Little House in the Big Woods Week 1

This summer we are going to work our way through Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy. Bo is the only one old enough to do all of the activities and understand the story. The rest are just tagging along. Also we have 2 new kids. Khloe is 4 and Dawson is 3.

Monday we built a log cabin, shed, and barn out of Lincoln Logs. Bo wouldn't allow anything else because it didn't go with the story. The girls also played with rag dolls.

Bo, Amelia and I made shirts. (Left to Right: Bo's, Morgan's, Amelia's).

While the three littles slept, Bo and I went out and shot the BB gun. We decided it would be difficult to hunt for your food. We also discussed gun safety and wolves.

Here are is Bo's box. This year we are going for simplicity and they aren't a main focus.

This is Amelia and Khloe's. (Dawson puts the pieces in his mouth, so he has been kicked out of the boxes.)

Since we didn't have a pig bladder, we blew up a balloon and played with that on Tuesday while the littles slept.

We also had an ice cream break.

We talked about leather and watched a video on tanning hides. Then we made this teepee from leather. We talked about animal tracks as well.

Wednesday was Amelia's last day of school. Daddy watched the other three and sent us out for a special last-day-of-school lunch.

We did boxes and bags.

It finally got warm and sunny, so we played outside!

Then we came in and made butter. The kids had to shake it up for me. When it became butter, we had a special treat of bread, butter, and sugar. Bo told me that he was glad he didn't have to always make the butter like Laura.

Our chapter talked about Jack Frost paintings. Laura and Mary would use a thimble to draw on the windows after a frost. It's May and there's no frost to be seen. We used thimbles and paint instead.

Thursday started out with a field trip. We went to the pet store to see a brindle bulldog like Jack. We pet a husky (Bo's pick).

Once again it was warm! We washed clothes on a washboard and line dried them. "Thank heavens for washers!" Bo cracks me up!

Boxes and bags were enjoyed by all.

We played outside as well.

We came in and colored paper dolls. Yellow- Khloe, Orange- Bo, Scribble girl- Amelia, Scribble boy- Dawson.

Bo has a notebook that we are making, a page a week. He made a minibook about wolves. He drew a bear. I wrote in some gun safety rules and stapled in a piece of leather. I added in a sheet on animal tracks. His paper doll and Jack Frost painting will also be added to the folder.

Christmas Treats

These are in no particular order, but all month we have been making Christmassy treats.

We made Cookie Bars.

They were amazing!

Ingredients: 1 box yellow cake mix, 1 small box of instant vanilla pudding, 1/4 Cup of water,  3/4 Cup of vegetable oil, 2 eggs, 1/2 Cup of M&M's, and 1/2 Cup of chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything in a large bowl. Pour it a 10x 13 greased pan. Bake 20-30 minutes

Whoville Cookies

Ingredients: Rolled cookie mix, sprinkles

Directions: Make the rolled cookie mix according to directions. Split the dough in half. Color one green and the other red. Roll both colors out flat. Place one on top of the other and roll them into a log to make the spiral. Roll your log of dough in sprinkles. Slice and bake according to the package.

Edible Christmas Trees!

Ingredients: Sugar cones, sprinkles, icing

Directions: Frost a sugar cone with some green icing. Sprinkle until your little heart is content. 

Helpful hint: Use a cookie sheet to help control the sprinkles 

Dipped Pretzels

Ingredients: Pretzel logs, chocolate melts, sprinkles

Directions: Melt the chocolate. I used a coffee cup so that it would be deep. Dip the logs in and kinda roll them to get an even coat. Lay on parchment paper and sprinkle. Once again a cookie sheet is a good idea to help control sprinkles.

Sugar Cookies

Make some drop or rolled cookies according the the instructions on the package. Then frost and sprinkle until they look delicious.

Gingerbread men and girls

Ingredients: 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, 1/3 cup dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup molasses, 1 large egg, 3 cups flour, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 2 tablespoons ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium low until fully mixed. Stir in the molasses. Scrap the side and add in the egg. When mixed up, add 2 cups of flour and all the other dry ingredients. When the dough is all moist, add the rest of the flour 1/4 a cup at time. Roll it out on some parchment and cut out your shapes. Bake for 10-14 minutes.

Sugar cookie sticks

Ingredients: Sugar cookie dough, chocolate melts, sprinkles

Directions: We used drop dough, but rolled would have worked better. Make the dough. Cut it into strips. Bake according to the package or maybe a little longer to make them crunchy. Once cooled, melt the chocolate. I used a coffee cup here too to help make it deeper. Dip the cookies into melted chocolate and sprinkle.

Edible Snowflakes

Ingredients: Tortillas, cooking spray, cinnamon sugar

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fold the tortilla in half and cut it like you would a paper snowflake. For younger ones they can just tear out pieces. Lay them out flat on a pan and spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. 

We are Thankful

So I didn't have the kiddos very much in November, but that didn't stop us from having some fun.

This was Bo's box. The base is beans, but I added in some fake leaves and gords for fun. Our characters were from the Jamestown Toob.

This was Amelia's box. The base is rolled oats. Gus did wind up eating it all because it got left in the floor. Lol

We watched Thanksgiving Charlie Brown.

We had playdough scented with nutmeg.

Along with the playdough our bags also had Thanksgiving pictures to color.

On the last Thursday before Thanksgiving we made a handprint apron. Bo's are the Indian and the boy pilgrim. Amelia's are therefore the girl pilgrim and the turkey. I wore the apron while serving a Thanksgiving meal at church. After I borrowed his hands he borrowed mine and made a turkey on a paper. It was very cute. He painted my hand and pressed each finger down and told me to lift it straight up. Then I was instructed not to touch anything and go wash my hand. So sweet.

Spooktacular

October was a pretty good month full of lots of after school activities.

This was Bo's box. It's orange and black rice with a pack of Halloween stuff from the Dollar Tree.

Amelia's is the same just with a different package of stuff.

I took a few of the toys and some of the rice to make an I-Spy bottle.

I put it in their activity bags.

We also had pumpkin spice play dough.

Bo requested file folder games.

I made the pumpkins using a 2" paper punch. Then I taped the math problems down and drew in the vines.

The solutions were just laminated and put in a ziplock on the back.

I found another one for Halloween.

I taped down all the pots and filled the bag with google eyes. Each pot has to have X number of eyes.

One night I was there late. We roasted hot dogs and s'mores over a fire.

After a bath we watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

One the nice days we headed outside to burn off some energy.

On the last day of the month we made haunted house brownies.

Bo's

Amelia's

We basically hang out at the kitchen table. I do homework, while the kids do their boxes and bags. I change the box each month. I switch out the stuff they played with from their bags each time.