Pioneer Week!!

I decided as I'm doing these weekly themes it would be better to post them the week AFTER we actually do them, then I will have pictures of the crafts and recipes that we actually ended up doing. However, when you are having a theme based around a holiday that won't always work, so today I am posting what we are doing next week and next week I will post what we have been doing this week :) Make sense?? :)

Next week we are going to be learning about mostly pioneers, and I'm throwing in some cowboy and cowgirl stuff too :)

For all of you locals, one thing we have done the last few years that we absolutely LOVE is to go check out all of the floats that will be in the big Days of '47 Parade this weekend. They have them stored at the Southtowne Expo Center, so July 20th and 21st you can take the kids and see them all up close. It is a free event and gets you out of the heat for a few hours too! They have facepainters, bands, balloon hat makers and more! My kids loved it last year and I am excited to take them again.

It wouldn't really be pioneer week if you didn't talk about covered wagons, would it? :) We are going to learn all about the differnt ways pioneers traveled and make our own little covered wagons. I think we will simply cut off the bottom of cereal boxes and paint them brown. Then fold a piece of white paper over the top and cut out black circles for wheels.....VOILA! You're very own covered wagon :) I am also tempted to try and create some they can actually sit in kind of like the Cars cars we made a few weeks ago. I'll get back to you on that one ;)

I am also excited for a fun idea I had, hopefully the kids will like it :) Later on in the week we are going on a Pioneer Trek (a walk around the neighborhood :) I am planning on doing this right before naptime. When we get home in the loft upstairs I will have hung stars I previously cut out from strings from the ceiling. Then we will pull out our blankets and "sleep under the stars" like the pioneers would have after a long day of walking.

I found about a bazillion fun cowboy ideas, but here are just a few we are going to be using. I ordered these super cute make your own cowboy hats from Oriental Trading, I know the kids will love designing their very own :)

An oldie but a goodie, the kids will be making vests out of paper bags and their own stick horses out of wrapping paper rolls and yarn. I also bought some plain white fabric and am going to let the kids design their own bandanas. Stay tuned for some very cute pictures to come :)

Lets not forget about the treats...right?? :) Now, this first idea is if your feeling a little ambitious. I made this for a YW Girls Camp activity a while back, and its not as much work as it looks....but its still kind of a lot of work :)

Campfire Cake

Adorable....isn't it?? :)

This second option is a lot simpler and if you have older children, it is a fantastic way to teach them the SAFE way to build their own fire.

Campfire Snack

Finally our letter of the week is the letter P, and here are the worksheets link if you want to do the same thing at your house. Letter P

I hope you will feel free to leave any fun activities you are doing with your children, I am always looking for more ways to enjoy the little darlings :)