Farmer Boy Plans, Instructions, and Resources

My favorite book series growing up was the Little House books. I decided I wanted to introduce Bo (6) to the books, even though some of the stuff was over his head. Through discussions, videos, and activities I was able to make the books understandable. I used the Prairie Primer as my starting point. I looked through and picked out the fun activities and topics I wanted to cover. I reread each book and took notes of topics and possible activity ideas for each chapter. I also scoured Pinterest and the internet for more ideas. I came up with quite a few. I picked two books to cover this summer. I made up a schedule for each week. Then I started collecting other resources.

I found videos covering some of the topics, to be discussed in the interactive folder, and songs from the book. On the schedule, the red font indicates that I have video for that item. Here is the link to my Youtube playlist the book. They are in the order they appear on my schedule.

We made an interactive folder to collect the information we learned along the way. I also collected some printable resources. Here is a link to a Pinterest board with the items I printed. The blue font on the schedule indicates that there is a printable on the topic.

To download a copy of this post, the schedule, and our interactive notebook pages visit my Teachers Pay Teachers page. It is a free download, but I would greatly appreciate a review.

I am going to go through all of the activities, trips, and food suggestions. I will explain what we did (if we actually did it) and how to repeat the activity yourself at home.

Chapter 1

Moccasins- I would suggest buying a moccasin kit, but I couldn't find one for such tiny feet. So instead, I just used leather scraps and leather string. He laced them after I punched the holes.

One Room School House- At George Washington Carver National Monument there is a one room school house set up. We were going to go visit, but for some reason didn't wind up going.

Dinner Pail Picnic-While we were there, I was going to have a picnic lunch packed in small tin buckets with food that Almanzo may have eaten.

Apple Turnovers- The recipe is on page 122 of the cookbook.


Chapter 2

Wash Basin- I set up a pitcher of water, bowl, and towel for Bo to wash his hands and face at before having a snack. 

Strawberry Jam- The recipe is on page 62 of the cookbook.

Rag Rug-We did not do a rag rug because I didn't think he had the patience for it. I was going to do a tied one. You tie fabric scraps onto a plastic mat to make a rug. You find the supplies at a craft store.

Chapter 3

Button String- Take a button with 2 or 4 holes. Poke the string through two opposite holes. Tie the ends together. Holding the ends, spin the button to wind it up. Then move your hands in and out to keep it spinning.

Popcorn and Milk- Take 2 identical cups. Fill one with air-popped popcorn and the other with milk. Pour the milk into the popcorn cup to see if it all fits.

Chapter 4 

Whips- For this, I simply showed the kids a whip I made. If they were older you could let them try one out. If neither of those is an option, Youtube can help you out.

Isaac Walton-This is a local walking trail. We were just going to go for a nice walk in the woods.

Chapter 5

Loom Weaving- Using a loom kit from a craft store, we made a pot holder. All materials and instructions are included in the kit. It cost around $6.

Donuts- The recipe is on page 88 of the cookbook.

Dyes- This can be tie-dye, RIT dye, Kool-Aid, or homemade dyes. Color some white yarn or cotton fabric. To make Kool-Aid dyes, like we did, mix a packet of Kool-Aid with some vinegar. I used only enough vinegar to cover the fabric. Soak, rinse with cold water, and let them dry.

Bird House- We didn't do this because of time. I would suggest getting a bird house kit.

Chapter 6

Saw Dust and Ice- Cover some ice cubes with saw dust, like Almanzo did in the ice house. Leave some others uncovered. See which ice melts first.

Chapter 7

Stilts- Decorate 2 tin cans of the same size. Punch two hole opposite each other with a nail near the bottom of the cans. Run some twine through the holes and make it long enough your child can hold onto it. Tie the ends and you have a set of stilts.

Water Expands when Frozen- We used a mason jar and filled it up to a certain line. After it froze, we checked to see if it was above, below, or still at the same line.

Rock Candy- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil on medium-high heat. Add 4 cups of sugar. Stir until dissolved and the solution is clear. Bring it to a rolling boil. Pour it into jars. Add food coloring as desired. Place a string or a stick into the solution and hold it there by some method. I liked clothes pins. Wait for the crystals to grow. Remove and enjoy!

Chapter 8

Lye Soap- I have lye soap for when I get poison ivy. I brought a bar to let the kids see and use.

Apple Pie- The recipe is on page 124 of the cookbook.

Baths- Set up a bath like Almanzo took. A tub with water, soap, and a wash cloth, surrounded by sheets for privacy. Swimsuits can be worn too ;)

Pancakes- The recipe is on page 92 of the cookbook (or just use your favorite mix).

Chapter 9

Bonfire- Make a big bonfire and roast hotdogs or make s'mores. This is very different than a little camp fire or one in a fire pit.

Chapter 10

Beat Carpets- Hang up some old rugs or towels and let the kids hit them with sticks.

Maple Sugar- I gave the kids a taste of brown sugar. We talked about the difference between store (white) and maple (brown) sugar.

Chapter 11

Garden- Plant some seeds in a pot and watch them grow. Edible plants are a plus.

Chapter 12

Punch Tin-You could repeat the lantern activity from Little House in the Big Woods or you could make a sun catcher using a pie tin. The process is the same. Fill the tin with water. Freeze it. Using a hammer and a nail, punch holes in the tin.

Chapter 13

Bean Bag Double Can- Nail a tuna can to each end of a small board that can easily fit in a hand. They should face in opposite directions, one on top and one on bottom. A dowel rod would work nicely. It should be about a foot long.  Place a bean bag in one can. Toss it up into the air, flip the handle over and catch it in the other can.

Chapter 14

Clay Marbles- Make some salt dough. You will need 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of warm water. Mix the salt and water until the salt dissolves. Gradually add in the flour to make a dough. Roll it into marbles. Bake them at 250 degrees for an hour or two (until they're dry). After they cool, you can paint them. After they are dry, take them outside along with some chalk, to draw a circle. Play a game of marbles. (If you would rather you could just use already made marbles from the store to play the game.)

Chapter 15

Moon Phases- Twist some Oreos apart. Using a plastic knife, create a moon to match each phase. Place them on a paper plate around the edges. Once you're done, eat your phases of the moon!

Make our own Dyes-You can let the kids experiment or give some guidance. Gather onion skins, blueberries, strawberries, orange peels, red cabbage leaves or whatever you want. Use at least a cup of whatever you chose. Put it in a sauce pan and cover with twice as much water. Simmer on medium for an hour. Let the dyes cool. Strain them out. Let your fabric soak in the dyes. Rinse in cold water and soak again. Repeat this until you like the color. It helps if you soak them in something to hold the color in before you dye. For fruit dyes, simmer the fabric in salt water (1/4 cup of salt and 4 cups of water) for an hour. For vegetable dyes, do the same but use 1 cup of vinegar and 4 cups of water. 

Chapter 16

Feather Pens- Take a pen and a large feather from a craft store or found outside. Tape the stem of the feather to the pen with electrical tape. 

Pink Lemonade- Combine 2 cups of sugar, 9 cups of water, 2 cups of fresh lemon juice, and 1 cup of cranberry juice (chilled). Stir well and enjoy a glass.

Chapter 17

Picnic-Take a picnic when you go fishing. You could do foods from the book or a good ol' pbj.

Fishing- Find a pond, lake, river, or stream and take the kids fishing. State and national parks sometimes offer free kid fishing days. 

Chapter 18

Throw Black Paint at Paper- Lay out some large paper. Pour some WASHABLE black paint onto a plate or into a cup. Use large, thick brushes to throw paint at the paper.

Chapter 19

Taffy- The recipe is on page 190 of the cookbook.

Chapter 20

Homemade Ice Cream- The recipe is on page 209 of the cookbook.

Chapter 21

Fair Games- Ring toss, cake walk, duck pond...whatever you can come up with. Let the kids help make the games if they are able. This could be like a party with guests or you could go to a real fair. 

Pick Berries- If you don't have a berry patch in your backyard, head to a berry picking farm in your area.

Chapter 22 & 23

Play Wild Indian- Play just as was described in the chapter.

Chapter 24

Corn Husk Dolls- Soak 3 corn husks in warm water (at least an hour). Roll one corn husk up tight and tie the ends. This is the arms. Tie two corn husks together near the top. Pull the loose ends around the tie and tie just below the bulge. This is your head. Part the husks and slide the arms in as close to the head as you can. Tie a string around the doll's waits to make a skirt and waist. There you have your doll.

Chapter 25 & 26

Snowball Fight- Crumple up pieces of paper. Make a pillow fort. SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!

Horehound Candy- This is just a taste test. I usually find some at Atwoods and Bass Pro. 

Chapter 27-29


Here's what we did!
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

That is all for this book!

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Farmer Boy Week 3

Sorry this post is so late going up. The week after this I got mono. It wiped me out for two weeks. I babysat for the first one, but we did nothing related to the book and no real activities. The second week I stayed in bed. Anyways I'm feeling much better and will be back to babysitting this week.

This was Amelia's box first. The base is coffee grounds. The "lake" is blue half marbles and the people came from a Wild West Toob.

Bo had a swamp, per his request. The base is water, green food coloring, and water beads. I added some aquarium plants, part of a River Toob and an alligator.

We of course did bags and boxes. They got a special treat of real life Angry Birds.

They were bums all day and it was hot so we played balloons downstairs.

Bo worked on his page.

All done!

Bo and I dyed some strips of cloth with Kool-Aid. It actually worked much better than I thought it would. 

Wednesday we did bags and boxes as usual.

We also attempted rock candy. Despite dumping tons of sugar into the water, the crystals never formed.

Thursday we didn't have a book related activity, but we did bags and boxes.

Little House in the Big Woods Plans, Instructions, & Resources

My favorite book series growing up was the Little House books. I decided I wanted to introduce Bo (6) to the books, even though some of the stuff was over his head. Through discussions, videos, and activities I was able to make the books understandable. I used the Prairie Primer as my starting point. I looked through and picked out the fun activities and topics I wanted to cover. I reread each book and took notes of topics and possible activity ideas for each chapter. I also scoured Pinterest and the internet for more ideas. I came up with quite a few. I picked two books to cover this summer.  I chose to do Little House in the Big Woods first because it was the easiest read and a good starting point. I made up a schedule for each week. Then I started collecting other resources.

I found videos covering some of the topics to be discussed in the interactive folder and songs from the book. On the schedule the red font indicates that I have video for that item. Here is the link to my Youtube playlist for both books (Little House in the Big Woods begins at the top and ends with Food Preservation in Early Virginia). They are in the order they appear on my schedule.

We made an interactive folder to collect the information we learned along the way. Here is the link to the pages and instructions on how to make the folder. I also collected some printable resources too. Here is a link to a Pinterest board with the items I printed. The blue font on the schedule indicates that there is a printable on the topic.

Here is my schedule for Little House in the Big Woods.

I am going to go through all of the activities, trips, and food suggestions. I will explain what we did (if we actually did it) and how to repeat the activity yourself at home.

Chapter 1
Lincoln Logs- We built Laura's homestead out of Lincoln Logs. This gave Bo an idea of what a log house might look like and was very simple to do.

Shoot BB gun- We shot at a target facing a large pile of dirt. This gave us an opportunity to talk about gun safety. It also helped Bo to realize just how difficult it would be to hunt and get enough food to feed a family.

Hot dog "Pig Tails"- We didn't get to do this activity because it rained that week. My idea here was to cut a hot dog in half and make the tip pointed like a tail. Then roast them on a fire.
Pig Bladder/Balloon Game- I didn't have a pig bladder on hand, so I decided to use a white balloon instead. All I did was blow it up and hand it to Bo. Kids love balloons and always have some kind of game to play with them. We did discuss Laura and Mary playing with the pig bladder while we hit the balloon around.

Leather Craft- I found a leather teepee at Hobby Lobby. We assembled it and talked about how leather was made. Any leather craft would do.

Pork Rinds & Jerky- This was simply a taste test. Pork rinds were similar to pork cracklings. Jerky is a way to preserve meats.


Chapter 2
Jack Frost Painting- Using a thimble, paint with white paint on blue paper. This was a hit with all 4 kiddos.

Butter- Put heavy whipping cream and a couple of marbles in a plastic jar. Put the lid on tight and let the kids shake. They will get tired so be prepared to shake it all by yourself. Eventually it will turn into butter. We spread it on some bread and sprinkled it with sugar to make one of my favorite snacks bread, butter, and sugar (creative name, I know). There's a recipe for making butter on page 166 of The Little House Cookbook.

Wash Clothes- This was a favorite with all of the kids. I bought a small washboard off of Amazon. I had some mismatched socks that we normally use for dusting and a bar of hotel soap. I set up a tub of water and showed them how to wash the clothes. I made a clothesline out of twine and gave them old fashioned clothes pins. They went to town. All the socks were washed about 5 times each.

Paper Dolls- Here is the link where I found the dolls. I printed them on heavy card stock and let the kids color them and I cut them out. I did wind up stapling them together because it made it easier for little hands.

Petland to Pet Puppies- I took the kids to this pet store to show them a bulldog. Plus, who doesn't like petting puppies? Best of all it was free.

Chapter 3
Dissect Owl Pellets- I bought an owl pellet kit on Amazon. I sat down with Bo and we pulled it apart. This was an absolute blast. It was very educational as well.

Chapter 4
Carve Soap-I didn't trust Bo with a knife, so I picked something safer. Take a bar of Ivory soap (it's soft and not too crumbly) and draw a shape on it that you would like to carve. Using a popsicle stick carve away all of the soap on the outside of your shape. Do this over a tray to collect the shavings or you will have a mess.

Pancake Men- Ma made pancake men for the girls. Make your favorite batter and pour it into the shape of a man. Body, head, arms, and legs. This was another exciting activity for the kids. Page 92 of the cookbook.

Knitting- We finger knit because it was simpler. Bo tried, but quickly lost interest because he wouldn't listen to instructions and therefore couldn't make anything. We used this site for directions.
Lung Model- This was to show how a lung works. Cut a water bottle in half and take off the lid. Tape a balloon to a straw and put it in top half of the bottle. The balloon should be in the bottle and the straw poking out of the top. Cover the rest of the mouth of the bottle with play dough. This helps hold in the straw in place. Cut off the stem of another balloon and stretch it over the large opening at the bottom. Blow into the straw and watch your lung breath.

Snow Candy- I used the recipe on page 192.
Clove Apple- We didn't have time to do this activity, but I will go ahead and explain it. Take an apple and shove cloves into it. Then set it out to smell good. It's very simple.
Carver- We went to George Washington Carver State Park. I picked this location because it has a nice walk, but more importantly there's a house that would be a similar size to the little house in the big woods.

Chapter 5
Baths- We didn't do this because once again we didn't have time, but I will share my idea. Fill up a tub with warm water. Put it in the middle of some chairs and hang up blankets around them. Jump in with a bar of soap and take a bath like Laura.
Paper Quilt- I cut out 4 squares of white paper. The kids decorated the squares and I glued them down to some construction paper to make a quilt. It was very simple, which I loved.

Butter Cookies- I used this recipe.

Chapter 6
Tin Can Lantern- Clean out a tin can. Fill it with water and let it freeze. Use a hammer and nail to poke holes in the can. Let the ice melt and the can dry. Add a tea light and you've got a lantern! Bo enjoyed this one a lot.

Rye 'n' Injun Bread- We didn't make it because it was too intensive to do with the short time that we had. The recipe is on page 86.
Milk Cow- I loved this activity. Take a latex glove and poke holes in the finger tips with a needle. Fill the glove with water and tie it up somewhere. Put a bowl below and milk away. Sissy really liked doing this one. Bo was just glad he doesn't have to do this for all the milk that he drinks.

Chapter 7
Candles- Melt some candle wax (I found it at Hobby Lobby). Put small pieces into a glass jar and place the jar in almost boiling water. Stir the wax to help it all melt. Cut a length of wick for your candle. Dip the wick into the melted wax then a jar of cold water. Repeat this until your candle is a decent size. You can touch the candles to shape them after you dip them in water. Bo and I enjoyed this one.

Wildcat- We went to Wildcat simply because we enjoy the trip. There's a walking trail, nature center, and a spring to wade in. In the woods, we talked about what it would be like to see nothing but the woods all the time.

Maple Syrup- This was once again just a taste test, but I forgot to do it.


Chapter 8
Square Dance- If we had more kids, we would have gotten up and danced, but we didn't so we just watched the video.


Chapter 9
Play barefoot- This is obvious and simple. Try walking on the grass, dirt, gravel, and sand. If children don't go barefoot often this will be a new experience.
Covered Wagon- We had a covered wagon kit, but it was way above his ability level, so we quit and moved on.
Store- I put things (candies, bracelets, toy, necklaces, etc.) in jars. Each jar had a price between 1 and 5 cents. I gave "Pa" 10 cents for his "rabbit fur." He was then allowed to go to the store and buy things. He really liked this.

Chapter 10
Picnic- I had school so we didn't get to go, but my plan was kinda fun. I was going to take the foods or something similar to what is listed in the chapter.
Collect Rocks- This was going to happen on our picnic, but we didn't get to go. I was going to let each kid collect rocks and paint them when we got home.
Schimihorn- This is a park with a river running through it. It was going to be the location for the picnic and rock collecting.
Cheese- We didn't have time because of school. The recipe is on page 172.


Chapter 11
Balance Beam- We took a 2x4 and walked on it. This was to simulate a fence rail like Charlie walked on.

Nut Taste- I just picked one of each kind of nut from a tub of mixed nuts. I let Bo try each one and told him what kind it was. He liked them all.

Chapter 12
Stump Jump- This was the game the cousins played. We didn't have stumps, so I drew circles on the patio and we jumped on them.

Chapter 13
Survival Kit- I explained what each item could be used for and asked him what he thought. It all went into the Altoids tin. Not pictured is a card with his name, address, and phone numbers for Mom, Dad, Mia (grandma), and me. Here is the explanation I gave or he offered for each item.

Pencil- mark how many days have gone by, what you last remember seeing

Pencil sharpener- sharpen the pencil, put a small stick in there to make little pieces to start a fire

3 sizes of safety pins- fishing hook, tore your pants

Paper clips- wire, fishing hooks

Band Aid- booboos

Compass- hopefully help you get back

Candle- light, start a fire

String- tie stuff up, fishing

Balloons- hold water, send up a note, inflate and tie to string and safety pin, it acts like a bobber

Magnifying glass- remove splinter, look at bugs, make a fire

Here's what we did!
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

That is all for this book. This post is also available to download here. I hope you got some good ideas. Please leave a comment down below and don't forget to follow us on social media.