more accurate, but I thought it might be a little two complicated for my younger kids.

I wanted to make the activity a little more realistic for my kids so we made some homemade air dry clay and colored it brown with coffee. I’m hoping I can get a tutorial up just for the clay before too long, but for now, I’m including that step-by-step process below.

Also, we could have just used chopsticks as is, but I decided to carve the ends a bit with a knife so that the shapes made would be a little more triangular. Neither of these added steps are necessary, but I felt like they would help my kids remember:

1. Ancient Mesopotamians wrote their cuneiform in clay tablets.
2. They used reeds which left triangular markings.

Overall my kids had a great time. My 10 year old even went above an beyond and basically wrote an entire paragraph for me to decipher.

Ancient Mesopotamian Cuneiform Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 30 minutes to make the clay and shape chopsticks, 15 minutes for kids to write name in clay
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies

Materials

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals (the pin at the top is made with instant coffee, this tutorial shows grounds – note that the instant crystals give a more uniform color, but are more likely to stain hands, clothes, and surfaces)
• 1.5 cups water
• chopsticks

Supplies

• knife
• 1 cup measuring cup
• 1/2 cup measuring cup (not pictured)
• pot for heating on stove
• spoon for stirring
• measuring glass
• stove

Instructions

1. Measure 1 cup of cornstarch and place it in the pot.
   
2. Measure 1 cup baking soda and add it to the pot.
   
3. Stir the baking soda and cornstarch together.
4. Measure 1.5 cups of warm water.
   
5. Measure a half cup of coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals. You can use more less depending on the color clay you want. The instant coffee gives a more uniform color while the coffee grounds do not fully dissolve leaving a more spotted, grainy look. However, note that even if you use ground coffee, when it dries, the “clay” has a more uniform color.
   
6. Stir the coffee grounds or instant coffee crystals into the water.
   
7. Stir the dark liquid into the cornstarch and baking soda mixture.
   
8. Heat the mixture on the stove over low heat stirring frequently.
   
9. While the mud clay mixture is heating, start working on your writing instruments. First, break the chopsticks apart.
   
10. Use a knife to sharpen the edges of the fatter end of the chopsticks.
    
11. Don’t forget to stir your clay!
    
12. Next, cut off the tip of one of the edges to form a small triangle.
    
    This images has lines drawn to make the carved shape more clearly visible.
    
13. Repeat the above steps until you have desired number of writing instruments (ideally one for each child).
14. Continue stirring your clay. You will know it is done when it has the consistency of mashed potatoes. This should take about 10 or 15 minutes. Note that it will thicken a little as it cools.
    
15. Pour the clay onto a plate to allow it to cool.
    
16. After it cools, shape it into a block and cut it into the desired number of slabs (one for each child).
    
17. Have each child take their portion and mold it into one or several clay tablets. Then they can use their writing “reeds” to make some triangular marks in the clay. They can either make their own designs or use an alphabet chart to write a secret message for you to decode.
    
    Note that even if you use the ground coffee instead of the instant coffee, when it dries it has a more uniform color. I’m really not sure why that is!
    

I hope your kids have fun being scribes with this fun, hands-on ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform activity!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

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I was impressed by how seriously my kids took the grinding. They worked on it off and on for 3 days. Initially my plan was that we would grind enough flour by hand to make bread. However, after a few days, it became clear that we just weren’t cut out for the job. The kids would grind for about 5 minutes at a time until their hands got tired. Those wheat berries are hard to grind!

In the end, they only got a couple tablespoons of flour. This was after the kids worked at if for at least a half hour all together. I even tried for a few minutes. However, after seeing exactly how slow this process was going, I realized I would need to change my original plan. We decided to use a blender to process the rest of the wheat berries. The experience definitely gave us all a newfound appreciation for modern technology!

The real fun in this activity was making the bread. We “foraged” in our pantry for nuts and berries. We checked and found that both salt and butter were around back in Neolithic times. Then we added water to our flour and stirred in the desired mix-ins.

Since things like yeast and baking powder weren’t around during the Stone Age, we didn’t use those items. We talked about it in advance and knew that our bread was going to be pretty dense. In the end, the kids thought the results ranged from “not bad” to “literally the worst bread I’ve ever tasted.” Personally, I thought it tasted pretty good (though I did add A LOT of dried fruit to my serving).

The kids ended up adding some honey on top of their baked Stone Age bread. We looked it up and learned that honey was in fact around during the Neolithic Era. In the end, the kids had fun, all the bread got eaten, and we learned a lot. What more can a homeschool mom ask for?

Stone Age Bread Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: Depends on how long you want to attempt grinding. Once you have the flour, about 20 minutes to prepare bread and 20 minutes to bake.
Difficulty: Hard to grind, easy if you use a blender once you realize it’s hard
Cost: About $10 for a bag of wheat berries, though you do not need the full amount.

Materials

• a mortar and pestle
• pizza stone (or cookie sheet)
• a blender or food processor (optional, but very useful!)

Ingredients

• wheat berries (depends on how much bread you want to make, but at least a half cup)
• nuts
• dried fruit (we used rainins, cranberries, and dried cherries)
• butter
• salt
• honey

Instructions

1. The main point of this activity is to show your kids how hard it is to grind flour by hand. Therefore, use either a mortar and pestle or a larger and smaller rock and let your kids try to make flour out of the wheat berries. You will likely need to use a small number of wheat berries at a time. We found that if we put too many in at one time, it became unmanageable and they would fly out everywhere.
   
   
2. At some point your kids will become tired of grinding. Take a look at how much you got and make sure to note how hard it was to get that small amount of flour.
   
3. After your kids get tired of grinding, you use your blender or food processor to grind more flour. Make sure your kids know that you are leaving the Stone Age and entering the modern world. You can ask questions like, “So why do you think the Stone Age people didn’t just use a blender?”
   
   
4. After you produce flour using modern technology, make sure you take the time to notice how much flour you got in such a short amount of time compared to using the mortar and pestle. Pause for a moment to appreciate the conveniences of our modern lifestyles that we take for granted.
   
5. Once you have a sufficient amount of flour (I used about 1/3 cup per person), get your add-ins ready. We pretended to forage for nuts and berries, by getting them from our pantry. Again you are making your child aware of how much easier it is now to find food than for prehistoric people. Since butter and salt were also available during the Neolithic Era, feel free to include those as add-ins as well.
   
6. Have your child begin to make their dough by adding water. Start with a small amount of water the have them add more gradually until they get a consistency they like.
   
7. Next comes the fun part. Kids can add in whatever they want to make their dough. I recommend adding at least some salt to increase the chances your kids will find it edible.
   
   My daughter used the mortar and pestle again to grind up some almonds. I didn’t see any reason why Stone Age people couldn’t have done that as well.
   
8. Next bake the bread on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Note that Stone Age people would have had to put a rock over a fire pit or made an oven out of something like rocks and clay. You will have to check your bread with a toothpick to see if it is done. We did 375 degree for roughly 20 minutes for our bread “cookies” that were about a half inch thick.
   
   
9. Lastly, see what your kids think! Some of my kids thought it was okay while one kid in particular didn’t really like it at all. It turns out Neolithic people harvest honey. Therefore, we didn’t feel bad sweetening out bread with a little honey. Everyone knows honey makes everything delicious.

Have fun being Neolithic chefs for a day!

Related Links

History Activities for Kids
Social Science Activities for Kids
Robotics Activities for Kids

The post Stone Age Bread Activity appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

In our family, we have done the 4 year Story of the World cycle one time through. This coming fall, we are planning to start again with Ancient History. Since summer is about to begin, I thought, why not start a little early? That way we can take our time and go nice and slow through the first part of our history book.

I don’t know how successful I will be at keeping up this spirit of hands-on learning, but our pilot event was a huge success. As soon as we started learning about prehistory (the period of history before the invention of writing), I knew that I wanted to do cave painting. How exactly to do the cave painting and have it be meaningful took a little bit of thought.

At first, I was thinking we could find some natural clay and mix it with water to make the paints, but then that seemed like too much work. I wanted to keep things simple. Then I thought about just putting some butcher paper on the wall and letting the kids finger paint, but that seemed a little below the educational value I was hoping for.

To start, I decided to up the educational value by learning about some real cave paintings. First, we read Discovery in a Cave by Mark Dubowski which thankfully was available for free through our library’s digital lending system. (Libraries are currently closed due to the pandemic.) I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is informative, not too long, and the story itself is extremely appealing to children.

For a fun treat, afterwards we watched the very first episode of Carmen Sandiego called The Stolen Smile. I happened to recall that this episode described the Lascaux Caves which are the same caves featured in the book above.

So that my kids would be able to look at inspiration WHILE they were painting, I also created a few pages with pictures of real cave paintings. This printable features 3 famous caves around the world. I specifically chose ones of handprints and simple animals, since I knew my kids would be able to replicate images such as these.

My oldest decided to use a stick to paint some of his drawings. I thought this was a good idea since simple tools like this were available to prehistoric people as well.

Overall, I am really pleased with how well our afternoon of learning went. Seeing the happiness on my kids faces while they were enjoying a memorable educational experience was well worth the time invested. I don’t always tie in hands-on activities to our history, but I’m planning to try to make an effort more often!

Cave Painting Activity Details

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 10-30 minutes of prep (depending on if you want the overhang or not)
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $2 in used supplies

Materials

• a large cardboard box (or two) for painting on
• a smaller cardboard or cereal box for creating structural triangles (optional, only if creating an overhang)
• washable tempera paint in black and red (or you could be more colorful)
• plates or containers for holding paint
• tape to hang cardboard (I found painters tape to work well enough for the activity, though our “wall” fell down overnight)
• optional: free printable educational document for inspiration

Instructions

1. If you haven’t already, first you will need to open up your cardboard boxes so that they lay flat.
2. If you would like to create an overhang with structural triangles so the child can paint on this portion, cut off the excess flaps from your smaller box.
   
   It should look like this after you finish:
   
3. Next, cut this smaller box into width-wise strips an inch or two wide.
   
   You will need at least 8 total.
   
4. Fold a strip into a right triangle and tape it together. It does not need to be symmetric, though the ones I used were pretty close. One of the angles in your triangle that is not the square angle should be the angle you would like your top flap to overhang.
   
5. Using this first triangle as a guide, make one just like it.
   
6. Repeat step 5 until you have 8 close to identical triangles.
   
7. Use the triangles to prop up one of the box flaps and tape it in place as shown.
   
8. Continue taping triangles in the same orientation onto the flaps along one side of the box. You will need at least 2 triangles per flap.
   
9. Next apply tape to the side of the triangle that will attach to the wall as shown.
   
10. Repeat above process to add tape to all of the triangles.
    
11. Next have someone help you tape the boxes onto a wall with the flap at the top.
    
    From the side, the flap will look like this:
    
12. If you are using the inspiration sheets, post them somewhere nearby so the kids can look at them as they paint.
    
13. Set out paint for the kids to use. Start with a little bit and add more as necessary. Since I have 4 kids, I decided to set out 2 plates of each color so there would be less fighting.
    
    

Now you are ready! Let the kids have fun!

Related Links

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The post Cave Painting Activity appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

When I created the world history timeline all those years ago, I decided to break it up by world region. The reader that requested the American history timeline suggested rather than geographical region, I make divisions for type of events. As someone whose American history knowledge is a little weak, I decided to compile a list of American history events before I decided on my categories.

After going through various history references to create my list of the most significant events in American history, I decided on 6 categories: politics, economics, judicial system, conflicts, achievements, and other important events. “Politics” covers things like presidential elections and acts of Congress. “Economics” covers events like the Great Depression or the creation of the minimum wage. “Judicial system” events covers judicial decisions and other events having to do with the Supreme Court. “Conflicts” covers wars and battles. “Achievements” covers advancements and other successes of the human race. “Important events” is basically a catch-all for everything else.

Since there is not a lot of American history that is documented before European colonization, I decided to start my timeline at 1600. Since there is a lot of American history to document, I opted to only cover 10 years per page. To cover those events which happened before 1600, I created a page without dates for “Before 1600.” Note that if you choose to use my list of important events in American History, they are color-coded to match the timeline.

I also decided to create two different version of the timeline. Since I own and LOVE my binding machine (read my review here), I opted to bind mine along the short edge of the paper. Therefore, I initially created a landscape version of this timeline. What I really love about this format is that it gives you a 2-page spread that lets you view more of the timeline at once.

However, since not everyone has a binding machine, I figured most people will probably just put the pages in a 3 ring binder. Therefore, I created a vertical “portrait” version as well. The pages themselves are mainly the same except the cover and the “Before 1600” page. However, the file is formatted such that if you print choosing to “flip on the long edge,” the pages will be oriented correctly.

Feel free to choose the version below which best suits your needs.

Recommended Age Range: Elementary, Middle School, High School
Time Required: about 10 minutes to print and bind, less time for 3-ring binder
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Free printable, under $2 in used supplies if binding, about $2-3 if using a 3-ring binder

Materials:

• blank United States history timeline (horizontal version for binding or vertical version for 3-ring binder)
• binding machine or 1/2 inch 3 ring binder
• 1/4″ binding combs (only if binding)
• 2 binding covers (only if binding)

Instructions:

1. Print out the blank United States history timeline. Choose the horizontal version if you will be binding it. Choose the vertical version if you will be placing it in a 3-ring binder.
2. If you are binding, place the 1/4″ comb in the binding machine. Hole punch a clear cover using the binding machine and attach it to the comb. Hole punch about 12 pages at a time of the timeline and add those to the comb as well.

   

3. Once all the pages have been added to the comb, add the second clear page as a backing. Remove from the binding machine.
4. Use scissors to cut off the excess comb.

   

If you would prefer your timeline to stay “American History” instead of “United States History,” I’ve created some alternate covers as well.

Once you have your blank United States history timeline ready to go, have your student fill it in however best suits your purposes. If a child were studying American history, they could gradually fill it in as they learn.

Since our family will likely not spend an entire year on American history again, I opted to just go ahead and fill in everything. I used my List of Important Events in American History to create a document that my kids and I can use for reference. As their educator, I found it very helpful for just sorting out American history in my own mind.

I’m hoping sometime soon I can create a similar timeline for Modern History. Our blank world history timeline by region is great. However, the 100 years per page is insufficient once you reach about 1600 AD. If you would like to be notified when that timeline is available, please consider signing up for my newsletter.

Have fun studying American history with this blank United States history timeline!

Related Links

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Although I did spend an entire year on American History with my oldest child when he was very young, I’m not sure I’ll repeat this strategy with my younger kids. In her book, The Well-Trained Mind, Susan Wise Bauer talks about treating history as a four year cycle: Ancients, Middle Ages, Early Modern, and Modern history. Over the course of a 12 year education, the cycle gets repeated 3 times, going more in depth each time.

While I don’t consider myself a “classical” homeschooler by any stretch of the imagination, my oldest, who is currently in fourth grade is completing his first cycle with Story of the World: Vol. 4 – Modern History as recommended by Ms. Bauer. In the near future at least, I plan to continue this cycle. I am excited to start Ancient History again next year, because I know my younger kids who missed it the first time around are really going to enjoy it.

I don’t think that our family will ever have a year completely dedicated to American history again. However, the history of our nation is something that is important and that I want my kids to be knowledgeable about. The list of events that I created and the corresponding timeline are more helpful for me than for my kids. They help me to organize information in my own mind. As we learn about world history, we will continue to learn about American history simultaneously, and I will continue to both refer back to my timeline and list of events add to them as my knowledge grows.

If you would like your own list to refer to while you educate your children or to give your children as a study tool, below you will find a list of more than 200 important events in United States history to get you started!

Recommended Age Range: Elementary, Middle School, High School
Cost: Free

Materials:

Access your free printable here:

List of Important Events in American History

Enjoy!

Related Links

Learning Activities for Kids
Best Books for Kids
Geography Learning Activities

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Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: 2 hours of prep, for a 90 minute party
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Around $20

Gold Nugget Hunt

Materials:

• lots of rocks
• gold spray paint

Instructions:

Spray painting rocks gold and hiding them is cheap, it’s easy, and it’s ridiculously fun for the kids. We saved this activity for last, but it is definitely the most highly recommended for a gold rush party.

I ended up spray painting my rocks inside a cardboard box. I would let the rocks dry for a few hours, then shake the box and spray again. If I were to do this again, I might get a big piece of butcher paper instead to get the most coverage in one spraying session.

Once they were almost completely covered, I moved the rocks one at a time from one side of the box to the other spraying as needed to patch up any missing spots.

After all the rocks were painted and dry, we hid them in a specified area of our yard. They were surprisingly hard to see when thrown in our dried leaves! For the younger kids, I also threw a bunch of pieces in our driveway. When it was time to hunt, we let the kids 5 years and younger start first and all counted to 20 while they collected the driveway pieces.

Panning for Gold

Materials:

• bag of aquarium rocks
• gold spray paint
• kiddie pool or other large shallow container
• dirt
• water
• pie tins

Instructions:

In addition to our gold hunt, we decided to “pan” for gold as well. First we spray painted aquarium rocks gold in a big box. Initially, we would let the rocks dry for a few hours, shake the box, and spray again.

As before, it probably would have been easier to spread the rocks out on butcher paper to cover more at once. When the party was only a day away, we ended up spraying and then stirring the rocks with a stick while they were still wet to make sure they were completely covered.

Next we filled our kiddie pool with dirt and added water. I think my boys got a little carried away adding dirt to the pool, because our 5 lbs of aquarium rocks were pretty well lost in all the dirt. Panning for gold ended up being pretty challenging. If we were to do it again, I would probably have only added about an inch of dirt along the bottom.

Next we got pie tins and poked holes in them with a nail to let the muddy water, but not the rocks, seep through.

I don’t think this step was actually necessary as sloshing the muddy water around in the pie tins without holes also seemed to work pretty well. When the kids wanted to pan for gold, they would scoop up some muddy water into the pie tin, then shake it so that the water either fell through the holes or off the rim. As long as they didn’t shake too hard, the dense “gold” would stay in the pan and they could pick it out with their fingers.

Gold Rush Meal

Materials:

• corn bread
• beans
• beef jerky
• sourdough bread
• oranges
• raisins
• biscuits
• molasses cake

I’m not sure if this counts as an “authentic” gold miner meal, but I’m pretty sure all of these foods were around during the gold rush and would have been available to people with enough money. We also learned the fascinating fact that Boudin sourdough bread is still made today using the same starter that was used during the Gold Rush.

Gold Rush Music

Be sure to play Oh! Susanna during your Gold Rush party, which was actually from the Gold Rush era. If you want to make a Spotify playlist with some other songs, most of these are from well after the Gold Rush, but I feel like they help provide an old-timey feel.

• Oh, Susanna
• This Land if Your Land
• Oh My Daring Clementine
• I’ve Been Working on the Railroad
• She’ll be Coming Around the Mountain
• California, Here I Come
• On Top of Old Smokey

Gold Rush Door Sign

You can welcome your visitors with a gold rush themed door sign.

Gold Rush Nicknames

In addition to discussing the book, By the Great Horn Spoon, the last activity we did during our party was to give everyone a Gold Rush nickname. In the book, the main character is given the nickname Jamoka Jack.

Similarly, we tried to give all the kids that came to our party a nickname using alliteration (the same first sound repeated) and came up with names like Claim-Jumping Carter and Toothache Travis. If we couldn’t think of a name using alliteration, we would try rhyming, like Gold Catcher Thatcher, or assonance, like Eureka Zeke.

Here is a list of words we brainstormed to help us come up with nicknames.

• argonaut
• bonanza
• boom town
• claim-jumper
• cut-eye
• cut-throat
• diggins
• eureka
• fortune seeker
• forty niner
• ghost town
• gold fever
• gold rush
• golden gate
• grizzly
• jack knife
• miner
• motherlode
• nugget
• outlaw
• panning
• pay dirt
• pick axe
• ragamuffin
• rascal
• saloon
• shenanigans
• squatter
• stake a claim
• stowaway
• washpan
• varmint

Enjoy your gold rush party and have fun being forty-niners for a day!

Related Links

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