Tina Robertson

Geronimo Stilton Out Of Time Fun Sir Francis Drake Ship Craft

November 22, 2022 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Geronimo Stilton Out of Time The 8th Journey Through Time we make a visit to Sir Francis Drake. You’ll love the other Geronimo Stilton Books and crafts on my page.

I am so enamored with this little mouse and his wild adventures through time to meet famous figures.

At least we get to have a peek through his stories, right?

In this book, Geronimo visits Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra, Mozart, and our focus today Sir Francis Drake.

Geronimo Stilton Out Of Time Fun Sir Francis Drake Ship Craft

If you are not familiar with Francis Drake, he was an English explorer.

But he was also a sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician.

His biggest claims to fame are having a major role in England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

About the Geronimo Stilton Series

Geronimo Stilton is full of fun facts presented in a colorful and interesting way for even the child that is reluctant to read.

The series is a younger version of a graphic novel and a great way to introduce history to your child.

This book has jokes, a seek and count page, maps, and lots of fun pirate terms to learn.

Too, colorful words in different fonts and sizes keep kids interested in the story while learning new vocabulary and placing emphasis on what is important.

Activities for Learning About Sir Francis Drake

Besides the wonderful activities in the book, look at some other ideas for learning about Sir Francis Drake.

Horrible Histories YouTube I’ve Got a Brand New Land to Find.
Learn some Pirate Words and Phrases.
Walk the plank by creating one on the floor with painters tape.
YouTube Bedtime History Podcast.
How to Draw a Pirate Ship.
Make your own spyglass with an empty paper towel roll.
Learn How to Make a Compass.
Create your own treasure map by drawing out your backyard and creating a fun treasure to find.
Visit a pet store and look at a real parrot.
Trace Sir Francis Drakes famous route on your home map or atlas.
Learn more about pirates with my Pirates Unit Study and Lapbook.

Then, add some information about the differences between a pirate and a privateer.

What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer?

A pirate attacks and robs ships at sea for their own gain.

Privateers are pirates that were hired by the government to do the same thing.

However, they keep part of what they steal for themselves.

Other Geronimo Stilton Chapter Book Activities

Next, look at these other crafts to go with the books.

Finally, look at how to make a Sir Francis Drake ship craft.

How to Make a Sir Francis Drake Ship

Here is a list of supplies.

White Paper plate
Brown craft paint
Black, white, and brown construction paper/cardstock
Two wooden skewers
Red marker
Hot glue gun/glue sticks

First, cut a paper plate in half, hot glue the two sides together.

You can do this with regular glue instead of hot glue if you’d like it to be an entirely child lead craft but it does take a lot longer for the glue to dry.

So, you may choose to just hot glue it so they can get on with the craft quicker.

This is what it should look like at this point.

Let your child paint both sides of the boat as well as the inside if they like and allow it to dry completely.

While you’re waiting for the boat to dry cut out three small circles of brown construction paper.

And cut three slightly smaller circles out of black construction paper.

Then layer them to create the little portholes on the ship.

Next, take white card stock and cut two smaller trapezoids.

Also, cut two larger trapezoids for the sales as well as a small rectangle for the flag and you can see what that will look like below.

Help your child to poke the top and bottom of the trapezoid through the skewer.

Bend it out a little bit to look like it has a little wind and it sails of course with a larger trapezoid on bottom and the smaller trapezoid on top.

Attach the flag to the top of one with glue.

Glue portholes to the side of the ship.

Slip the skewered flags inside the ship and attach with hot glue, this will make certain it is secure and allow it to be ready faster.

Once the glue is cooled your ship is ready to set sail for adventure.

What do you think? Ready to try another fun Geronimo Stilton activity?

Fun Selfie Salt Dough Gingerbread Kids Activity for Long Winter Nights

November 21, 2022 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today is National Gingerbread Cookie Day and your kids will love this fun selfie salt dough gingerbread kids activity. Add this fun craft to my winter season unit study.

If you are not a fan of edible gingerbread, I have a fun activity for you.

Turn these salt dough gingerbread men into a cute little 3D or even an entire family portrait.

Kids can recreate themselves, favorite book characters, historical figures, or any other person they like.

Fun Selfie Salt Dough Gingerbread Kids Activity for Long Winter Nights

This is a great way to spend a chilly winter afternoon and would be the perfect activity for an all about me unit, or to give to a kid that loves taking selfies a different outlet for that creativity.

Use paints, paint pens, and other craft items to create custom gingerbread men.

Great Gingerbread Facts

The term gingerbread is from the Latin term zingiber via an old French word-gingebra, meaning preserved ginger.
The first known recipe for gingerbread came from Greece in 2400 BC.
Nuremberg, Germany is known as the “Gingerbread Capital of the World”.
Ginger not only tastes good, but it also helps act as a preservative.
It is believed gingerbread was brought back by returning crusaders from the middle east where it was custom to bake spicy bread.
There are 2 dates for National Gingerbread day- June 5th and November 21st (the 21st is actually National Gingerbread Cookie Day.

Queen Elizabeth I of England is credited with the first gingerbread men.
Once, a doctor even wrote a prescription for gingerbread for the Swedish King Hans to cure his depression.
Ginger is a plant that is native to India and China. And is prized throughout the world for its culinary and medicinal uses.
Gingerbread itself is made from ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, anise and is sweetened with molasses or honey.
After Hansel and Gretel was published by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century, gingerbread houses became very popular to make in Germany.

The world’s largest gingerbread house took 9 days to build, and was completed at the Mall of America in Minnesota in 2001.

It stood 67 feet tall and held 1,800 Hershey bars, 1,200 feet of Twizzlers, 100 pounds of tootsie rolls, 100 whirly pops and thousands of other pieces of candy. YUM!

Next, look at these fun hands-on gingerbread activities.

Gingerbread Activities

Create a batch of Gingerbread Playdough to use over and over.
Try some ooey gooey Gingerbread Slime, kids love sensory stimulating activities, warning, this one is messy.
Make up a bowl of Gingerbread Oobleck, they can’t resist this non Newtonian fluid for sensory bins.

Bake up a Simple Gingerbread Recipe for Kids if you want to taste your creation.

More Winter Unit Study Resources

Additionally, look at these other winter unit study resources.

Further, look below at how to make this fun salt dough craft.

How to Create a Selfie Salt Dough Gingerbread Men

First, here is the list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup fine salt
1 cup of water
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground ginger
Gingerbread cutters

Craft paints or paint pens
paintbrushes

Next, preheat your oven to 200℉.

And combine all of the dry ingredients together. Mix well.

Also, slowly add water until fully incorporated.

You can add a little brown or tan paint at this point to create different skin tones if you want.

Roll the dough out onto a floured surface until it’s about ¼” thick.

Cut dough into gingerbread shapes with a cutter, or other shapes if you wish.

If you want to hang your gingerbread selfie man, use a straw to poke a hole through the top before baking, be sure not to do it too close to the edge so it will be sturdy.

Spray the baking sheet with some nonstick cooking spray.

Transfer cut outs to the baking sheet and spritz the top of the cut outs with nonstick spray as well to help retain some color.

What’s more you can also use aluminum foil as a framework to bend the arms and hold them into place, make them sit up, and more.

Then, put in a preheated oven and bake for 2 hours or until thoroughly dry. Time may vary based on the thickness of your dough.

Once your dough is baked, allow it to cool completely.

Furthermore, use craft paints to decorate your ginger people with hair, faces, clothes, and other details.

Lastly, allow paint to dry thoroughly before using your gingerbread for decorations, playing pieces for games, in sensory bins, or even to make your own jewelry!

Entertaining Games in the Past How to Make an Easy Backgammon Game

November 20, 2022 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Games in the past can be a unit study or add to your history lessons. You’ll love the other history games I have too.

Do you ever wonder about people of the past spent their days?

Backgammon is one of the oldest games known right up there with chess.

It is thought to be about 5,000 years old or more and believed to have developed in Mesopotamia which is now known as Iraq.

Entertaining Games in the Past How to Make an Easy Backgammon Game

If you are going to study a period of history, one great way to do that is to study the way they lived, how they passed their days, and interacted with one another.

Also, you can do that through playing games.

It’s even better if you create your own version.

Today, I’m showing you how to make your own easy to create and store version of the game backgammon.

Games of the Past Ancient Mesopotamia

Nobody quite knows where the name actually came from.

However, historians believe that it came from Middle English: baec – back and gamen-game.

It possibly evolved from the Royal Game of Ur and is known as the game of kings.

There is a lot of historical literature and art that portrays people playing backgammon.

The boards that are very similar to today’s versions which we have developed and still play.

Next, add some historical facts.

And hands-on ideas to make studying about games in the past fun.

Facts about Ancient Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is the ancient Greek name for the region that is the modern day area that is now Iraq and parts of Iran.
It was considered part of the cradle of civilization because so much .
Mesopotamia means 0the land between two rivers( Tigris and Euphrates).
Many theologies and political systems developed out of Mesopotamia.
Here the earliest writing system, cuneiform, was created.
The Sumerians from this area are credited with inventing the wheel.
The first law codes like the code of Hammurabi and the Code of Urukagina were created here.
Mesopotamia is located in the area that archaeologists call The Fertile Crescent, called so because of the rich soil beds from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
There is very little of ancient Mesopotamia that still stands because they made their buildings out of sun-dried bricks that didn’t last as long.
A lot of what we do know today is found out from clay tablets that were found in the library in the city of Nineveh.

Too, I’ll list some hands-on ideas below.

In addition, you’ll love these other history game resources on my site.

Other Fun History Games Resources

Look at them below.

And look below here for hands-on activities.

DIY Backgammon Game

Here is what you will need:

Finally, look below at how to make this DIY backgammon.

File folder
2 colors or patterns of cardstock
Ruler
30 small items- blocks, buttons, coins, flat beads, etc…
2- six sided dice
Glue stick

To create the long narrow wedges (points) you want to first create a template so you only have to do the measurements once.

Then, cut cardstock down to a rectangle with the height being 5”.

This is a good length for your points on a file folder.

After measure 1” across the bottom from the left and make a small pencil mark to create your 1” width.

Next, on the top left corner mark ½” over and make a mark to create the point.

Use a ruler to draw the line from each mark at the bottom to the point at the top for the elongated triangle.

Cut your template out and use it to trace and cut 12 of each of your chosen color or patterned cardstock.

Open the file folder and glue down alternating color wedges.

Put 6 on either side of the fold. Repeat on the other side of the folder.

Allow the glue to dry completely before closing the folder.

You can use anything you have on hand for your checkers if two different colors or other identification for each player.

For example, buttons, small erasers, coins, tiny figures, checkers from another game, etc..

I found these tiny little unfinished squares and painted half (15) gold and left half unfinished.

Store them in a ziploc bag with your dice and tape to the back of your file folder if you like.

Grab several file folders and challenge your child to invent their own file folder game for today’s civilization.

Gorgeous Free Homeschool Objectives Printables and Educational Goals

November 19, 2022 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

You’ll love these free homeschool objectives printable and goal forms I have for my free homeschool planner.

You must have objectives otherwise where would you head?

This is where you put your plan which are your goals to accomplish for the year.

Gorgeous Free Homeschool Objectives Printables and Educational Goals

Too, I normally place the objectives close to the front of my planner.

By putting the objectives closer to the front, I find it is easier to review them from time to time and at the end of the year.

In addition, I break my objectives down by topic.

This helps me to identify any areas that I need to address immediately.

Homeschool Goals Printable

Also, when you create goals, you want forms both short term and long term goals.

Sometimes, I have broad goals and not something that fits into exact educational objectives.

I just like having the options each year.

Too, sometimes I know, for me anyway, I tend to write down all that I want to do and have few reminders of what not to do for the year.

So the section I call “less of this” is just as important to me as I want to keep setting realistic goals each year.

Next, I have an objectives at a glance form.

Objectives at a Glance Goals

This is another form for objectives in broad strokes and it is a 2 page spread where you jot down objectives by month.

It has January to December for you to jot down general goals and view them on a 2 page spread

I have found that as my kids got older, I wanted a more general form.

And this is also good if you have an only child because you don’t need as much room to write.

Look below at a few ways to use the homeschool objectives printable.

About Homeschool Objectives Printable

Not only listing objectives by month will be easier to look at, but I am finding out managing one child is going to bring on some whole new forms as I plod along.

Whether you have one child or homeschooling multiple children this year and are wanting to plan less detailed and more basic, this two page spread will be perfect for you.

It has a box for each month to allow you to track objectives by month and the best part is you can see them at a glance.

And also, you’ll want some bling to your planner.

Look at my post Homeschool Planner Supplies – Organizational Eye Candy Because Paper Planners ROCK!

Other Homeschool Planner Resources

In addition, look at these other homeschool planner resources.

Free Homeschool Planning Forms

Besides the homeschool objectives printables, look at the other forms included in this free download.

Gorgeous turquois color Goals for the Year
Beautiful orange color Goals for the Year
20 pages of Objectives for each subject
2 page spread of Objectives at a Glance for the Year
4 colorful Quarterly Planning Forms
Your Homeschool Year Goals More of this and Less of This
Year at Glance Form

How to Get the Free Printables

Finally, how to grab the free pages. It’s a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get access my subscribers library and this freebie.

However, not all of my freebies are in the library (wink).

I like to keep up to date with what is valuable to you so I can give you more, some freebies you must sign up again on the form below even if you are already a follower.

It’s the only way I have of freely delivering them to you. Just follow the steps below.

► 1) Sign up on my list.
► 2) Go to your inbox and confirm your email from the automatic reply I sent you.
►3) Last, look for my reply AFTER you confirm your email.

The Best Free Viking Lapbook and Hands-on Ideas

November 18, 2022 | 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

My free Viking lapbook is such a fun lapbook and unit study. Be sure you look at my other fun Homeschool Lapbooks.

In the West, they were called Northmen, Norsemen and Danes.

In the East, they were known as Rus or Varangians. Vikings came from a word in the Old Norse language meaning “sea raiding.”

The Best Free Viking Lapbook and Hands-on Ideas

The Vikings came from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Their land was rocky and they found it hard to grow crops.

Fun Viking Facts

The Vikings used long ships to raid and steal from other lands.

And the long ships were powered by sails or by rowing with oars.

Constantinople was the main city of the Byzantine empire. The Vikings traded there.

The Vikings were farmers and where it was colder they hunted game and fished.

Norse farmers grew barley, rye, oats, cabbage, onions and other root vegetables.

Also, they were both excellent sailors since they could maneuver so easy and soldiers since they knew how to fight too.

Next, look at some of these hands-on activities to go with this Viking lapbook.

Hands-on Viking History Activities

Here are a few you’ll like.

And add a few books for reference.

Finally, look below at the minibooks which come with this free Viking lapbook.

Other Homeschool Lapbooks

You’ll love my other lapbooks for multiple ages.

Minibooks for Free Viking Lapbook for Homeschooled Kids

The minibooks included in this download are:

Drakkar-Knarr-Viking-Ships minibook
Key dates in Viking History timeline
Viking Woman Coloring Page or Front Cover
About Viking Ships Notebooking Page
Draw Your Vikings and Who Were the Barbarians Notebooking Pages
Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland Layered Book
North America Explorers Cover
Vikings are Known For Their …. Book
The Vikings are Less Well-Known For
Viking Ship Base
Were Also Known As. ..
Words and Pocket
Land of the Vikings Geography
Who Were the Vikings minibook
Written in Stone – About Runes minibook

How to Get the Free Lapbook

Finally, how to grab the free page lapbook and notebooking pages. It’s a subscriber freebie.

1) Sign up on my list.

2) Grab the freebie.

3) Last, look for all my emails in your inbox. Glad to have you following me!

Tina Robertson

Geronimo Stilton Out Of Time Fun Sir Francis Drake Ship Craft

About the Geronimo Stilton Series

Activities for Learning About Sir Francis Drake

What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer?

Other Geronimo Stilton Chapter Book Activities

How to Make a Sir Francis Drake Ship

Fun Selfie Salt Dough Gingerbread Kids Activity for Long Winter Nights

Great Gingerbread Facts

Gingerbread Activities

More Winter Unit Study Resources

How to Create a Selfie Salt Dough Gingerbread Men

Entertaining Games in the Past How to Make an Easy Backgammon Game

Games of the Past Ancient Mesopotamia

Facts about Ancient Mesopotamia

Other Fun History Games Resources

DIY Backgammon Game

Gorgeous Free Homeschool Objectives Printables and Educational Goals

Homeschool Goals Printable

About Homeschool Objectives Printable

Other Homeschool Planner Resources

Free Homeschool Planning Forms

How to Get the Free Printables

The Best Free Viking Lapbook and Hands-on Ideas

Fun Viking Facts

Hands-on Viking History Activities

Other Homeschool Lapbooks

Minibooks for Free Viking Lapbook for Homeschooled Kids

How to Get the Free Lapbook

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Archives

Tina Robertson

About the Geronimo Stilton Series

Activities for Learning About Sir Francis Drake

What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer?

Other Geronimo Stilton Chapter Book Activities

How to Make a Sir Francis Drake Ship

Great Gingerbread Facts

Gingerbread Activities

More Winter Unit Study Resources

How to Create a Selfie Salt Dough Gingerbread Men

Games of the Past Ancient Mesopotamia

Facts about Ancient Mesopotamia

Other Fun History Games Resources

DIY Backgammon Game

Homeschool Goals Printable

About Homeschool Objectives Printable

Other Homeschool Planner Resources

Free Homeschool Planning Forms

How to Get the Free Printables

Fun Viking Facts

Hands-on Viking History Activities

Other Homeschool Lapbooks

Minibooks for Free Viking Lapbook for Homeschooled Kids

How to Get the Free Lapbook

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