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Winter Homeschooling – Look to the Sea. 17 Hands-on Activities for Two to Teens.

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

Today, I have  some sweet ocean themed hands-on activities to go along with those freebies.

HANDS-ON HOMESCHOOLING

Winter Homeschooling - Look to the Sea. 17 Hands-On Activities for Two to Teens @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

1. Glass Sea Bottle or you could use plastic. Gorgeous, easy and creative. (via Etsy)

ocean bottle

2. Make Ocean Colored Soap Cubes using Ice Trays. (via Martha Stewart)

soap cubes

3. Easy Swimming Sock Fish. (via Parents)

swimming sock

4. Ocean Diorama. (via Martha Stewart)

0206_kids_oceandiorama_l

5. Under the Sea Snow Globe (from baby food jars) (via Chickabug)

under_the_sea_favor_idea1

6. Make an ocean bottle (via Lilla A)

ocean-in-a-bottle

7. Write a message in a bottle.

Ocean Unit Study Message In a Bottle Language Arts @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

8. Easy Diorama with paper plates (via Make and Takes)

paper plate ocean diorama

9. Make a sea glass bracelet (via Martha Stewart)

sea bracelet

10. Shells on a Wooden Letter (via Beach Comber).

seashells on a wooden letter

11. Printable Ocean Diorama (via Holiday Kids Craft) Sometimes you got a kid that doesn’t want to color. I understand. So here is a diorama that has pages already colored. Some blank and some colored for options.

oceandiorama-tall

12. Ocean Playdough (via Kids Activities Blog).

Ocean-Play-Dough

13. Make edible geography sea levels.

Edible Geography Sea Levels @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

14. Make your own Jellyfish Lights (via Kids Activities Blog)

make-your-own-jellyfish-lights

15. Handmade Boat (via Minieco.Co.Uk)

boat-twiggy

15. Edible ocean layers.

Yum. Edible Ocean Layers @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

17. Good Ol’ Southern Louisiana Gumbo. You know, made the right way with a roux (Via Louisiana Cooking)

SeafoodGumbo

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

Also see my Winter Season Unit Study for more winter homeschooling ideas and my Oceans Unit Study for more ocean learning fun!

Winter Homeschooling – Activities and Free Downloads. 5 Days of Look Alive. Day 1- Look to the Sea.

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

I actually like winter homeschooling, but I also like change. So when I need inspiration I look to the ocean or sea to inspire me. Did I tell you that I grew up close to the ocean?

Winter Homeschooling – From Humdrum to Humdinger. (well, okay, okay)

I have fond memories of walking on the beach even when the weather was cold, collecting shells and afterwards grabbing a hot cup of southern gumbo. It brings calm to my day when I ponder about it.

Creating this series will allow me to share ideas I rounded up to give us a boost when we sag, while at the same time saving these links and ideas here on the blog for later.

I tend to get a lot of attitude pep in my step this time of the year.

One tip that has saved me several bucks over the years is to determine first if it’s the curriculum, winter homeschooling doldrums, my attitude or all of it when we feel like blah.

Before I make a change, I try new activities, preferably free and see if I can find my rhythm again. I find many times, it is wanting a change during winter homeschooling.

5 Days of Look Alive Winter Homeschooling. Day 1 Look to the Sea. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

But, if you get the blahs during winter homeschooling, maybe you can use some of these links and get wild and savage.

Too, be sure to download everything you like from these sites because links can change and even if you don’t use them until several years down the road, you will have them. The sites I wanted to focus on today are Independence Seaport Museum. and Project Oceanography  and The Mariners’ Museum. All of these sites have multiple packets, free lesson plans or guides to download.

Hands-On Homeschooling

A lot of them with tons of wonderful pictures and printables. I took just a snippet of some of the printables from each site to share with you. Mark these, download and peruse them.

Independence Seaport Museum has teacher packets available for free from grades K – 12.

Download here K to 3 Teacher Packet.
Download here Grades 4 to 6 Teacher Packet.
Download here Grades 6 to 8 Teacher Packet.
Download here Grades 9 to 12 Teacher Packet.

Free Downloads from Independence Seaport Museum @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
Free Downloads from Project Oceanography @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Also check out the free online resource How to Identify Sailing Ships on the site. Awesome. You better take your time on this site too. Project Oceanography has about 14 Program Packets on the right side of the page.

Snippets of Free Downloads from the Mariners Museum @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Click on each packet and you will be kept happy sorting through links, lesson plans and downloads. A snippet from The Mariners’ Museum has quite a few projects that are hands-on and in pdf form. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the printable activities.

This is probably my favorite of the three sites because it has such a treasure trove of things that are easy and hands-on.

Ready for winter now.

Oh, wait, four more days of goodies to go. Here they are below!

5 Days of Look Alive Winter Homeschooling. Day 1 Look to the Sea. @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus featured

Hugs and love ya,

Also, look at 50 Keep Me Homeschooling Activities During the Long Cold Winter Days and Winter Season Unit Study.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

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

Learning American history through the life of Wyatt Earp, an American lawman is another fun way to learn American history. Also, look at Free American History Lapbook The Old West Through the Life of Wyatt Earp.

History comes alive when you focus on the dramatic life of an American figure or exciting event.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

When I need to cover American history, the boys always get to decide the person or event.

Whether they choose to cover the FBI in high school or the gunfight at the OK Corral, I can always make the time period come alive.

One way I have learned to round out a unit study and make it more meaningful is to study the world at the time the person was living or the event was happening.

American History through the Eyes of an American Lawman

By steering Tiny to events or persons in a time period we need to focus on, it’s a win-win. 

He gets to choose a person or event that piqued his curiosity and the teacher in me is satisfied because I know he is exposed to a time period we need to cover.

Too, beginnings are important in unit studies. 

Remember to make the beginning of your unit study lively. 

I added a few details that will lead us into hands-on activity first and then reading will come second.

Look at these few details.

  • Wyatt Earp was born in 1848 and died in 1929;
  • Tombstone is close to the Mexican border in Arizona;
  • Wyatt Earp wanted to join the American Civil War but his dad wouldn’t let him; and
  • Wyatt Earp made a name for himself in postwar Kansas as a lawman.

What a great time period to focus on for modern American history.

Right away, I know that the American Civil War happened during his life time so I could tie in the Civil War if we hadn’t studied it before.

However, because we have covered the American Civil War twice and a did a lapbook both times, I think we are going to head another direction by getting the flavor of the world at that time.

Being the youngest child, Tiny was too young for some of the hands-on activities we did during the time period of the late 1800s when we studied the Civil War twice.

Another thing about Tiny though is that he is different from my other two sons because he doesn’t care the age of many hands-on activities. 

The kid just loves all of it.  If it’s a hands-on activity he is in.

Hands-On History

That combination actually makes for a great kid to homeschool because he just loves activities.

So today, we had a pioneer day. 

We spent the whole morning doing fun and easy hands-on activities that families would have done during the time Wyatt Earp lived.

Hardtack – Staple of the American Civil War

Because the Civil War was going on when Earp was a boy, we started off making hardtack, which was eaten during the Civil War.

You probably have heard of the flat biscuit like staple of the Civil War.

Two ingredients make it easy to make.

  • 1 cup of water
  • 2 cups of flour
Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities
Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

After mixing the flour and water, Tiny turned it out onto the counter.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities
Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

Yes, he used a plastic bottle to flatten the dough. (A rolling pin would be nice to use but since we are still building up our kitchen supplies here in Ecuador, a clean plastic bottle worked just fine.) 

You want it about a 1/4 inch or thin as we learned.  Thin is better.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities
Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

He used a fork to poke holes in it. 

We did read somewhere that the original hardback had 13 holes in it to represent the 13 original colonies.

Then you know I told you we don’t have an oven, but we do have a toaster over.

So we baked the hardtack for about 30 minutes on 400 degrees in a glass pyrex container.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

It actually came out pretty good tasting when it was warm. We were surprised.

Of course I know they can probably break your teeth if you wait to try one longer, but it was a fun activity to learn about what could be made to eat with just a few ingredients.

Pioneer Cooking – Make Your Own Butter

Then we had to have some fresh butter on those warm hardtack crackers.  So we started that activity too.

Again, I like this activity to explore the times of the pioneers because these ingredients I keep on hand here at the house.

The two ingredients are:

  • heavy cream
  • salt (if you choose too)

You also need a glass jar, which we had too.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities
Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

I filled the jar about half-way up with the cream and let it sit at room temperature while we started the hardtack.

The hardest part to this project is the shaking. After filling the jar, shake….Make butter 3 Make butter 4

and shake it some more ……. and shake it some more all over the house.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities
Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

We took turns shaking the jar for about 45 minutes before we saw results. 

You can see it in the picture where the butter started separating from the soured milk.

So we poured out the soured milk and added tap water in the jar to rinse the butter. We shook some more to rinse it and poured off the water.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

Tiny added some salt and taaaa – daaa, we had some sweet butter.

Here is our warm hardtack and sweet butter.

Learning American History through the Life of Wyatt Earp Hands-on Activities

And oh yes, it was delicious and a fun way to get the flavor (pun intended, corny, I know) of the time period that Wyatt Earp lived in.

Those aren’t the only activities we did though.  I’ll share our next easy hands-on activity we did, the history magazine we will be using for this unit study and the lapbook printables will be coming soon.

Look at a few of these website that have some great ideas for more pioneer living activities.

  • Include the littles with this unit for middle school by making a hand print horse, cow collage, animal cracker ranch scene or yarn doll to name a few from Kids Activities.
  • Make some taffy if you have some middle school kids.
  • Make hand dipped candles if you have middle school kids.
  • A Book in Time is chock full of ideas for each time period. Depending on the age of your child, he can make a covered wagon, log cabin or learn about cotton, which was a huge commodity during this time period.

Check out these resources for the American West and Wyatt Earp

HOW TO GET THE FREE WYATT EARP LAPBOOK, NOTEBOOKING PAGES & BOARD GAME

Update: The lapbook is now complete. Download all the freebies below.

  • Art cards by Frederic Remington about Wyatt Earp
  • Cover pages for the outside of notebooking pages 1800s and 1900s. Look here how to fold ordinary worksheets to interactive minibooks.
  • 8 Features of the SW United States
  • The 4 Southwestern states
  • American History during the Life of Wyatt Earp 1800s notebooking page
  • American History during the Life of Wyatt Earp 1900s notebooking pages
  • Who was Wyatt Earp
  • Who were the Cowboys
  • Who Was Doc Holliday
  • Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Tombstone, Arizona – About Tombstone – Ed Schieffelin
  • Printable Game with Game Pieces – The Most Famous Shoot Out – Gunfight at O.K. Corral

 1) Sign up on my list.

2) Grab the freebie now.

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

A Child’s Life in the Andes & Psssst. It’s a Giveaway!

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

A Child's Life In the Andes Ebook Review @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I was given a free copy of A Child’s Life in the Andes and I was paid for my time. Compensated for my time does not mean paid off.  ALL opinions are my own and for sure I will always tell you what is on my mind. Your experience may vary. When I do accept a review it’s because I am excited to tell you about it. Read my full disclosure here.

The Giveaway is now closed.

Learning about the Quechua language and culture has been one fascinating aspect about us living here in South America.

So when I was asked to use the ebook,  A Child’s Life in the Andes by Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannous (yes she is Quechua), I was delighted to use a resource that could capture some of the things we have been experiencing while living here.

Music of the Andes for Kids

Quechua is the language of the Andes. Though I knew Spanish was a dominating language here, I had no idea that the ancient language of Quechua was alive and thriving.

The Quechua language had its start in the Andes Mountain in Cuzco, Peru, which was the ancient Inca empire.

The empire was huge and ruled over many parts of present day countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and here in Ecuador.

When we moved here, I didn’t realize that many of the parades that I saw and foods we have tried have Quechua origins.

Tickled to be able to find a resource that had some quick tips about South America along with some fun hands-on history and geography, I was eager to get started using it.

Music of The Child of the Andes 1 @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The ebook A Child’s Life in the Andes is a 35 page pdf that gives a glance at the people of the Andes.

Included with the ebook are 5 cancioncitas or (little songs) that we loved listening to.

Right away, with the first song Alturas (high mountains), we heard some of the traditional Andean musical instruments like zamponas (panpipes), flutes and rainsticks.

Listening to the music, from a traditional folksong to a carnival song is really the highlight of this sweet little gem.

We started off using it by listening to all the songs and read the ebook, which gives background information about each song.

The sections of the book are:

  • Where are the Andes Mountain?
  • About the songs
  • A Child’s Life
  • Animals
  • Food
  • Language
  • Coloring pages, make your your own activities and a word search puzzle.

Depending our mood, we like to skip around when using new resources and this one was no different.
Tiny wanted to do the word search puzzle next because it had a Quechua word we have heard while living here which is YAW and it means Hey.

Crossword Puzzle 1 of The Child of the Andes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

From there we moved on to including a fun and easy hands-on wind instrument called a Zamponas.
Hands-on Craft of The Child of the Andes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

With just a few household items and a few minutes, Tiny made the easy wind instrument called the zamponas.

Hands-on History

He ended up really liking that easy musical instrument and I actually got my shy guy to try out the instrument while I recorded him for a few seconds.

There are 8 coloring pages in the ebook, which are animals indigenous to South America.

Of course being from Texas and thinking that armadillos are only critters that hail from Texas (aren’t they), we were surprised to know that many are here in South America.

The body of the armadillo is used for the body of the charango, which is a stringed musical instrument here in South America that looks like a guitar.

Then we had never heard of Chapchas, which is a very unique rattle because it is made from the toenails of goat or sheep.

We really have to look for one while we are here now that our curiosity was piqued.

A Child's Life in the Andes Craft @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I think you will really love A Child’s Life in the Andes if you :

  • Want to use it like a supplement to a unit study on South America;
  • Want your children to appreciate the music of South America;
  • Have elementary age children;
  • Have children who like to learn hands-on without activities that are complicated;
  • Want a few sweeping details about life in the Andes; and
  • Want your children to be exposed to another culture without being overwhelmed with too much detail.

Guess what? Would you like to win a copy? I have a copy to give away.

Yippeeeee! Giveaway Details – Easy Rules

Begins: Tuesday May 19, 2015.  Ends: Friday May 22, 2015 @ 8:00 a.m. CST

Just comment here on my blog. The winner will be selected using random org and will be notified afterwards.  Also, because you can’t be a once a month email reader, if my winner does not respond to my email within 24 hours, I will choose another  winner.

1. Open to any resident because this is a digital download. You will not be shipped anything.

2. You have to be a blog follower.  You can comment twice.

Comment 1 x time letting me know how long you have been following (best you can remember or if you are a new follower) and comment the 2cd time with anything about the product or how you will use it.

Let’s get this party started!!

Connect with World Music for Children

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 Product Facts a Glance1

Company Name: World Music for Children
Website: dariamusic.com
Product Name: A Child’s Life in the Andes – Ebook
Grades: elementary
Type of Format: Download
Price: $9.99

Hugs and love ya,

Tina Signature 2015c

 

Our Adventure in The Amazon Rain Forest

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

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!! I just couldn’t resist sharing as much as I could on our adventure in the Amazon Rain Forest
Our Adventure in The Amazon Rain Forest @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusWhen we did the Amazon Rain Forest unit study with our homeschool co-op group a few years back, I never dreamed we would have the opportunity to visit it.

Pinch me because it was one of those things that I had dreamed of us doing as a family.

We savored EVERY minute!1 Waterfall 1 on our way to the Amazon Rain ForestWe stayed in a town called Banos and took the hour and half drive with a guide and driver to Puyo which is the edge of the rain forest.

What makes this area so cool to visit is that you can travel back and forth between the slopes of the Andes Mountains and the flatter levels of the rain forest, all within about a couple of hours.

Our first stop as we look so fresh here in the morning was this beautiful waterfall on the edge of town.2 First Waterfall outside of BanoDo you see that little red speck to the left of my Mr?

Yep, that is a cable car that takes you across the river and stops you in front of the waterfall.3 My view from the cable car over the waterfallsAnd here is one picture that I took where I am inside up several hundred feet in the air snapping this beautiful majestic waterfall.4 View from the cable at the first waterfallAnd as you can see, only Tiny, Mr. Senior 2013 and myself hopped on this baby. Mr. Awesome and my hubby wouldn’t touch foot on this cable car.

The view up here is MAGNIFICENT!5 Massive second waterfallI am telling you I think I love waterfalls almost more than I do beaches. Look at how HUGE this waterfall is on the way to Puyo.

Do you see that is a house on the bottom right side?6 Visting a rescue reserveUgggg, being from Texas, do I ever recognize the mosquito spray.  Out came the mosquito spray because we have now arrived to the area of the rain forest.

The next stop we made was to a reserve and rescue for the Amazon animals.

I have tons of pictures of the animals and will probably add them to my Rain Forest Unit Study page.7 monkey looking for a spiderThen of course they don’t mind if a few monkeys run around free.

This little guy was using that stick to grab his breakfast (an innocent spider).

He was using it to stick down into the center of the plant.8 wild monkey I just had to show you the monkey that was near the place where we were staying.

The windows at out rooms have bars on them so that we can open them at night, but keep out critters like this.

I like to view him from a distance and slept great at night knowing dogs were keeping watch at our hotel.  They did chase one monkey on the rooftop one morning while we were sleeping.9 Fish cooked in banana leavesThen the next stop was to eat lunch and visit a indigenous village in the Amazon.

We ate a traditional meal from the amazon, which is fish cooked in the banana leaves. It is some of the best tasting tilapia I have ever had.

Something about cooking it in the leaves gives it a real flavor.10 Visiting an indigenous villageThen we arrived at this village across the river.

11 crossing the swaying bridge to the Amazon Community The only way to get to it was by crossing this bridge, which swings a little bit. Eeek!!12 Length of bridge to get to the communityI wanted you to see the length of it.13 Tasting ChichaAfter got into the village, our guide explained how the huts are made by palm leaves. It takes like two months to build it.

It was so strong and sturdy AND it started raining when we got there and we warm and dry inside.

Then we had to taste Chicha, which is a fermented drink made from maize. The longer it ferment supposedly the sweeter it tastes.

We tasted it on the second day and all I can say is that is must be an acquired taste.  Tiny had to chase his Chicha down with some water.14 Animals of the Amazon trophies The Kichwa village showed off some of their “trophies” that they had gathered from the rain forest like the boa skin and the ocelot.15 Face PaintingThen they took us to their hut, which housed their hand-made crafts. Mr. Senior 2013 and I sat down for local face painting. 16 Kichwa girls
These two little Kichwa girls were the ones that painted our faces and sold crafts to us. We never did see their parents, but I know they must get tired of people coming.

But aren’t these girls so beautiful? I do know that children are taught adult responsibilities early.17 Trying his hand at blow dartOf course we had to try our hand at blow darts.  Mr. Awesome was pretty good at it.18 Fierce Amazon WarriorThere was plenty of time for hands-on learning as they showed us the bones of different animals and how to identify them.19 Checking out the mapNow, after we ate and had fun, we were ready for our arduous trek in the Amazon Rain Forest.

First, we have to have a geography lesson by studying the map of where we are going and understanding how many people make up a community.

Of course like I mentioned the rain came but our guide was prepared with ponchos and rain boots.20 Leaves to cook in
The first leave he showed us, I recognized.That part was easy. The rest of the leaves, not so much.

The first leave he showed us was what our fish was cooked in and he was demonstrating how to fold food in it if we had to stay over night in the rain forest. 21 Learning to weave with Palm leavesFrom there, our guide went on to strip palm leaves and show the boys the art of weaving.22 Medicinal value of leavesWe could hardly walk any distance until he showed us different leaves. We smelled leaves that were lemon and anise.

We chewed leaves that had a anesthesia effect.  He said the locals chews the leaves when they have a tooth ache. You get a wad, chew, chew and then spit.

I had a deaden tongue for a while.23 Amazon OrchidOur guide also pointed out not only the beautiful orchids growing all around, but a seedling, which I had never seen.24 Amazon Tree
This is like a ceiba tree but its different because it has real hard roots which serve as a protection. Too on each side of this tree are palms, which are black. The spears and things we bought are made of this palm tree.

The palms look like they have a finished look and are just beautiful.

Of course though this is where the tarantulas like to live as our guide pointed out. They like to live under the roots coming out. So were careful not to touch these trees during our trek.25 bridge crossing the river
We crossed three rivers, holding arm and arm as we waded across them, but several of the rivers had natural bridges that the locals tried to add some hand rails to.26 Frogs live in bromeliads
Of course the trip wouldn’t be complete without seeing a frog that lives in the bromeliads.

Our guide got this one out of his cozy home so we could see him up close.27 Hola Vida Waterfall
We hiked for a good couple of hours or more until we got to this TOTALLY WORTH it waterfall called Hola Vida. (Hello Life)28 Trekking the Rain Forest
It was SO worth the journey and the water was ice cold. We sat there and listened to the sounds of the waterfall and birds as we had a nature moment.29 Taking a swim in the Hola Vida waterfall
So much fun and such beautiful creation that it is so hard to put it all into words. A true life experience.crafts of the AmazonWe came back with some crafts. The taffy and the deck of cards are from the local but the other things like the spears and knives were hand made. I just had to have that beautiful handmade necklace.

All of these things were made from natural products from the rain forest.

Trekking the Amazon Rain Forest was only part of what we did on our vacation.

I will have to show you the other things we did while we were in Banos.  It is such a beautiful little town.

However, we won’t forget so easily our Amazon Rain Forest experience.

Hugs and love ya,
2015 Tina Signature co