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Hands-On Activities

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest – Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

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Today is Wildlife Conversation Day. And we’re learning about wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest. Be sure you grab my Amazon Rainforest unit study and free lapbooks.

Two of the most easily identifiable birds are the parrot and the toucan.

Both birds are bright with distinctive colors.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

This easy paper plate craft is a great early elementary activity to go along with your rainforest unit study.

Also, I really enjoy including beautiful quality books.

Add in activities not only during a specific science study or project but pull them out during an art project to reference.

Science doesn’t only have to be taught during science.

Fun Bird Resources

A wonderfully illustrated book like The Big Book of Birds can be brought out to investigate.

In this case, look at the colors of the birds, the shape of their beaks and talk about their habitat and habits.

 Naturally, your child will pick up so much information as you read the little snippets aloud as they look at the pictures.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

These Exotic Bird Toobs from Safari LTD are also a fantastic addition to your rainforest study.

Too, you get a great variety of birds including a toucan and a blue and gold macaw.

 If you want a little more variety instead of just birds they also have a rainforest one with different animals

Rainforest Activities

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

This cutie is a Sun Conure which is a small parrot.

Fun Facts About Birds of the Rainforest

  • All macaws are parrots, but not all parrots are macaws.
  • Of the 3,800 species found in the rainforest, 1,300 of them are bird species.
  • Birds of the Amazon Rainforest eat a variety of foods including leaves, fruits, nuts and insects.
  • Of the 18 species of Macaws in the Amazon Rainforest, several are currently on the endangered list and some species may already be extinct.
  • A toucan’s bill has been adapted to crush and saw the food that it eats such as fruits and nuts.
  • The parrot uses its beak as an additional hand to assist in climbing up trees so it can locate harder to reach food.
  • Out of the four layers of the Amazon Rainforest, the majority of birds live in the canopy layer.
  • Rainforest birds range from tiny hummingbirds to large macaws.
  • Screaming and loud vocalization is the way wild parrots and other birds communicate with one other.
  • The loudest bird in the Amazon Rainforest is the male white bellbird.

Other Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest Resources

Then, add some more activities below.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Finally, look below to make a macaw and toucan bird.

How to Make a Red Macaw Parrot and Toucan Craft

You will need:

  • 3 paper plates
  • Craft paint
  • Craft feathers
  • Google eyes
  • Paintbrushes
  • Glue
  • Scissors

First, for the red macaw parrot, cut 2 paper plates in half.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Paint 3 of the halves entirely red, and for the final half it will be half red and half yellow.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Allow the paint to dry completely.

Cut one of the red halves in half again to create wings.

Glue the red and yellow plate (which is the head and beak) perpendicular to the solid red half that makes up the body.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Add the wings to the sides with glue as well.

Glue some craft feathers together to form a long colorful tail.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Also, attach the tail at the back of the plate to the base with glue.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Finally add a google eye.

For the toucan, it is much the same but with different colors. Cut 1 plate in half and paint it all black.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Cut a beak out of the second plate.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Use a piece of scrap leftover from the beak to make his tail, cutting it into a little wedge and painting it black as well.

We left his “wings” tucked in but you can create flapping wings like on the parrot if you want to add that step.

Paint beak beautiful bright colors and let your child look at them online or in a book for reference.

Let the paint dry and then add a little bright yellow to the throat area.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Once all the pieces are dry, glue the beak to the body across the top and glue the tail piece to the bottom.

Add a google eye to finish him up.

Wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest - Create Fun Macaw and Toucan Crafts

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

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We are time traveling to Ancient Greece in Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time The Third Journey Through Time. And we’re building a fun Greek water clock. Be sure to grab more Geronimo Stilton Books ideas and crafts on my page.

Our favorite adventuring mouse gets to wander through Athens in 434 BCE. He meets Xanthippe, the wife of famous philosopher Socrates, and Socrates too.

After exploring the Greek alphabet, he visits The Symposium.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

He is really living his best life, isn’t he?

These books give amazing vocabular and detailed descriptions of clothing for the period.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time The Third Journey Through Time

In addition, they show architecture and important people of the time to give the young reader a fun glimpse into whatever historical era he ends up in.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

Before we make the water clock, look at some of these resources.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

I have many resources to make this wonderful book a full literature unit study.

Ancient Greece Resources

Add these resources to your day to make learning come alive or do a full unit study.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

In addition, I have many crafts to go with some of the books in the Geronimo Stilton series.

Other Geronimo Stilton Chapter Book Activities

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

Then, here are a few more facts about The Greeks.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

Amazing Ancient Greek Facts

  • Roughly one third of Ancient Greeks were slaves.
  • Greeks called themselves Hellenes.
  • The Ancient Greeks invented the Yo-Yo.
  • The Greek alphabet came into being around about 1000 BC.
  • Many Ancient Greeks wore a chito which is a long shirt made from a single large piece of cotton.
  • The Greeks really loved to learn. They felt that learning was one of the best ways you could spend your time.
  • The basic crops that were grown in Ancient Greece were wheat, barley, olives, and grapes.
  • Romans were considered big copycats of the Greeks. They copied a lot of the Greek culture.  Everything from their gods, to architecture, language, and even what and how they ate.

Finally, look below at how to make this fun water clock.

We are going to create our own version of a Greek water clock.

A water clock or clepsydra was used in Ancient Greece to measure time by regulating the flow of water.

As water moved from one vessel to another in a certain period, they measured it.

Water would drip through a hole in the bottom of a filled container into the bottom one.

Often, the bottom container was marked with the hours of the day so that they could tell time by how full the vessel became.

Basically it is an hourglass with water instead of sand to simplify it.

It also happens to be one of the oldest ways to tell time from the ancients.

How to Make an Ancient Greek Water Clock

You will need:

  • Two 16-20 oz. bottles with lids
  • Water
  • A sharpie marker
  • Hot glue or e6000
  • A timer
  • Drill/small drill bit.
Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

Pull the label off both bottles and wash the bottles well (especially if they were soda bottles).

Remove the caps and drill a small hotel through both caps, in the center, and line them up as close as you can.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

Glue the two caps together, flat top to flat top, take care not to get glue in your holes and plug it up. You can reverse this order if it’s easier to line up the holes after gluing.

Start with 1 cup of water and pour it into one of your bottles, mark the line where the water stops. 

You may want to open the bottle backup and add more later if you want the timer to go longer.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

Screw the glued tops onto the empty bottle and then flip it and screw it onto the bottle with water.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

Get your timer ready, as soon as you flip the bottle and the drops begin to go through, start the timer.

Mark the water line in the bottom bottle at 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc.

Reverse the bottles and do the same on the other side.

Geronimo Stilton The Race Against Time Build a Fun Greek Water Clock

You now have an awesome low tech timer for games, quizzes, or cooking and a little better understanding of how time was kept in Ancient Greece.

What do you think? Ready to make this?

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

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For Native American activities for kindergarten, I have a cute cradleboard craft. Grab my other tips, ideas, and crafts for kindergarten on my page Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum.

Also, there are many amazing and beautiful inventions that we still use today that originally came from the Native Americans. 

For example, rubber, raised bed gardening, snow goggles, cable suspension bridges, baby bottles, hammocks, and countless medicinal things.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

But long before Columbus set foot on land, Native Americans made and used cradleboards.

Native Americans would carry babies long and short distances.

And they could also be hung from hooks or a tree to keep babies safe and close while mom worked.

Native American Cradleboard

Cradleboards were made of woven fibers or wood, painted, beaded, and braided

Additionally, Northern Plains, Eastern Woodlands, and Southwestern tribes used them.

Too, cradleboards would be decorated to show their love and happiness for the arrival of a new member of their tribe.

Children would spend from birth to up to 2 years being carried in a cradleboard.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Often, they added things to the cradleboard like with fur to keep babies warm in cold climates.

Fabric was hung from the top to shade the babies.

Additionally, dangling items like bead strings and dream catchers would be added as baby toys to keep them busy.

Native American Hands-on Activities

Also, look at some more Native American hands-on activities.

Many of these hands-on ideas can be done with multiple ages.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Too, there are enough ideas here that you can create a fun Native American Unit Study.

More Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum

Look at these other resources.

However, you’ll want to add some fun books.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Native American Books

5 Native American Books And Fun Figures

Use these books to add reading to a unit study or to enhance your study for the day.

The Rough-Face Girl

From Algonquin Indian folklore comes a powerful, haunting rendition of Cinderella.

Children of the Longhouse

When Ohkwa'ri overhears a group of older boys planning a raid on a neighboring village, he immediately tells his Mohawk elders. He has done the right thing—but he has also made enemies. 

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern Native American family.

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

In spring, the hills and meadows of Texas and Wyoming are ablaze with the reds, oranges, and yellows of the Indian Paintbrush. How this striking plant received its name is told in an old Indian legend.

Many years ago, when the People traveled the Plains, a young Indian boy had a Dream-Vision in which it was revealed that one day he would create a painting that was as pure as the colors of the evening sky at sunset. 

The Earth under Sky Bear's Feet: Native American Poems of the Land

Native American elders will tell you there is as much to see in the night as in the familiar light of day, and here Abenaki storyteller and American Book Award recipient Joseph Bruchac offers twelve unforgettable stories of the living earth seen from the sky.

Safari Ltd Wild West TOOB

Finally, you should  add these Safari Toobs to your collection.

Safari Ltd Powhatan Indians

. They are fun to play with but also make the best addition to sensory bins and dioramas.

Finally, look at how to make this adorable cradleboard craft.

How to Make a Native American Cradleboard

First, you can make this cradleboard small enough for a Barbie doll baby or large enough to carry a bigger doll on a child’s back.

I purposefully kept the instructions general so you could customize the craft to fit any size you like.

You will need:

  • Corrugated cardboard
  • Brown packing paper
  • Brown paint
  • Crayons or markers
  • Twine
  • Small beads
  • The baby of your choice
Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

To start, measure your intended doll.

Again, you want the cardboard to be slightly taller and wider than the baby.

Cut it flat along the bottom and sides and create a curved top.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Next, cut a square of brown packing paper twice the height and width of the cardboard. In fact, this is going to be “hidden” to create the pocket for the baby.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten

Furthermore, encourage your child to ball it up and crinkle it as much as possible to age it. Then, open it and crinkle it again.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

To add a bit more distress to it, you can wipe on some watered down brown paint and then wipe  the excess off with a paper towel.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Trim your paper so that it looks roughly like this, matching the curve of the top of the cardboard.

Fold up from the bottom and the sides inward to make it the same size as the cardboard base.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Now it’s time to let your child decorate the hide with crayons or markers with symbols.

The Native Americans often told stories with their artwork. Glue paper to cardboard.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Fold up the bottom and sides and glue them all into place. Let your child do it on their own or use hot glue so it dries much faster.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Flip over the cradleboard and glue on straps using twine for rope.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Add a few beads to a length of twine for decoration and then glue to the cradleboard.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

Here is this one on a doll. It’s a little big but would be perfect for a Barbie sized doll.

Native American Activities For Kindergarten Create A Fun Cradleboard Craft

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

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Today is National Native American Heritage Day and we’re making a fun Iroquois bracelet. Add this to my Iroquois lapbook for an amazing unit study.

When studying the Iroquois, you can’t forget the beautiful beadwork that was so important to the culture for many reasons. 

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

Additionally, wampum belts were worn for ornamental, ceremonial, diplomatic and commercial purposes.

They were made to identify agreements and treaties between peoples.

For example, like between the Haudenosaunee and newcomers to North America.

Also, they were used as currency between tribes and the colonists.

We are going to take some liberties and use regular beads to work on fine motor skills with some simple coloring in squares and bead stringing.

Adding in some Native American history we’ll create simple a beadwork bracelet and have fun in the process.

While there are more complex weaving patterns for the wampum, this simple tutorial makes it easy for anyone to create.

Books About the Iroquois

Grab a few books from your library or pick up a couple that I have linked below to learn a little more about the Iroquois and the importance of wampum.

5 Books About the Iroquois

Learn about how the Iroquois lived.

The Iroquois (A True Book: American Indians)

A True Book: American Indian series allows readers to experience what makes each American Indian people distinctive and exceptional. Readers will get to know each tribes culture, influence and history

Hiawatha: Founder of the Iroquois Confederacy (North American Indians of Achievement)

Examines the life and career of the fifteenth-century Iroquois Indian.

The Iroquois: The Six Nations Confederacy (American Indian Nations)

The Iroquois have lived in what is now upper New York State and Ontario, Canada, for more than 4,000 years. In the 12th century, a man of their tribe called the Peacemaker convinced the five other nearby tribes - the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca - to work together with the Iroquois in a peaceful confederacy. 

Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife Activities for Children (Keepers of the Earth)

These traditional Native American stories along with related activities show parents and teachers how to teach children the importance of wildlife in Native American traditions. As the stories unfold and the activities come to life, the importance of our connections to animals became apparent.Features traditional Native American stories.Includes field-tested activities appropriate for all ages.Connects wildlife ecology and environmental issues.Fosters creative thinking and the synthesis of knowledge and experience.The stories in this book present some of the basic perspectives that Native North American parents, aunts and uncles use to teach the young. They are phrased in terms that modern youngsters can understand and appreciate, along with eye-catching illustrations and photographs throughout.

Children of the Longhouse

When Ohkwa'ri overhears a group of older boys planning a raid on a neighboring village, he immediately tells his Mohawk elders. He has done the right thing—but he has also made enemies. 

Then look at some facts below.

Interesting Iroquois Facts

  • They were originally Five Nations that made up the Iroquois people- Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca. Later the Tuscarora joined.
  • There was a trail that connected the Five Nations that make up the Iroquois, it was called the Iroquois Trail.
  • The Iroquois Great Council still meets today.
  • Wampum Is a shortened version of wampumpeag, which is derived from the Narragansett word meaning “white strings of shell beads. They were tubular beads made from seashells on the coast and were most often the white shells from the whelk shell and purple from the quahog clam shell.
  • The main homeland of the Iroquois was in what is now New York State. They were also spread across Ohio, Pennsylvania, Quebec and Ontario.
  • Up to 60 people would live in a single longhouse.
  • The Iroquois slept on raised platforms.
  • Besides the animals that they hunted, they mainly ate corn, beans and squash, named the Three Sisters.
  • Men of the Iroquois hunted and fished, were the traders and fighters. And the women took care of farmed, gathered and processed food, raised the children, and took care of the housekeeping.
  • The Iroquois moved to a new settlement near water every 10-30 years because the soil lost its nutrients and the animal and fish population declined from use.

Also, I have these other resources.

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

Finally, look at these Iroquois resources below.

More Iroquois Resources

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

In addition, look below at how to make a Native American wampum bracelet.

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

How to Make a Native American Wampum Bracelet

Next, you will need:

  • Colorful beads
  • Pipe cleaners/chenille stems
  • Graph paper
  • Markers in the same colors as the beads you use.
  • Small piece of cardboard
  • scissors
National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

The number of beads you will need will depend on the length you want it and the size of the beads you choose.

First, determine how long you want the bracelet to be.

Line up beads along the length of the pipe cleaner to designate the length and this will help you decide how many you need for one row to determine the pattern in the next step.

You want to make it large enough that it can slide on and off without opening.

Decide on a pattern you would like to use, you can keep it simple and just alternate 2 to 3 colors, or a simple shape.

Mark it on a sheet of graph paper by coloring in each of the squares to represent the bead color you will use. For a bracelet 3 to 4 lines tall is perfect.

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

Next, cut a piece of cardboard a little shorter than the pipe cleaners and about  4”- 5” wide.

Cut slits in one end ¼” apart.

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

Place pipe cleaners on cardboard, press them through the slits and bend a small amount of one end over the back

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

Follow the pattern.

Put either one pipe cleaner at a time or across from one side to the other to replicate the pattern you created on paper.

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

Once all your beads are in place, remove the strands and twist one end together tightly without moving all the strands.

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

On the opposite end of the bracelet twist the ends together around one strand leaving it longer than the others.

Bend into a bracelet shape and wrap the longer strand from the end around the other piece to close it off.

National Native American Heritage Day Make a Fun Kids Iroquois Bracelet

Winter Craft Ideas How to Make Fun Pinecone Flowers

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If you’re looking for winter craft ideas for a winter season unit study, your kids will love these fun pinecone flowers.

These pinecone flowers are adorable and add a sweet touch to your table or bookshelf.

Creating an entire bouquet is a great way to fill a chilly fall or winter afternoon with your nature lover. 

Winter Craft Ideas How to Make Fun Pine Cone Flowers

I just love the mix of the natural and the handmade.

This activity can be done as a standalone or as part of a tree or pinecone unit study.

All you need to do is gather up some pinecones from the yard and a handful of small sturdy twigs and you are ready to get to creating a beautiful bouquet.

Favorite Nature Winter Craft Ideas

If you want to include this craft as part of a unit on pinecones or trees in general here are some of my favorite resources for nature study.

The Nature Anatomy book is always a goldmine of information.

There are plenty of pages on bark, leaves, pinecones, tree rings, etc.

Another great pinecone activity is this Easy and Fun PineCone Snowy Owl Winter Craft for Kindergarten.

  • This is a cute and well done Pinecone Unit Study that you can do.
  • Nature lovers should have a copy of Peterson First Guides Trees on hand. This is a great reference for home or to pack for nature walks.

Safari LTD Trees Toobs are great as a reference especially trees you might not see in person but they can also be used for dioramas and sensory bins.

Finally, explore this simple activity: Why Do Pinecones Open and Close While you have pinecones gather up.

Pinecone Facts

Winter Craft Ideas How to Make Fun Pine Cone Flowers

Also, here are a few pinecone facts.

  • The main purpose of a pinecone is to keep the tree’s seeds safe.
  • The inner bark can be sliced and fried, it is a good emergency food option.
  • Pinecones can stay on pine trees for more than 10 years before falling to the ground.
  • The large pinecones you see are the female pinecones.
  • Pinecones are the official Maine state flower.
  • Pine nuts can be used in coffee, jam, tea, and seasoning.
  • Pinecones are a natural barometer for predicting severe winters and forest fires. A pinecone on the forest ground is an indication of moisture and could mean a wildfire risk. The closed scales on a pinecone indicate damp conditions while open scales mean the forest floor is dry.
  • Pine, spruce, firs, cedars, larches, hemlocks, yews, etc. are all conifers and produce cones, but pinecones only come from pine trees.
  • The reason that pinecones close their scales is to protect the seeds from cold temperatures and the wind.

Other Winter Craft Ideas

Also, look at a few more craft ideas.

Now, look at how to make these fun pinecone flowers.

How to Make Pinecone Flowers

You will need:

  • Pinecones
  • Sticks
  • Craft paint
  • Paintbrushes
  • Toilet paper rolls
  • Pruning shears/cutters
  • Hot glue gun/sticks
Winter Craft Ideas How to Make Fun Pine Cone Flowers

Go on a nice leisurely nature walk and gather pinecones and twigs.

If you can’t find any in your area, they are easily found at craft stores in bags.

Clean the pinecones with soap and water to remove dirt, bugs and loose pieces.

Allow to dry completely. Use pruning shears or loppers to cut pinecones into about 3 pieces. Pull off loose leaves.

Winter Craft Ideas How to Make Fun Pine Cone Flowers

Cut empty toilet rolls into rings and use them to prop up your pinecones.

This will help them dry quicker from underneath.

Paint pinecones completely inside and out, top and bottom and allow them to dry. 

Repeat with a second coat to get nice coverage, allowing it to dry completely.

If you like, add dots of yellow paint to the center to create the center of the flower the pistil.

Once all the paint is completely dry choose a twig to fit with the size of your pinecone and attach it to the bottom with a generous amount of hot glue.

You will need to hold each one in place while the hot glue cools and hardens. Repeat for each flower.

Once all stems have been added you can arrange them in a simple jar or lay them on shelves to brighten up your home.