We are using Adventures in My Fathers World for our school year. I have a 2nd Grader, Kindergartner, and Preschooler; so far it is working very well. We started off the year by learning about Leif Ericson and Christopher Columbus. The boys have been fascinated. We used a wall map and a globe to trace the explorers routes.
We heard about how long they were out to sea and the hardships involved in such journeys. My boys were wondering why it would take so long to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This came after they asked how long it would take in a plane. I had the opportunity to explain Sailboats and their dependence on the wind.
One of the hands on assignments for Week #2 is making Christopher Columbus’ ships and use the sails to move them across the water.
We used aluminum foil, craft sticks, modeling clay, thick paper
We folded 12″x12″ squares of foil in half then in half and then one more time. Then we folded the sides up to create the boat. We used a dab of modeling clay to hold the craft stick and then attached sails made from resume paper and voila, we had a Nina, Pinto and Santa Maria.
All three ships with Christopher Columbus in the lead. I was not thrilled that Mr. Columbus is a skeleton but the boys scrambled to find some lego men,
boys gotta love em!
After the ships were complete we had them set sail in the best make-shift ocean we could find… the bathtub. They worked really well. The rules: you can only blow on the sail to move your boat. We used straws. The boys loved it! One word of caution – if you have an eager preschooler perhaps wait until naptime to do this. Our lil guy sunk our ships in under 3 minutes.
Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards
applying some rice
