To use with a pioneer unit study, we’re learning kid’s pioneer toys to make. Long before screens, batteries, and plastic packaging, pioneer children on the American frontier made their own fun.
Toys were rarely purchased at a store, but instead they were whittled from scraps of wood, sewn from worn-out fabric, or fashioned from whatever the family had on hand.
For families studying westward expansion, pioneer life, or the 1800s in general, recreating these simple toys is one of the best ways to make history feel real. Kids won’t just be reading about the past; they get the opportunity to hold it in their hands.
Today we’re making one of the most beloved pioneer toys: the jumping jack.
And we’ll use cardboard instead of wood, which makes this a perfect, low-mess project for a homeschool afternoon. And we will upcycle a cardboard box out of the pantry to keep it free.
Pioneer families who traveled west in covered wagons had almost no room for extra because every pound of cargo mattered when you were crossing prairies, rivers, and mountains, so toys had to be small, lightweight, and often multi-purpose.
Next, look at some living books to use with a pioneer or westward expansion unit study.
LIVING BOOKS FOR KIDS FOR A WESTWARD EXPANSION UNIT STUDY
These books would work with a pioneer unit study too.
Also we love using these books as a read aloud while doing a hands-on history craft.
10 Westward Expansion Resources
Add in a few books and resources to bring the study of the Oregon Trail to life during the United States expansion of the west.
Your Life as a Pioneer on The Oregon Trail, has some funny illustrations and great information for this unit study.
Of course ALL the Little House Books are some of the best about pioneer life.
The Ingalls are the most famous pioneers and westward moving families.
A True Book: Westward Expansion takes readers on an amazing journey to a fascinating time in U.S. history when the country was experiencing dynamic change and expanding westward.
In this boxed set, choose your own trail and complete the journey to Oregon City with all four paperbacks in this exciting series! It's 1850 and your first goal is to get your family, covered wagon full of supplies, and oxen to Chimney Rock on time.
- It's a race to Willamette Valley as you join the wagon train and seek your fortune in the West!
Apples, ho! When Papa decides to pull up roots and move from Iowa to Oregon, he can’t bear to leave his precious apple trees behind. Or his peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, and pears. Oh, and he takes his family along too.
It is the summer of 1869, and trains, crews, and family are traveling together, riding America’s brand-new transcontinental railroad. These pages come alive with the details of the trip and the sounds, speed, and strength of the mighty locomotives; the work that keeps them moving; and the thrill of travel from plains to mountain to
ocean
Try your luck, and search for your fortune in California! Follow the joy and heartbreak of the '49ers during the California Gold Rush.
In 1853, the Larkin family loaded up their wagons and headed west in search of a new life. But how did they do it? What did they eat? How did they survive sickness, and attacks from cattle thieves? Drawing on diaries and letters, and illustrated with photographs of actual object from the past, Daily Life in a Covered Wagon explored what life was really like on the wagon trail.
Illustrations and simple rhyming text follow Mother, Father, and Baby John as they make the difficult journey by wagon to a new home across the Rocky Mountains in the fertile Sacramento Valley of California. By the creators of Gold Fever.
And many toys made at home using leftover wood, corn husks, fabric scraps, or even bones and buttons.
Children were also expected to help with chores from a young age, so toys were usually played with in short bursts… during a break from churning butter, feeding chickens, or minding their younger siblings.
What pioneer toys lacked in polish, they made up for in imagination. A toy didn’t need to look realistic to be a hit; it just needed to move, spin, or make a sound to be exciting.
MORE PIONEER LIFE ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS
- Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities
- BEST Westward Ho Unit Study and Lapbook
- Stitches Through Time: Colonial And Pioneer Quilts History & Easy Collage
- Make hand dipped beeswax candles.
- Pioneer Living and Cloth Dyeing
- Edible Log Cabin
- Punched Tin Lantern.
In addition, let’s take a look at some of the toys that would have been common among pioneers, and I will take you through making your own jumping jack step by step.
OTHER PIONEER TOYS WORTH EXPLORING
Before jumping into the jumping jack project, consider exploring a few other pioneer toys as a themed pioneer toy week in your homeschool.
- Whirligigs (buttons on string) A button threaded onto a loop of string, twisted, and pulled to make it spin rapidly. Simple, cheap, and endlessly entertaining.
- Corn husk dolls–made from dried corn husks tied and folded into a human shape, these dolls were especially common because corn was grown almost everywhere. Girls often decorated them with scraps of cloth for dresses.
- Game of Graces-This game involved throwing and catching a hoop on a stick.
- Cup and ball– A small ball attached by string to a wooden cup, tossed and caught. This toy tested hand-eye coordination and patience.
- Rag dolls-Sewn from fabric scraps and stuffed with cotton, rags, or sawdust, these were often a young girl’s most treasured possession.
- Cats cradle (string games)– A pattern game played with a loop of string stretched between the fingers, passed back and forth between two players.
Each of these toys can make a fun companion project, and most require materials you already have at home: string, fabric scraps, buttons, or a stick.
HOW TO MAKE A CARDBOARD JUMPING JACK
A jumping jack is a jointed puppet, usually shaped like a person or animal, whose arms and legs “jump” up when you pull a string. Pioneer children often made these from wood and twine, but cardboard works wonderfully and is much easier for young hands to cut.
You will need:
- Cardboard (a cereal box works well)
- Scissors
- A hole punch (or a pencil to poke holes)
- Brass fasteners (paper brads), about 5
- String or yarn
- Markers, crayons, or paint for decorating
- A large bead or button (optional, for the pull handle)
First, on the cardboard, draw and cut out a body/head shape (as one piece), two arm pieces, and two leg pieces. Keep the limbs roughly the same length so the toy moves evenly.
Decorate your jumping jack. Let your child give it a face, clothing, or even turn it into an animal.
Punch a hole at the top of each arm and leg
And punch matching holes at each shoulder and hip on the body.
Use brass fasteners to attach each arm and leg to the body, pushing the fastener through both holes and folding back the prongs loosely enough that the limbs can swing freely.
Connect the limbs with string. Tie one end of a piece of string to the top hole of one arm, run it behind the body, and tie it to the top hole of the opposite arm. Repeat with the two legs.
Add the pull string. Tie a separate string to the center point where the arm-string and leg-string cross behind the body.
Let this string hang down below the toy, and tie a bead or button to the end as a handle.
Test it out. Hold the toy by the head or hang it from a nail, and gently pull the string.
The arms and legs should swing up together.
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