Joyfully Weary

Over the last two weeks, in Big Buddy's history curriculum , we've been reading about Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. History is probably Big Buddy's favorite subject; he enjoys hearing old stories and learning about ancient cultures. As we make are way through the The Story of the World: Ancient Times , I've been very impressed with Big Buddy's ability to remember details and his continual thirst for me knowledge. I supplement with lots of other books and Big Buddy is constantly asking me to read him another book/chapter.  After reading about The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, I thought Big Buddy would enjoy creating his own version. I'm constantly saving interesting junk and had some cardboard toy packaging pieces from Christmas that I thought would be the perfect base. I then gathered up a few other craft materials and set Big Buddy free to design his own hanging gardens.  Our Supplies Other than setting out a book for Big Buddy to reference I ...

We are finally past Ancient Egypt in our history book ( Story of the World ), but before we move on we decided to make some Egyptian Collars. The Ancient Egyptian's cloths were pretty simple, linen skirts or dresses, but they did have a flair for accessories and jewelry. The children had commented  on the collars in some of the books we read and I thought it be a fun way to end our unit.  Supplies: felt, chalk, scissors, tacky glue, paint brush, acrylic gemstones , and if desired large & small circles for tracing.  Step 1 : use chalk to trace a large circle on to the felt about the size of the child's shoulders. Also use chalk to trace a small circle for the child's neck with an opening in the back. Step 2 : cut out circles. Since cutting felt can be a little tricky I did this part. Step 3 : spread tacky glue on the back of jewels and then lay them on felt to create your own design. Since tacky glue can be a little tricky to get out of the bot...

In Big Buddy's history book, The Story of the World , we've spent a lot of time studying Ancient Egypt. One of the coloring pages from last week was of some Hyksos jewelry and the kids thought it be fun to make some of their own. Hyksos, are known for their work with bronze, but we made ours gold because those were the materials I had on hand.  Our Supplies: paper roll tube, scissors, acrylic paint, brush,  Sculpey clay , nail, and a hot glue gun.  Step 1: have each child press their clay (i gave each child 1/4 of the Sculpey cube) in to an oval shape. Then have child use a nail to decorate their clay with hieroglyphics . I had each child try to make their initial in hieroglyph, the rest is just their own design.  Step 2: bake clay pendants at 225° for 20 minutes or until clay is hard.  Step 3: while clay is baking, cut vertically down the paper roll tube and then cut horizontally to make bracelets - we were able to make 4 br...