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History Based

World War II Hands-On History – Make a Secret Message Deck

August 22, 2016 | 8 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, we kicked off our homeschool unit study about World War II with a fun hands-on activity, which is making a secret card message deck.

World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck. What a FUN way to kick off your homeschool unit study. Check it out

Let me back up first because I want to share with you my original post where I gathered World War II Free Resources For a Middle School Unit Study.

Using some of those resources and sharing more as we now kick off our World War II unit study, I like to introduce new unit studies with a hands-on activity when possible.

Spies, Lies and Secrets in World War II

I grabbed some of the books we had and one we love is Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself, which I used on this activity to pique Tiny’s interest.

And what better way to learn about World War II than to learn about secrets, spies and a secret message card deck. Not only did we learn a  bit about spies but it was a chance to sneak in some geography in a cool way.

We read about how a deck of cards could conceal maps to safety. Decks could be soaked in water to take away the top layer and messages would be inside.

So we decided to try this.

1 WWII Secret Cards Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Looked at what we grabbed.

  • 2 decks of matching cards
  • pen or marker
  • scissors
  • rubber cement (you know the kind with a brush in it)
  • map. I used a map from our WonderMaps which is worth every penny because this cool program can be used over and over. All the maps are listed by theme. So I grabbed the World War II theme.
World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck
2 WWII Secret Cards Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

So I printed the World War II map and then you fold the page in half lengthwise and into half again. Try to crease it well as you go along.

Secret Card Message Deck

Unfold it and smooth it out a bit and then fold it in half width wise, then again and one more time.

3 WWII Secret Cards Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When you open it up, you will have 32 sections. Take a pen and number each section in the top left of each section until you get to 32.

4 WWII Secret Cards Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hands-on History

Then cut the 32 sections out and now you have 32 tiny pieces ready to stick inside the center of the cards.

5 WWII Secret Cards Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next match all the cards from each deck until you have all matching pairs.

Then Tiny placed a small piece or section on the card and carefully glued the second matching card on top.

More World War II Unit Study Hands-on Activities

  • Free World War II Unit Study Ideas and Fun Lapbook
  • World War II Hands-On History – Make Ration Cakes
  • World War II Hands-On History – Make a Secret Message Deck
  • 8 World War II Historical Fiction Books for Middle School
  • World War II Free Resources For a Middle School Unit Study & Make Victory Garden Soup
  • World War II Homeschool History-Manhattan Project,Vocabulary & A. Frank
  • World War II Homeschool History: Life During the War & Pearl Harbor Minibook
  • World War II Homeschool History: Minibooks Causes & Great Depression
  • World War II Homeschool History: Staged For War & Quick Facts Minibooks & Links
  • World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook

Be sure to not glue the small piece of paper, just glue around the edges.

Important tip: Be sure the cards are facing the same direction so when you turn it over, it looks like one card. In other words it has one back side and one face card side. Cool uh!

6 WWII Secret Cards Activity @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Tiny presented the cards to Dad to see if he could guess what was different about them. He never guessed there was a small message inside each card.

Too, since a deck has 52 cards in it, there is room to make more spy messages.

Can you tell which cards have been “doctored” above and have a message in them?

And what is better yet is that the pieces of the secret message can be put back together to form the map.

Secret Message Map @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I think I have Tiny’s rapt attention on our unit study and he is ready to move on to the next part in our homeschool World War II unit study.
Because we do our unit study and lapbooks too as we plod along, I never have lapbooks in one giant download.

I also do it this way so that you can grab just the parts you need instead of downloading minibooks you may not need.

World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck
World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck
World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck
World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck
World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck
World War II Hands-On History - Make a Secret Message Deck
World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

8 CommentsFiled Under: 1. My FREE Learning Printables {Any Topic}, Hands-On Activities, History Based, History Resources, Lapbook Tagged With: freeprintables, hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, history, history resources, homeschoolhistory, world war II

Medieval Chemistry and Homeschool History – Fun Hands-On Activity

June 22, 2016 | 19 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Medieval chemistry and homeschool history is about hand on today. Medieval Chemistry had early beginnings although we don’t always think about the medieval period as that time. Also, look at my free 4 week Middle Ages Unit Study for more fun.

I shared Medieval Homeschool History – 4 Surefire Ways to Beat a Boring Study when we started using Beautiful Feet living history books.

Medieval Chemistry and Homeschool History. Alchemy was a 'science' back in Medieval times. Look at this fun hands-on activity over @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

We have been loving reading about the Middle Ages, but I wanted to add some science in with our history and reading.

Although the Middle Ages is not really known for its scientific discovery, the ‘science’ of alchemy was a popular idea.

The Forerunner of Chemistry in the Middle Ages

Trying to turn different base metals into gold I’m sure kept early alchemists busy discovering new things.

Today, I thought I would do some basic chemistry with Tiny so that he understands how early alchemist felt.

Alchemical_Laboratory

Alchemy was probably the forerunner to chemistry today.Though Tiny now knows that he can’t turn egg yolks into gold, he used to think about that.

However, he is always up for some fun chemistry.

Medieval Chemistry and Homeschool History

Look at this easy hands-on activity to do when learning about Medieval history. Color changing is about as close to gold changing as we get to today.

Grab these items.

  • 5 small jars
  • 1/2 head of red cabbage
  • sprite or I used diet 7up
  • cream of tartar
  • baking soda
  • vinegar
  • lemons or lemon juice
  • big microwavable bowl
  • colander
  • pitcher
Medieval Chemistry 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Medieval Chemistry 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

After Tiny grabbed everything, I used half of a head of red cabbage and put enough water to cover it somewhat.

Medieval Chemistry 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Medieval Chemistry 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then, we put  the bowl in the microwave for about 10 minutes.

While the cabbage is in the microwave, Tiny put a 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar in one jar, 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice in one jar and we repeated this for each item.

One ingredient in each jar.

Medieval Chemistry 5 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Medieval Chemistry 6 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When the time was up for the red cabbage in the microwave, I used a colander to put on top of the pitcher and strained the juice. (Whoops, ignore my morning glass of cold iced coffee. I do love my coffee. )

Since the water is hot, it makes it easier to experiment if your kid can pour it into each jar using a small pitcher.

Because the cabbage juice is a ph balance indicator, each ingredient will turn different colors depending on it’s acidity or alkalinity.

Water has a ph balance of 7 and acids will have a lower number and alkaline items will have a higher number.

Medieval Chemistry 7 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Medieval Chemistry 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

For example the lemons have a low number and the baking soda turned blue-ish because it has high alkaline.

Look at this nifty scale for understanding about ph balance.

Medieval Chemistry and Homeschool History - Fun Hands-On Activity

You can experiment with more ingredients. Just remember this is chemistry so be sure you know what you’re doing because it can be dangerous combining ingredients.

I felt pretty comfortable with these things because I did them with my oldest kids.

However, there is nothing like your youngest child being able to do the things he had just watched his older siblings doing when he was little.

Besides, this fun activity helps Tiny to get into the spirit of discovery like they did in the Medieval times.

We used Beautiful Feet’s Medieval history because we love living literature!

Medieval Chemistry and Homeschool History - Fun Hands-On Activity

Can you add a bit of chemistry to your study of Medieval history?

Also, look at Medieval History for Homeschool Middle School.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

Look at how we used Beautiful Feet before in When We Used Beautiful Feet Books as our History Spine and also look at How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History.

19 CommentsFiled Under: Geography Based, Hands-On Activities, History Based, History Resources, My Unit Studies {Free Printables & Hands-on Ideas} Tagged With: hands on history, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, history, homeschoolhistory, medieval homeschool history

22 Free Lewis & Clark Activity Posters (You Don’t Want to Miss These)

June 1, 2016 | 11 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I love free awesome printables. So when I found these 22 free Lewis & Clark activity posters, I just had to let you know about them.

22 Free Lewis & Clark Activity Posters. You don't want to miss these awesome free downloads to help with a plant study. Grab them at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Lewis & Clark Free Unit Study

When I shared my Lewis & Clark – Ultimate Guide, I left these printables off below.

It wasn’t because they weren’t awesome, but quite the opposite. We have been so captivated learning with them, I wanted to be sure they didn’t get overlooked.

The printables make for a great plant study because each free download has 3 native plants and 3 invasive plants and are in pencil line drawing.

Books about Lewis and Clark

First, look at these Lewis and Clark books for kids.

15 Lewis and Clark | Sacagawea Exploration Unit Study Resources

Lewis and Clark is one of the most significant periods in American history and you can spend weeks exploring the lands and people west of the Mississippi with these fun books and resources.

How We Crossed The West: The Adventures Of Lewis And Clark

Appealing art and descriptive text bring Lewis and Clark alive for young adventurers. Carefully chosen text from Lewis and Clark's actual journals opens a fascinating window into this country's exciting history.

National Geographic Readers: Sacagawea

Explore one of the most recognized figures in American history with this biography of Sacagawea. Kids will learn about her crucial role in the Lewis and Clark expedition and her influential legacy.  The level 3 text provides accessible, yet wide-ranging, information for independent readers.

Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis & Clark

Commissioned in 1803 by President Thomas Jefferson to explore and open up this vast territory, Lewis and Clark felt it was the realization of a lifelong dream. Against the hardships of the wilderness, possible attack by hostile Indians, sudden blizzards and terrifying natural obstacles, these two men led the Corps of Discovery ably and nobly to complete their mission. Their Corps included American Indians from the Sioux, Mandan, Shoshone, Clatsop and Chopunnish tribes. Sacajawea, the only woman on the trip, was a Shoshone woman who contributed invaluable service as interpreter and guide. Daugherty's evocative sepia and black ink illustrations depict individuals of humor, vitality, passion, and strength.

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West

From the New York Times bestselling author the definitive book on Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the most momentous expedition in American history and one of the great adventure stories of all time.

The Truth About Sacajawea (Lewis & Clark Expedition)

The only book ever written that tells the eyewitness truth about this famous teenage Indian mother who was indispensable to the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Journals of Lewis and Clark: 1805: Volume II

On May 14, 1804, the Corps of Discovery set out from Camp Dubois, Illinois, heading westward under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his Second Lieutenant, William Clark. While Lewis led the group in terms of rank, the two men became de facto equals, giving their names jointly to a journey that would shape the future of the fledgling United States — the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This book presents journal entries taken directly from the expedition.

Sacagawea: American Pathfinder

Describes how Sacagawea found adventure guiding Lewis and Clark to the Oregon coast.

Along the Trail with Lewis and Clark (Third Edition): A Guide to the Trail Today

Take Your Own Journey through History on the Lewis & Clark Trail! Follow the journey of the Corps of Discovery from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello through the Midwest and the Rockies, to the Pacific Ocean and back with this detailed chronicle of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. This third edition of the classic guidebook features accessible text that combines the historical sites and color maps that merge the past and present in a user-friendly and entertaining way.

What Was the Lewis and Clark Expedition?

When Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the "Corp of Discovery" left St. Louis, Missouri, on May 1, 1804, their mission was to explore the vast, unknown territory acquired a year earlier in the Louisiana Purchase. The travelers hoped to find a waterway that crossed the western half of the United States. They didn't. However, young readers will love this true-life adventure tale of the two-year journey that finally brought the explorers to the Pacific Ocean.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition (Graphic History)

In this epic graphic novel, follow the dramatic story of  the Lewis and Clark expedition. In 1804, these two explorers, along with their "Corps of Discovery," traversed the unmapped American West, leading to scientific discoveries, interactions with Native nations, and route to the Pacific Ocean. Dramatic illustrations and fast-paced text provide a "you-are-there" experience. With extensive back matter, including a bibliography, extended reading list, glossary, and further Internet sources, young readers will gobble up this action-packed comic book about one of history's most compelling moments.

The Oregon Trail: The Journey Across the Country From Lewis and Clark to the Transcontinental Railroad With 25 Projects

In The Oregon Trail: The Journey Across the Country from Lewis and Clark to the Transcontinental Railroad, readers ages 9 to 12 can delve into the explorations of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and other explorers. They can learn about the more than half a million people who followed during the nineteenth century. What challenges did these pioneers face on the 2,170-mile journey? How were Native American tribes and nations affected by this mass migration? Primary sources allow readers to feel like a part of the Oregon Trail experience while biographical sidebars will introduce the compelling people who were part of this time in U.S. history. Investigative, hands-on projects and critical thinking activities such as writing a treaty and researching artistic impressions of the Oregon Trail invite readers to further their understanding of life on the trail, early towns and forts, and the Transcontinental Railroad that followed the wagons into new lands and territories that would eventually become states.

Seaman's Journal

A trade paperback edition of the award-winning tale of the journey of Lewis and Clark. When Seaman, a Newfoundland dog, met his new master in August of 1803, he didn't know that he would spend the next three years on an adventure of more than 8,000 miles to the Pacific Ocean and back. Seaman's Journal is based on actual entries in Meriwether Lewis s journal describing Seaman, and it presents an account of the Lewis and Clark expedition as seen from the viewpoint of Lewis s dog. Join Seaman before the trip as preparations take place. Meet the Native American guides and friends they encountered along the way. And read of Seaman s love for Sacajawea, the Shoshone woman whose husband acted as interpreter and guide. Ages 5-8.

The Lewis & Clark Expedition: Join the Corps of Discovery to Explore Uncharted Territory

Describes the expedition led by Lewis and Clark to explore the unknown western regions of America at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Lewis and Clark for Kids: Their Journey of Discovery with 21 Activities

Following Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s Corps of Discovery as they navigate the muddy Missouri River and begin a great adventure, this activity book is set against the background of the vast North American continent. It takes children from President Jefferson’s vision of an exploratory mission across a continent full of unique plants and animals through their dangerous and challenging journey into the unknown to the expedition’s triumphant return to the frontier town of St. Louis. Twenty-one activities bring to life the Native American tribes they encountered, the plants and animals they discovered, and the camping and navigating techniques they used. A glossary of terms and listings of Lewis and Clark sites, museums, and related websites round out this comprehensive activity book.

It's Her Story Sacajawea A Graphic Novel

Sacajawea was a brilliant, multilingual Shoshone girl who was torn from her home at a young age. In 1804, she set out with the Lewis and Clark Expedition, acting as an interpreter and guide across hundreds of miles of unmapped land to reach the Pacific Ocean. Almost 200 years later, she became the first Indigenous woman to appear on a US coin. This is her story.

The copyright information says its for educational use only, so be sure you use them like that.

In addition to having a poster about the historic site with a journal entry, they have descriptions on the download.

Beside a historic place download is a game of word scramble to find the plant words in the puzzle.

Did I mention they are such high quality that the kid who loves to color can do so?

Also, I love the fact that the original spellings or should I say misspellings like ‘pirimids’ were incorporated into the lessons.

The misspellings on the site are not a blunder, but rather an integrity to the original form.

22 Awesome Lewis & Clark Plant Study Guides

Each game download gives the description and color of the native plants.

We even researched some of these plants online so we could see a color picture of them although the author’s description and background information is so very helpful.

Here are the printables from Explore Your World With Lewis and Clark.

Scroll to the very bottom of that page to grab each download. Click on the poster for the historic site, then click on the games beside it to grab both downloads on each line.

Lewis and Clark on Bountiful Plains of the Missouri : Games

Lewis and Clark sighted by the Assiniboine Indians : Games

Lewis and Clarks Quandry at Decision Point : Games

Re-discover nature at Rainbow Falls : Games

Lewis and Clark at Gates of the Rocky Mountains : Games

William Clark and his scouts at Two Camp : Games

Lewis and Clarks vista point at Pompeys Pillar : Games

A look back at the Missouri Headwaters : Games

Lewis and Clark Reunion at Camp Fortunate : Games

Lewis and Clark at the Tower Creek Pirimids : Games

Lewis and Clark along the river near Travelers Rest : Games

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

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11 CommentsFiled Under: 1. My FREE Learning Printables {Any Topic}, Geography Based, History Based, History Resources Tagged With: freeprintables, hands-on, hands-on activities, handsonhomeschooling, history, history resources, lapbookresources, lewis and clark, lewisandclark, printable

Lewis and Clark:Cooking on the Trail

April 30, 2016 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today for studying about Lewis and Clark, I have a fun cooking idea. Look at my page Lewis and Clark Fun Homeschool Unit Study and Lapbook for more ideas.

Another reason for circling back to unit studies you have done before is that you can use resources you may not have had a chance to use the first time.

Lewis and Clark:Cooking on the Trail

We used one of those resources today when studying Lewis and Clark because we did some cooking on the “trail”.

I have The Lewis and Clark Cookbook: Historic Recipes from the Corps of Discovery and Jefferson’s America book and we couldn’t wait to dive into it today.

Lewis and Clark: Hungry, though in a Land of Plenty

Buttermilk Recipe 6 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What I love about this book is it gave a tally about how many animals were eaten.

Look at a few of them: deer, 1001, grizzly bear 43, beaver 113, bison 227 and turkeys 9 to name a few of them.

Too, we found it interesting that food was abundant.

The group went to bed hungry many nights because they would have rain that would ruin their drying meat or they would miss shooting the game.

The book also has journal entries from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We read quite a few of them.

Here is the quote for this recipe:

(misspelling the same way it was in their journals)

November 30, 1805. (Sacagawea) gave me a piece of bread made of flour which She had reserved for her child and carefully kept untill this time, which has unfortunately got wet, and a little Sour. This bread I eat with great satisfaction,it being the only mouthfull, I had tasted for Several months past. – Clark.

Also, the preface was just chock full of information to help us understand how ingredients were made and to the recipes were created using authentic ingredients they would have during pioneering times.

Tiny has become a bread eater so he looked for a recipe to make some bread, but found one for buttermilk biscuits.

Look at these buttermilk biscuits Tiny made up real quick.

Lewis and Clark. Cooking Recipe @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus


Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small parts
3/4 cup buttermilk (Remember if you don’t have buttermilk, just add lemon or vinegar to regular milk . I do this all the time, but I knew Tiny wanted to make this, so I grabbed buttermilk for it.)

Buttermilk Recipe 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Buttermilk Recipe 2 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

In a bowl, he stirred together the dry ingredients. Added in the cold butter until it was coarse.

Next, he added the buttermilk until the dough came together.

I tried to not bud in too much like knowing if he mixes it too much, it won’t come out right.

So I kept quiet and let him enjoy the thrill of cooking.

Buttermilk Recipe 3 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Buttermilk Recipe 4 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then he turned the dough out onto the counter and pat it down about an inch.

He used our cookie cutter to cut out the biscuits and we baked them in a cast iron pot for 20 minutes on a 450 degree oven.

Then of course, adding a bit of modern twist to it like some sour cherry preserves didn’t hurt either.

Buttermilk Recipe 5 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Tiny decided he loved this recipe and I just had to show the rest of what is in this book.

MORE LEWIS AND CLARK ACTIVITIES

  • Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
  • How To Make An Easy Ink pot & Quill Pen with Berry Ink
  • 7 Fun Sacagawea Facts For Kids | How To Make Lewis & Clark & Sacagawea Peg Dolls
  • Spectacular Lewis And Clark Plants Drawings | 7 Quick Botany Art Lessons
  • What Plants And Animals Did Lewis And Clark Discover on their Famous Trek & Bitterroot Craft

You can see the journal entries at the end of each recipe.

Buttermilk Recipe 7 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The beautiful photography made it more than just a cookbook, which I loved as he can go along and read more about the expedition.

Buttermilk Recipe 8 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

There are really simple things to cook like biscuits and baked beans and then things that are harder to find like roast duck.

Buttermilk Recipe 9 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Living here closer to the city too, we have quite a few butcher shops that sell wild game like bison, which I would love to try.

Buttermilk Recipe 10 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Tiny wasn’t interested in bison, but doesn’t mean we couldn’t try it.

Lewis and Clark. Cooking on the trail. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I have no idea what the price would be, but it would make for a great feast at the end of the unit.

Buttermilk Recipe 11 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

GRAB THESE OTHER RESOURCES AND HANDS-ON IDEAS

Lewis and Clark: Hands-on History. Make a Char Cloth
Hands-On History: Make a Journal!
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Expedition – The Ultimate Guide
Lewis and Clark Unit Study and Lapbook
Lewis and Clark:Cooking on the Trail
Lewis and Clark Free Botany 1 and 2 Minibooks
How To Make An Easy Ink pot & Quill Pen with Berry Ink

Don’t forget to follow BOTH of my Pinterest accounts for more AWESOME pins.

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

4 CommentsFiled Under: Geography Based, Hands-On Activities, History Based, History Resources, Science Based

Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map

April 13, 2016 | 8 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We decided to make this Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase edible map for a hands-on activity for our Lewis and Clark Fun Homeschool Unit Study and Lapbook.

Seriously though, I decided to have Tiny make this map because it is hard to picture the immense landmass.

Or just how big that purchase was as we have been reading about it in our Lewis and Clark Unit Study and (revisited.)

Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map

Acres and acreages sounded like blah, blah and blah.

Not only was the Louisiana Purchase a huge hallmark in American history, but it just about doubled the size of America.

That is a significant benchmark to remember.

The best way to see that is to make a visual of it.

Hands-on History to Learning about Lewis and Clark

Since Tiny has been hankering for some sweets, we sat down to make this fun project.

Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map. A great visual to understand how vast it was. Grab the directions here @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at this list of supplies we used and of course, I’m a believer in using what you have on hand to make this delicious learning activity.

  • edible peanut butter dough – (peanut butter, honey and boxed dried milk. recipe below.)
  • platter or clean mat
  • black sharpie
  • icing, we used cream cheese and had some green too
  • atlas and a few websites showing the boundary of the Louisiana Purchase
  • crushed oreos (the real reason we had to do this map)
  • plastic knife or butter knife for shaping “states” and “river”
  • Hershey’s Kisses
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map

We pulled out a clean table place mat that we had, which we only had one of. How did we do that?

Anyway, it was the perfect clean palate to start with.

Using a black sharpie and our atlas, the first thing Tiny did was to trace the outline of the U.S. It doesn’t have to be perfect because it will be covered up.

So Tiny drew the boundaries free hand on the mat.

The next thing we used was edible peanut butter dough.

I am really glad we used peanut butter dough instead of the salt dough recipe that we normally use because it was easy to work with because it stayed moist the whole time.

Salt dough is good too but we use that when we want to paint, but edible peanut butter dough is not only great tasting, but pliable.

Since this kid has loved this recipe since I introduced it to him when he was in grade school, it makes for a great project now that he is older.

Edible Louisiana Purchase Map

Look at this recipe at how to make edible peanut butter dough.

  • 1 cup of dried instant milk
  • 1/2 cup of peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup of honey

As you can see above, we just added it together and mixed.

Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map

You’re looking for the consistency pictured above, so you may need to add a bit more dry milk to get your dough not so sticky, but that is pretty close to what we used.

Then he started to add the blobs of peanut butter onto the map.

Lewis and Clark Map 5Lewis and Clark Map 6
Even if you stopped here for the little kids, it’s a fun map to illustrate the United States because it is so easy to work with.

Then next, we located the might Mississippi River.

Okay real quick here, I have to tell you something of a fond childhood memory I think of every time I hear the word Mississippi.

My extended family is from Mississippi. And every year as a little girl when I visited them, I can hear my sweet little cousins voice who were in grade school singing to remind me how to spell Mississippi.

” M – i -, crooked letter, crooked letter,- i-, crooked letter, crooked letter, -i-, humpback, humpback -i-.”  My boys were not so impressed, but they will remember it now as I have been singing that to them.

Edible Lewis and Clark Map

Anyway, back to the map, take a butter knife or plastic knife and carve out the Mississippi River.

Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map

Tiny had to think at this point how he wanted the river to show up. He added cream cheese frosting to it and sprinkled it with blue sugar.

I think it made this geographical feature pop, which is what I wanted to impress on him. Plus it was easier than spreading icing in it.

Also though it helps to picture the vastness of the mighty Mississippi River.

Lewis and Clark Map 9 Lewis and Clark Map 10
Then, next he decided to carve out the states on the West coast because it helps to show the route that Lewis and Clark took.

Again, that is why I used edible peanut butter dough because it easy to carve in, change if you make a mistake and does not dry out.

After spreading some icing on the part of the Louisiana Purchase, he crushed up some oreos on the icing.

It really was a fun way to help emphasize how vast the area was that Lewis and Clark explored too. That area stands out.

Lewis and Clark hands-on history. Make a fun edible map @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Adding cream cheese sprinkled with the rest of the blue sugar on it on the west and east coasts solidified the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as boundaries.

Then placing the Rocky Mountains on the left that Lewis and Clark would have viewed helped to prepare Tiny for his reading so he knows they had to cross the Rockies to reach the Pacific.

The green icing helped to show the route taken to the Pacific.

You could use a different color to show the return trip, but that is all the icing we had unless we dyed some, but I think we were done by this time.

He added in the Appalachian Mountains on the east too just for good measure.

More Lewis and Clark Hands-on History Activities

  • Lewis and Clark: Hands-on History. Make a Char Cloth
  • Lewis and Clark:Cooking on the Trail
  • Lewis and Clark Free Botany 1 and 2 Minibooks
  • Spectacular Lewis And Clark Plants Drawings | 7 Quick Botany Art Lessons
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map
Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map

What do you think? Easy enough to remember how vast the Louisiana Purchase was?

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8 CommentsFiled Under: Geography, Geography Based, Hands-On Activities, History Based, History Resources Tagged With: edible, hands-on, hands-on activities, handson, handsonhomeschooling, lewis and clark, lewisandclark, map

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