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10 Westward Expansion Hands-on History Activities

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You’ll love these 10 westward expansion hands-on history activities. Look at my BEST Westward Ho Unit Study and Lapbook!

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 opened up the way for westward expansion. From 1803 up to about 1840 millions of settlers and pioneers migrated west.

10 Westward Expansion Hands-on History Activities @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hands-on Homeschool History

Life was hard back then because most of day to day life was about chores and surviving. So we have focused on hands-on activities that kids would have done while on the trail.

Today, I have rounded up 10 westward expansion activities we have done on various unit studies so that most of them are in one place for you. I use the term most loosely because we are always adding an activity or two, but these 10 hands-on history ideas will kick start your study of the westward expansion.

1. Make soap.

Look at my post here about learning history through the life of Wyatt Earp, Part 2 to make soap.

2. Make an easy ink pot, quill pen and berry ink.

Making an ink pot, quill pen and berry ink is another easy hands-on history project my sons did as we learned about westward expansion.

3. Make butter and hard tack.

Learning history through the life of Wyatt Earp, Part 1, we made butter and hardtack.

4. Play a free printable board game.

Look at our huge Westward Ho lapbook unit study and activities to print a free board game and make your own diy pioneer journal.

5. Make a diy pioneer journal.

6. Make buttermilk biscuits.

In our Lewis and Clark unit study that we revisited, we learned about cooking on the trail and made buttermilk biscuits.

7. Make an edible Louisiana Purchase map.

The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States and pioneers headed west to settle the wild frontier. Grab the activity here at the Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase Edible Map.

8. Make a char cloth.

A char cloth is used to ignite tinder on fire. Look at my post here Lewis and Clark: Hands-on History. Make a Char Cloth.

9. Rent a history traveling trunk.

Traveling trunks make great additions to a unit study and museums all over have them and have different guidelines for using them. Look at my post here at 3 Homeschool Co-op History Resources Worth Exploring.

10. Make maple snow candy.

One of the most recent hands-on westward expansion activities we’ve done is attempting to make maple snow candy.

Also, don’t forget to grab the huge and free Westward Ho Homeschool Unit Study we did because it has some more ideas to spark your creativity.

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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Hands-on History: Make Maple Snow Candy – Pioneer Activity

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

We have done a lot of hands-on history pioneer activities while studying the pioneer period in history and we never get tired of doing them to kick off a homeschool unit study. Today, we’re making maple snow candy. Also, look at my page BEST Westward Ho Unit Study and Lapbook for more ideas.

A lot of the hands-on history activities come from a book we love, which is Heading West: Life with the Pioneers, 21 Activities (For Kids series).

Studying about pioneer life in Texas and reading about the Alamo, Tiny grabbed another easy hands-on idea from that book.

He made maple snow candy.

Pioneer Activity - Make maple snow candy when learning about pioneer life. Check out how to make it @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Now you know a good part of Texas never has snow, but we wouldn’t let a thing like that hold us back.

Because Tiny could do this without me and because it was easy and I think because it was sweet, he didn’t mind doing it.

I do have a few more hands-on history ideas planned for him to do as he studies the Alamo, but making maple snow candy was easy and fun today.

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Look at what you need and you probably get tired of me saying it, but hands-on history is always better when you have all the ingredients on hand. And we did.

Make Maple Snow Candy

  • cookie sheet – we used a disposable pan we had
  • pure maple syrup anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1 cup.
  • snow (of course vanilla ice cream works too). I was worried about wasting a good container of vanilla ice cream, but this is in the name of education, right?
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Tiny spread the “snow” or ice cream on the pan and put it back in the freezer to harden and get cold.

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Next, depending on how much candy you want, you need to boil about a one-fourth of a cup to 1 cup of syrup.

After it comes to a boil, let it boil 3 or 4 minutes for soft and chewy candy and about 6 minutes for brittle candy.

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Stir it every few minutes. Then carefully dribble the syrup in a thin line over your snow. It should harden instantly.

Tiny really didn’t follow any making candy kitchen rules so I’m not sure it turned out how he wanted it too, but he enjoyed making it.

And like I said, I liked the fact I didn’t have to do too much with it.

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But activities like these always gives your kids a glimpse of life in the past. Hope you try this easy hands-on history.

More Pioneer Living Crafts

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World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook

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

We finished our World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and now have the completed lapbook showing where we put all of the minibooks.

Like most all of my lapbooks, you can let your student write as much as he wants or as little. Because we do lapbooks as enrichment, I never fuss too much over what Tiny writes versus what he uses premade.

World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook

Even if he writes a little, this hands-on tool is better for reviewing than a worksheet. Also, in this unit study he got to hold a primary source, which was his grandfather’s ration card.

Anytime I can make a personal connection to history for my boys it makes a unit study meaningful.

World War II

Too, there are so many subtopics to cover in this unit study that we just could not cover them all. I hope you like this study as much as we have.

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.

More Unit Study Hands-on Activities

World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook
World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook
World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook
World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook
World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook
World War II Homeschool History Free Unit Study and Lapbook
World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.

How to Get the Free World War II Unit Lapbook

Now, how to grab the free lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

1) Sign up on my list.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

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

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T

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

Visit Tina Robertson’s profile on Pinterest.


Visit Tinas Dynamic Homeschool ‘s profile on Pinterest.

10 Early American History Events that Happened in Fall for Homeschool Middle or High School

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Do you know which event in Early American history was a milestone for freedom of press or who received the first American patent for salt-making? Also, look at my page homeschool middle school for more fun tips.

Studying Early American homeschool history should also include learning about culture, science, art and even sports. All of it embodies who Americans are today.

And when the temperature changes to a bit cooler outside, it’s a great time to focus on Early American history events that happened in fall.

10-early-american-history-events-that-happened-in-fall-for-homeschool-middle-or-high-school-tinas-dynamic-homeschool-plus

Grouping events by season is another way to have your middle or high school student remember things.

Look at these 10 Early American history events that happened in fall, which homeschool middle or high School kids can learn about.

10 Early American History Events that Happened in Fall

1565

ONE/ September 8, 1565. Spanish naval officer Pedro Menendez de Aviles founds St. Augustine, in northern Florida, the first permanent European colony in America.

1620

TWO/ November 21, 1620. The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 11, 1620 by the Pilgrims.

They used the Julian calendar, also known as Old Style dates, which, at that time, was ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Signing the covenant were 41 of the ship’s 101 passengers while the Mayflower was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod.

1630

THREE/ September 30, 1630. John Billington, a Pilgrim, is hanged for murder. He is the first criminal to suffer capital punishment in the American colonies.

1636

FOUR/ October 28, 1636. Harvard College, the first college in America, is founded in a single frame house and college yard at Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the purpose of educating young men for the Puritan clergy.

1637

FIVE/ November 7, 1637. Anne Hutchinson is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for preaching her belief that faith, not strict adherence to any body of orthodox theology, is sufficient for salvation.

1641

SIX/ October, 1641. The first American patent is issued by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to Samuel Winslow for a salt-making process.

Look at a few of these hands-on projects from Home School in the Woods which I love and make great additions to these topics.

American History Homeschool

1734

SEVEN/ October, 1734. John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal is arrested for seditious libel when he prints criticism of Governor William Cosby.

Andrew Hamilton defends him at trial in 1735 and secures his acquittal on the grounds that the truth can never be deemed libelous. The decision is a milestone in the principal of freedom of the press.

1763

EIGHT/ October, 1763. King George III issues a proclamation setting the Appalachian Mountains as the western limit of English settlement hoping to end a war between English colonists and Native Americans by stopping white invasion onto Native American lands.

This proclamation of 1763 brings temporary peace among some Native Americans but frontier settlers are outrages. Many historians see this defiance as the seed of the American Revolution.

1776

NINE/ September 9, 1776. The name “United States of America” is officially created by the Continental Congress.

1783

TEN/ September 3, 1783. British and American negotiators (including Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, John Adams and Henry Laurens) conclude the Treaty of Paris, ending the American Revolution and securing American Independence.

Don’t make the study of fun facts boring. Read about them, cover them and research if your student wants to or simply read them and move on.

Each event though makes for a great unit study and the best part is that they are easy to remember because they all happened in the fall.

Look at these other fall posts:

Hugs and love ya,

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

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World War II Hands-On History – Make Ration Cakes

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


Continuing on with our War War II hands-on history unit study, we always manage to find a recipe or two that tastes pretty good and making ration cakes today was no exception. Also, you’ll love my other Homeschool Lapbooks – Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning on my page.

Tiny liked the taste of these spice cakes and grew to appreciate war time cooking.

However, he did say the cakes were an acquired taste. This recipe is butter-free, milk-free, egg-free and white sugar-free and helped him to appreciate to make do with what you had on hand to cook with.

World War II Hands-On History. Make Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

The recipe comes from the Great World War II Projects You Can Build Yourself book, which we are growing to love.

Hands-on History

Look at this pretty easy list of things you probably have in your house.

1. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup raisins
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
powdered sugar for dusting
Mixing bowl		3/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cup water
3 T. shortening like Crisco
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
12 paper cup liners/12 cup cupcake pan
Sauce pan

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

2. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

First combine the honey, water, shortening, spices, salt and raisins in the sauce pan.  Heat on stove and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Then turn off and let the mixture cool.

3. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

In a mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients, which are the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix it and you can sift the flour mixture for extra lightness, but Tiny didn’t. He just threw it all together.

4. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Then pour the cool liquid into the bowl and mix, but don’t overstir. Then pour the batter into cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

5. How to make World War II Ration Cakes @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next, Tiny sprinkles some powdered sugar on the top. The cakes were just perfect and helped us appreciate time period cooking.

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.

More World War II Unit Study Hands-on Activities

World War II Hands-On History - Make Ration Cakes
World War II Hands-On History - Make Ration Cakes
World War II Hands-On History - Make Ration Cakes
World War II Hands-On History - Make Ration Cakes
World War II Hands-On History - Make Ration Cakes
World War II Hands-On History - Make Ration Cakes
World War II lapbook and homeschool history unit study.

How to Get the Free World War II Unit Lapbook

Now, how to grab the free lapbook. This is a subscriber freebie.

That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.

► 1) Sign up on my list.

2) Grab the freebie instantly.

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

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.