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Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

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Your kids will be off to another Geronimo Stilton adventure when they read the next Geronimo Stilton books. The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time will delight your kids who love to time travel.

Too, I have a hands-on history LEGO temple craft which will keep your learners engaged.

Add in my Meso-America Lapbook about Ancient Maya and you have a full history and literature unit study.

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

Besides being a special edition book, the time machine will take your kids to learn about ancient Rome in 45 BC, the Maya Empire 1005, and to the Palace of Versailles in 1682 CE.

You could just use this wonderful book for reference about those history topics. I always have a great history encyclopedia close too if we want to do further research.

Although the fun and adventurous Geronimo Stilton is on another adventure, this book can be used for historical fiction.

Geronimo Stilton Books Reading Level

In addition, if you not heard about this fun series of books, here are some quick facts.

  • Geronimo Stilton is a fun loving and adventurous mouse who runs a newspaper. However, as he states his favorite activity is writing adventure stories.
  • The books are full of color pictures and crazy fonts. This may be distracting for some kids, but others love it.
  • Geronimo Stilton’s author is Elisabetta Dami who is an Italian author of children’s book. She also has a passion for archaeology and visiting historical places which she embeds in the books.
  • And the reading age is 7 to 10 years old.

And wow was this little book packed!

While it is a fun book with lots of great illustrations and font type, color, and size changes to keep it interesting for readers I love that it was so chock full of information. 

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

Today, we focused on the Mayan civilization, but will come back to these other time periods in the book.

Back in Time, The Second Journey Through Time

Another tip, if you didn’t want your kids to read the entire book for the sake of time or because you have a reluctant reader is to focus on the middle section which is the Mayans.

Each story is distinctly broken up. You can have your children read the first part to find out how Geronimo travels.

Then skip to the Maya Civilization, saving the other parts for another unit study.

We incorporated history, art, science, reading, and more into this fun LEGO activity.

I was impressed by how much history is covered.

These are the things this section covers.

  • Exploring the Americas
  • Maps of the Yucatan Peninsula
  • Tropical Rainforest
  • Mayan Fashion and Customs
  • Chichen Itza
  • The Legend of The Mayan Sun god
  • Pok-Ta-Pok
  • Mysteries of the Maya

You’ll love learning just as much as your kids.

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

We put together a simple LEGO build to share that will help keep your kids engaged while you teach them all about the Mayans.

Here are some simple instructions but encourage your child to use critical thinking to put it together as well.

Challenge them to make it bigger and use the whole baseplate!

Geronimo Stilton – Build a LEGO Temple of Kukulcan

You will need:

  • A large LEGO baseplate
  • A couple handfuls of LEGO- Cream, brown, or yellow

If you don’t already have a collection of LEGO, look at the large creative box.

LEGO is an amazing learning tool for all ages and this is a good basic set to start with.

Even your teen will still love learning with them and creating.

Start by creating a base that is 10×10 studs wide on your baseplate.

So that is the little studs that stick up on top of the LEGO.

You can do it with a combination of 1×2, 2×2’s, and 2×4 sized bricks. They don’t all need to be the same.

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

Place your next layer leaving a border of 1 stud showing all the way around on your base layer.

Continue the same way, leaving a 1 stud border around 4 more times until your top is just 1 or 2 2×2 bricks stacked.

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

Create steps by centering 1×2 bricks all the way up.

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

Your pyramid of Kukulkan is done!

To extend this lesson a little bit I also challenged the kids to create rainforest animals using LEGO.

We used this page on rainforest animals for inspiration!

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

This little add on activity gives your kids some science and art with their history lesson and its fun to see what they come up with.

Look at the kids activities from the rainforest.

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

And the undergrowth..

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

Other Geronimo Stilton Books and Activities

You’ll love these other tips on the Geronimo Stilton books.

And if you love this book, check out Journey Through Time and the topics are how the dinosaurs became extinct, how the Great Pyramid of Giza was built, and what life was like at King Arthur’s court.

Also, if you have younger kids they’ll love this Geronimo Stilton 12 Inch Plush Doll Character while you read aloud. (adorable)

Geronimo Stilton Adventure The Journey Through Time #2: Back in Time (Mayan Craft)

When I do these simple hands on activities I like to let the kids work on them while I am either doing a read aloud or showing a short video on our subject.

They absorb information while their hands work believe it or not!

To round out a mini study you could also use the book to…

  • Create other famous structures from Chichen Itza
  • Have them make a salt dough map of the Yucatan Peninsula
  • Create a list of resources from the rainforests
  • Taste test some of those treats from the rainforest (a multi sensory approach works great and kids will never forget where those items come from)
  • Create ancient Mayan fashion from scrap fabric
  • Look up vocabulary words from the pages like-cacao, artisanal, obsidian, toxins, etc…
  • Create a Mayan hut with popsicle stick
  • Make Mayan Flatbread
  • Create a Maya Calendar
  • Recreate their own version of Pok-a-Tok

18 Colorful and Free Lapbooks for History Unit Studies

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I’ve rounded up 18 colorful and free lapbooks for your history unit studies. On my Homeschool Lapbooks – Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning page you can find them in chronological order if you plan that way.

If you’re wanting to cover history through a hands-on approach, then you’ll love lapbooks.

Besides, lapbooking can be used by a student on any level. And it can be crafty or not.

Lapbooks can be as much as the product of the student as he wants it to be, or he can use part put together.

18 Colorful and Free Lapbooks for History Unit Studies

Note: Some of the lapbooks were free for a limited time.

Too, it’s a great hands-on tool for reviewing history.

In addition, there are many other reasons to use lapbooks while doing your history unit study.

If you’re focusing on reading a living book about history, then create separate mini books for the 5ws and 1H of writing — who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Some history unit studies will be more reading literature focused while others may be more event focused.

And with free lapbooks you can mix and match mini books depending on the history topic you’re focusing on.

8 Easy Mini Books to Make for a History Lapbook

For example, look at these other mini books that your children could create based on any history topic.

1. Make an easy foldable timeline.

Timelines can be as easy or as complicated and extensive as your student wants. I love this one by Home School in the Woods.

2. Write a mini biography about a history maker.

In addition, a mini biography can be written in a quick glance fashion.

3. Sketch a geographical area referenced in your history topic.

Also, storing a hand drawn sketch in a pocket is a great reference tool for you student.

4. Draw mini maps.

Even a pretend map or mythical map brings a history to life.

5. Use strips to write vocabulary words.

Too, when your student uses sentence strips for vocabulary words, writing is not as overwhelming.

6. Compare natural resources of an area if your history topic is slanted toward natural resources.

Then how the natural resources of an area affects the people of the local area is another fun topic to write about.

7. Use a trifold mini book to compare 3 events or 3 people.

Moreover, if you’re wanting to compare and contrast, a trifold books can compare three people, three events, or even three dates.

8. A layered book could help your students visual the main religions or cultural difference.

As you can see this is a very short list of the mini books that you can include in your lapbook or that you can find in free lapbooks.

The advantage of course to any lapbook or history study is that you can follow your child’s interest.

Events Leading Up to the French Revolution Minibook

And another advantage to the free lapbooks I create is that they are all colorful. Visual appeal matters.

For instance, when I graded lapbooks created by my children visual appeal counted. Because we live in a digital age, visual appeal matters more than ever.

Adding clip art to illustrate a history topic properly is equally important.

History Lapbook Materials

Additionally, the beauty of your history lapbook is that very little materials are needed. Sure, you can make it fancy like we have done at times.

For example, we used strips of leather and a beautiful colorful shell with a feather as a clasp to close our Plains Indians lapbook.

Too, look at these beautiful Suede Leather Cords and gorgeous Ocean Tone Colored File Folders Letter Size.

Also, I love colorful file folders instead of the drab plain ones.

Too, one more technique we like is to use the bright color for the inside of the file folder.

If your file folder is bright colored on both sides, then it doesn’t matter.

It’s just more visually appealing and it stays pretty through the years.

More Lapbook Ideas

18 Colorful and Free Lapbooks for History Unit Studies

If you’ve never used a lapbook with history, this is a great time to start.

Once your children do one or two they can get hooked on lapbooks and history.

Besides, look at this video, How to Homeschool EZ by Tina Robertson I have for you.

FREE LAPBOOKS

Now, grab some of these fun lapbooks to pair with your unit studies.

Colorful and Free Lapbooks for History Unit Studies

You'll love this roundup of free lapbooks to bring your history topics to life.

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

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Making these pioneer peg dolls for kids westward expansion hands on activities for your BEST Westward Ho Unit Study and Lapbook are just too fun.

What better way to learn about pioneers and heading west.

Create an entire family or many families to travel on your wagon train.

They are a great size to go with popsicle stick wagons.

And log cabins make a great edition to a pioneer themed diorama.

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

Too, preschoolers to highschoolers can create their own versions at whatever level they are at; and have fun doing it.

In addition, this project is a great hands-on activity to do while reading aloud or watching a movie.

If you have a documentary on the subject this project will keep hands busy while they take in and process all the information.

First, learn about the history of peg dolls and learn why they are called peg dolls.

At the Wales Museum of History, it says “The tradition of making peg dolls out of wooden clothes pegs comes from a time when people had little money to spend on toys.”

Westward Expansion for Kids

This makes for great conversation discussing how kids made their own toys from what they had.

Your kids will love making their own from what they have. Use my idea here or let them create their own peg dolls.

Next learn about the Oregon Trail. The Oregon trail was the path of a great migration of people from the east to the west.

The pioneers were a hearty bunch who traveled across the country to find more freedoms, land, opportunity, better hunting, and adventure!

Would you enjoy setting off on this challenging adventure with your family?

When families packed up to head west, they had to pack carefully.

But remember they couldn’t really just walk down the street to a store to get what they needed once on the trail.

So, they needed to take all their supplies with them like food, tools, seeds, for planting, clothing, and animals.

 Do you think you could pack enough to survive off of it for months and still fit your family into your car today?

Another awesome point is that this craft is inexpensive to make.

For example, if you have paint and fabric scraps on hand you can get a bag of 8 unfinished peg dolls at hobby lobby for less than $3.

It makes this a very affordable project for even big families.

Best Books About Westward Expansion

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.

Western Expansion Project Ideas

I order online too when I need to, and it still costs less. Look at the easy list below:

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

Next, dive into making these fun pioneer dolls:

Begin by painting the head of your peg doll any skin shade you choose.

We usually just leave ours unfinished wood color so we can get on to the next step in painting.

Start by painting the largest part of the clothing.

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

You can paint the entire body a solid color for the dresses or half and half to create the boys tops and pants. 

Allow paint to dry to the touch. Then move on to the next section.

We like to do the hair next.

You can paint the hair on smooth and leave it as is. Or make a layer of thick blobs of paint to create a texture and dimension.

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

While the hair is drying, take your tiniest brush and add some details to the face. Add eyes and a mouth.

To the clothes, add a pretty gingham or calico pattern, some suspenders, buttons, and whatever else you like.

Then, let the paint dry completely.

We find that paint pens are also good for adding details and can give you a bit more control over your design.

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

Finally, to add a little more fun and make them look like true pioneers use some scrap fabric to create a sun bonnet and a “straw hat”.

You can do this for all your dolls or mix it up.

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

For a bonnet you want to trace a circle on your fabric using something like the bottom of a small paint bottle 1 ½” to 2” in diameter then cut the circle in half.

Try it on your doll’s head and trim it down as needed to make it a good fit.  

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

Once you are happy with the size “paint” your fabric with craft glue and press into place on the head.

Doing this not only adheres it to the doll but also makes it stiffer and a little more durable which is especially helpful if your child will actually be playing with their dolls.

To create the straw hat, you will follow the same step of tracing a small circle onto scrap fabric and “painting” the fabric with glue.

Westward Ho Activities

Press the fabric all around the head to create the crown of the hat, smoothing it as much as you can.

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

To make the brim just keep shaping it into place so that it stays up, the glue gives it some body so you are able to mold it as you work with it.

When you are happy with the shape let it dry and trim off the excess brim with scissors.

Your pioneer family is finally ready to set off on their adventure together, who knows what they will find as they explore the west!

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

Finally, here are a few more ideas to make your unit study come alive!

You’ll love these other westward expansion hands on activities for your study:

Fun Pioneer Peg Dolls For Kids Westward Expansion Hands On Activities

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

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History should be hands-on. You’ll love this Ancient Egypt craft when learning about Ancient Civilizations.

First learn about the diversity of Africa-the cultures, climates, and geography.

It’s fascinating and make for many interesting projects and hands-on fun. 

Right now we are spending a little time in Egypt and the best way to learn about Ancient Egypt is doing hands-on history or crafts.

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

Egypt is located in the  northeast corner of Africa and the southwest corner of Asia.

It’s connected by a land bridge in the Sinai Peninsula.

Ancient Egypt Craft Canopic Jars

It should definitely not  be overlooked when working on an Africa Study or when learning about Ancient Egypt.

One hands on Ancient Egypt project that we are enjoying is making canopic jars.

This is a wonderful way to incorporate history, art, and science as well as working on those fine motor skills.

This project is best for upper elementary to middle school and is easily adapted for all skill levels.

Also, I want to remind you that homeschooling does not mean expensive curriculum and supplies.

You can teach so much just with a shelf full of great books, the internet and some basic craft supplies.

For example making canopic jar is a fun way to learn about Ancient Egypt. Canopic jars were made to contain organs that were removed during the mummification process.

They began with plain lids, then evolved to lids shaped like human heads, then Anubis , the god of death and embalming.

By the late 18th dynasty the lids for each organ were shaped like the Four Sons of Horus who protected the organs.

Ancient History Project Idea

His four sons were’

  • Hapi , a baboon headed god- for the lungs
  • Imsety, human-headed god – for the liver
  • Qebehsenuef, falcon-headed god- for the intestines)
  • and Duamutef, jackal-headed god- for the stomach.

You can choose to make all 4 or choose one.

Look at the easy list of things you will need.

  • Jar, can, or other container with a lid
  • White tissue paper
  • School glue
  • water
  • Craft paints/paint pens

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

Directions:

I have found that creating a decoupage with tissue paper is less messy and dries much faster than traditional paper mache.

So, we have used it for several projects lately.

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

You can create this with any lidded vessel you like.

Chip cans are often used but we wanted to make ours a little more durable and even usable.

So we used this sauce jar I already had on hand because we loved the curvier shape of it.

Be sure to wash and dry used containers well before starting

  • Mix together 1 part water with 2 parts glue. A couple tablespoons worth is plenty for this project.
  • Cut tissue paper into 2” strips of any length.
  • “Paint” your jar with the glue mixture and begin layering tissue strips, “painting” over each tissue strip as you go. We do 3-4 layers to give it a good coat. Allow to dry thoroughly this could take from overnight to several days depending on how thick your layers are.
Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

Ancient Egypt Craft

We are making a jar of Duamutef the jackal-headed god, to form the top of the jar make a ball of paper into roughly the shape of the head you wish to create.

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

Hot glue to the top of the lid and cover it with tissue strips the same way you did the jar itself. 

Also, you may find it easier to paint the strips themselves and lay them over the balled up paper to create your form.

Be sure the lid fits on your base before drying, its easier to move things around when they are wet than when it hardens.

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

Once your pieces are dry paint all over with the color of your choice. 

Canopic Jars were made of stone, wood, pottery, and glaze. We went for a pottery look with a creamy base.

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

Allow the base layer to dry and then begin adding decoration and details.

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

We found a paint pen or very small paintbrush the easiest to work with, especially when making small hieroglyphics on our jars.

Fun and Easy Hands-On Ancient Egypt Craft: Create Canopic Jars

Ancient Egypt Activities for Kids

Don’t just stop with making Canopic Jars, one of the best things about unit studies is that you can incorporate so many subjects within your focus

I had these Toob Human Organs on hand.

So while we talked about what canopic jars were used for we also had a science lesson by identifying what each was and what it’s function is at the same time.

I guarantee information learned this way will be hard to forget!

While you are waiting for the jars to dry you can send your child on a quest for information and here are a few questions to get you started.

  • What is the official name of Egypt? Arab Republic of Egypt
  • What is official language of Egypt? Arabic
  • What is the official religion? Islam
  • Name several iconic landmarks in Egypt. Great Sphinx, Giza
  • What is are the central latitudes and longitudes of Egypt?

Ancient Egypt Lapbook

In addition, add this fun Famous Pharaohs and Queens of Egypt. lapbook on my Ancient Civilization page.

While your child is busy creating you may want to read from a chosen textbook or chapter book as a read aloud.

For most kids, when hands are busy, information is more readily retained.

Ancient Egypt Read Aloud

Finally, some great choices for read a loud are

More Ancient Egypt Crafts you’ll like:

Ancient Civilizations Unit – Printable Minibook on Sumer

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One of the main reasons I wanted to cover an ancient civilizations unit is because sometimes a history study can get draggy. Also, look at my page Homeschool Lapbooks – Powerful Tools For Mastery Learning for more free lapbooks.

More important, I wanted to include other ancient civilizations to add to our Ancient Civilizations II unit study.

Focusing on the details of history, can get a bit sluggish because you lose the momentum of the overview.

There are lot of kids and teachers alike that are I-have-to-see-the-big-picture-before-I-get it people.

Me? I love history, but I can get buried in all the details.

I appreciate the big picture too.

Ancient Civilizations Unit

It is important to pull up and away and look at the big picture so you understand the major players of ancient history.

For us, I think after we examine the big picture and come up for air, it gives us another bunny trail to go down. You know what I mean? Often times, I end up with more units or topics than school months to learn about them.

Ancient Civilizations

Too, if you start homeschooling with older children sometimes they just get a glimpse of them in public school.

So, if you’re wanting to cover ancient civilizations, then a unit focusing on great empires or ancient civilizations is key to understanding them.

It is key to keeping history fun and relevant. Although Mesopotamia is an early civilization, it can be confusing to understand about Sumer.

So I made it a separate minibook.

Understanding that Sumer developed in Mesopotamia is the first place to start.

From there it is easier to associate the Sumerian ruler, Sargon, with the time period.

This time I made a minibook focusing more on the Sumerians invented which was a system of writing and irrigation.

Because they were farmers, irrigation was an important livelihood. 

Understanding how irrigation helped them to live farther away from the rivers is an important concept in explaining how they thrived as a civilization.

Ancient Civilizations Unit

Sure, it probably is not as glamorous to study about farming and irrigation as maybe studying about mummies, but it is solid; farming and irrigation is at the roots of ancient civilizations.

Ancient Civilization Unit

As usual, I try to give some accompanying facts and as always you don’t have to use them.

Ancient Sumer Printable Minibook

I provide information as I can because we do lapbooks as enrichment and my time is limited.

Also, these minibooks can be glued on pages for notebooking. You decide.

Sometimes we do a lapbook, sometimes the older boys glue the minibook on pages for a notebook.

One curriculum that we are using right now too because I am interested in getting a bird’s eye view on history is Western Civilization Study by Brimwood Press.

The reason I am excited about this one is because in a few short lessons you span several thousands of years of history. I

n fourteen lessons you span 5,000 years. A great teaching tool for getting a sweeping overview of history. We are already loving it. You have to check it out below.

I can’t wait to tell you more as we are so engaged going through it. I hope you enjoy the Sumer book. It makes it easy when you can cover civilizations, hitting the highlights and move on.

Do you find it hard to teach the highlights of history?

Update: This unit study and lapbook is now complete.

HOW TO GET THE FREE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS II LAPBOOK

Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.

1) CLICK HERE ON THIS LINK TO SIGN UP ON MY EMAIL LIST & TO GET THIS FREEBIE.

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Ancient Civilization Unit

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