Sonlight 2 World History Hands On Activities Weeks 1 through 18 compiled from various sources by Susan in NY Corresponds to Hillyer and Usborne Each activity relates to history studied that week! Wk 1: cave painting on brown paper bags, clay pot dig Cave painting. Materials: Brown paper bag, chalk, tempera Instructions: Open bag up, crumple, draw primitive-looking animals or scenery using earth tone chalks or pastels. Gently break a clay pot and bury the pieces. Let child dig up pieces and try to glue pot back together. Wk 2: make Summerian bricks out of dirt and water. Mix and form in tops of egg cartons. Dry in the sun for a few days then paint (maybe make bricks Monday so they can dry all week) Wk 3: make a Sistrum, sugar cube pyramid, mummified apple http://www.tpt.org/newtons/13/mummy.html) To make a Sistrum (an Egyptian musical instrument similar to a rattle) you will need: a wire clothes hanger, 2 feet of florist wire, 24 tabs from soda-top cans OR brass paper fasteners, 6 X 4 inch piece of cardboard, pencil, colored markers, duct tape. Take a wire clothes hanger and pull down on the center hanging bar until it is bent into a U shape. Squeeze the hook of the hanger closed to make a handle. Cut the florist wire into 3 equal parts. Take one piece of the wire and tie one end to the hanger, halfway up the loop. Wrap the wire around the hanger several times. Thread 8 soda tabs or brass fasteners on this wire. (if you use fasteners, bend their ends around the wire). Wrap the other end of the wire to the other side of the hanger. Now you should have 8 tabs hanging clothesline style on a wire fastened halfway through the loop. Take the second piece of wire and do the same thing 1 inch above the first wire. Take the third piece of wire and do the same thing again, 1 inch above the second wire. On the cardboard, draw a 2 ½ inch sun disc with the horns (looks like a steer's horns). Draw a handle 1 inch wide by 3 inches long. Color the disc and horns with markers. Cut them out along with the handle. Place the sun disc with horns on top of the handle of the sistrum. Wrap the sun disc and handle with duct tape. Now play your sistrum in time to a song you can sing! Wk 4: make a Minoan Seal (need white and brown self-drying modeling clay, rolling pin, modeling tools, ruler, needle, PVA glue, water, mixing bowl, paintbrush, soft cord. Step 1: Roll out a small piece of white self drying modeling clay until about 1 cm thick. Using a modeling tool, cut a small circle 3 cm in diameter. Step 2: Carve a design in the clay. Leave to dry. This piece is the mould for the seal. Step 3: Roll a piece of brown clay into a circle 2 cm thick and 3-5 cm in diameter. Gently press the mould into the clay to leave an imprint. Step 4: Cut around the imprint ;eaving an edge 1 cm wide. Make two small holes on each side of the circle with a needle. Leave to dry. This piece is the seal. Step 5: Prepare the varnish by mixing 2 parts glue to 1 part water. Brush the seal with varnish. Make sure that the holes aren't filled in with it. Step 6: Leave the varnish to dry. Cut a length of cord and thread it through either one or both holes. Wear it on your wrist or around your neck. Wk 5: Make honey cakes and water clock You will need 200g stoneground flour, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, 75g butter, 60g honey, 3 tbsp milk, caraway seeds, bowl, wooden spoon, floured surface, baking tray. Step 1: Mix together flour salt and baking powder in a bowl with your fingers. Next chop up the butter and add that to the mixture. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the mixture until it looks crumbly. Add 40g of honey (this will sweeten your cakes-Ancient Egyptian did not have sugar) Add the milk and stir the mixture until it forms a dough. Make dough into a ball and divide into 3 equal parts. Step 2: Roll each section into long strips. Take the strips and coil them into a spiral to make one cake. Make the other 2 cakes the same way. Step 3: Now sprinkle each cake with caraway seeds and place on a greased baking tray. Finish them off with a little glaze of honey. Step 4: Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (moms-do the conversion!) for 20 minutes. Water Clock: used to tell passages of time. You will need: self drying clay, plastic flower pot, modeling tool, skewer, pencil, ruler, masking tape, scissors, yellow acrylic paint, varnish, water pot and brush. Step 1: Begin by rolling out the clay. Take the plastic flower pot and press its base firmly into the clay. This will be the bottom of your water clock. Step 2: Cut out an oblong piece of clay large enough to mould around the flowerpot. Add the base and use your modeling tool to make the joints smooth. Step 3: Make a small hole near the bottom of the pot with a skewer. Leave the pot to dry. When clay has dried, remove flowerpot. Step 4: Mark out lines at 3mm intervals inside the pot. Mask the ends with tape and paint the lines yellow. When dry, remove the tape. Varnish inside of pot. Step 5: Hold your finger over the hole while having someone pour water into the pot. While holding your water clock above a larger empty pot, take your finger off the hole and watch the water pass the levels marked off inside the pot. Figure out how much time it takes to go down each marking. Wk 6: Knucklebones Game and Make a Coil Pot Knucklebones were made from the ankle-joints of small animals back then. You will need: self-drying clay, modeling tool, workboard, cream paint, paintbrush. Step 1: Divide clay into 5 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Press each ball into the shape of a peanut. With modeling tool, carve ridges around the middle of each shape. Make small dents in the end of each shape with your finger. Step 2: When the pieces have dried out, paint them. Use a cream colored paint. Once paint has dried, pieces are ready to play with. Step 3: To play the game, gather the five pieces into the palm of one hand. Throw them into the air. Then quickly flip your hand over. Try to catch the pieces on the back of your hand. If you're lucky and you catch them all, you win the game. If not, them the game continues. Step 4: Try to pick up the fallen pieces with the others still on the back of your hand. Throw them with your free hand and try to catch them again. Step 5: The winner is the first person to have all of the knucklebones on the back of their hand. Wk 7: Felafel sandwiches and a Hiker's Stick You will need: 1 can chickpeas (1 cup), 2/3 cup bread crumbs, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp. pepper, 2 eggs, pita bread Drain chickpeas and mash them in a bowl. Mix with bread crumbs, salt, pepper and eggs. Shape mixture into patties. Heat 2 tbsp. Oil in skillet and fry. Drain on a paper towel. To create the sandwich, warm pita bread. Cut in half and coat with italian dressing. Fill pockets with falafel patties topped with veggies… chopped tomatoes, onion, cucumber, green pepper. Hiker's Stick: The ancient Israelites wandered in the desert. Here is a version of what their hiking stick was like.You will need: pocketknife, long,sturdy tree branch, paint, newspaper, tape, can of clear plastic spray. With a pocketknife, cut, carve or scratch some of the bark from the branch, leaving a design. With some paint and brush you may paint some designs in the cut spaces in the branch, or you may leave them white. When the paint is dry, spray the stick with clear plastic. Tape newspaper on the wall behind the stick as you spray. Spray in a well ventulated area. Wk 8: Cuneiforms and Syrian Pita Bread Cuneiform was the style of writing the Assyrians used. To make a cuneiform letter, create the clay so you have something to imprint. 1 cup flour, 1 tbsp oil, 1 cup dark tea water, ½ cup salt, 2 tsp. Cream of tartar. Combine the ingredients in a large saucepan. Stir constantly over over medium heat. Keep stirring! Eventually it will turn into a thick mixture that can be formed into a ball. Make a ball of clay and roll out to about ½ inch thickness. Cuneiform was usually inscribed on rectangles, so trim dough so it resembles one. Next, using a table knife, cut out some symbols or designs from the clay tablet. When you are finished let the cuneiform tablets dry. Syrian Pita Bread: You will need: 1 tbsp. Yeast, 2 cups warm water, 1 tbsp. Honey, 2 tsp. Salt, 6 cups all purpose flour. Step 1: Dissolve yeast in water and stir in honey. Add the salt and flour, one cup at a time. Stir until you can't mix the dough anymore. Step 2: Turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop. Knead for 10 minutes. Place dough in a buttered bowl, turn to coat all sides, and cover with a damp cloth or plastic. Let dough rise until it is doubled in size, about 2 hours. Step 3: Punch it down and shape into 10 balls. Let the balls rest for 15 minutes, then shape them into 7-inch rounds. Step 4: Preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake rounds on a cookie sheet set on the lowest rack in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Step 5: Wrap pita in a cloth napkin until ready to serve. Wk 9: Build a mini Stonehenge You will need: cardboard, ruler, compass, pencil, scissors, terracotta craft clay, rolling pin and board, modeling tool, 1 cm and 5 mm thick dowelling, sandpaper, acrylic paint, paintbrush, fake grass, PVA glue, wood stain. Step 1: Cut out a circle of cardboard about 35 cm in diameter. Roll out clay, place circle on top and cut around clay. Step 2: Press a 1 cm-thick stick around the edge to make a ring of evenly spaced post holes. Mark a circle, about 10 cm across, inside the first. Step 3: Press the stick around the second circle to make 5 evenly spaced holes. Leave the base to dry. Sand it and paint it brown. Step 4: Cover the base with uneven pieces of fake grass, glued into place. Be careful not to cover up post holes. Step 5: Cut short sticks for the posts and lintels. Cut 7 more longer sticks. Paint the sticks with wood stain and leave to dry. Step 6: Glue the sticks into place using the post holes as guides. When dry, glue the lintels on top to complete your wood circle. Wk 10: Singing Rice and Red Bean Soup Singing Rice: 1.Prepare rice according to package directions a day in advance. 2. After draining rice, spread onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees for 8 hours. Stir rice occasionally. 3. Heat up a pot of chicken bouilion. When ready to serve, deep fry the rice at 425 degrees for 4 minutes. Drain. 4. Put rice in soup bowls. Pour hot soup over rice and listen to it sing. (Hint: The rice, the bowl and the soup must be hot for it to sing.) Red Bean Soup: You will need: 225g aduki beans, 3 tsp ground nuts, 4 tsp. short-grain rice, cold water, tangerine, 175g sugar. Weigh out the aduki beans. Add the ground nuts and the rice. Measure out 1 litre of cold water in a jug. Wash a drain the beans and rice. Put them in a bowl. Add the cold water. Leave overnight to soak. Do not drain off the water. Wash and dry the tangerine. Take off the peel in a continuous strip. Leave the peel overnight until it is hard and dry. Put the soaked beans and rice (plus soaking liquid) into a large saucepan. Add dried tangerine peel and 500ml of cold water. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the saucepan and simmer for 2 hours. Stir occasionally. If the liquid boils off, add more water. Weigh out the sugar. When the beans are just covered by water, add the sugar. Simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove and discard the tangerine peel. Leave soup to cool, uncovered. Strain soup with a sieve and pour into bowls. Wk 11: Worry Beads and Baklava Worry Beads (komboli) were used by Greek people to diffuse their problems. When a problem arose, they reached into their pockets and pulled out the beads. Placing them behind their backs, they slowly counted the beads two by two. It was a simple relaxation technique. Cut a 24-inch piece of yarn. Fold yarn in half on desktop. Cut five 4-inch pieces of yarn. Fold pieces in half and wrap around center of longer piece. Pull ends through the loop and tighten. Thread the beads on each side of the five tied on pieces until you have beads 4-inches up each side. Tie ends together to make a necklace. This would be a good time to discuss casting your worries on Jesus, which these people obviously didn't do. Baklava: You will need: 2 lbs. Chopped walnuts, 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ground cloves, ¾ lb. Butter, 1 lb. Pastry sheets phyllo, ½ pt. Honey, ¼ tsp. lemon extract, 1 lb. Sugar, juice of ½ lemon. Combine walnuts and spices. Melt butter, removing salt until butter is clear. Brush bottom of 10 X 14-inch pan with melted butter. Place 1 pastry sheet over butter. Brush with melted butter. Repeat 3 times; sprinkle fourth pastry layer with nut mixture. Repeat process until nut mixture is all used. End with four layers of pastry brushed with butter. Cut into diamond shapes. Bake at 300 degrees until golden brown. Boil remaining ingredients to make syrup. Cool. Using spoon, pour syrup very slowly over baked Baklava. Yields 20-25 Wk 12: Votong Tokens , Greek Alphabet, Tzatziki Go over the Greek alphabet. Find a copy online or in a book. Voting Tokens you will need: compass, thin cardboard, pencil, ruler, scissors, rolling pin, cutting board, modeling tool, self-hardening clay, balsa wood stick 5 cm long, piece of drinking straw 5 cm long, bronze colored paint, paintbrush. Make two templates: Use a compass to draw two circles on a piece of thin cardboard. Make each one 4 cm in diameter. Cut them out. Use rolling pin to roll out clay to a 3 cm thickness. Using modeling tool to cut around the card circles into the clay. Press down hard as you do this. Make a hole in the center of each clay circle. Use the balsa wood to make one hole (innocent token). Use the straw to make the other hole (guilty token). Write a name on the innocent token using the modeling tool. Carefully push the balsa stick through the hole. Let it dry. Write another name on the guily token using the modeling tool. Carefully push the drinking straw through the hole. Let it dry. Wait until tokens are dry before painting them. The original token were made from bronze, so use a bronze colored paint. Tzatziki: You will need: 1 medium cucumber, 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 clove garlic (crushed), 1 tbsp. Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Peel cucumber and grate it finely into a bowl. Stir in the yogurt, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Dip triangles of toasted pita bread into this creamy sauce! Wk 13: Character study of Alexander The Great and Make a Tragedy/ Comedy Mask Check out books in the library and study Alexander the Great. Make a Tragedy/Comedy Mask: You will need: Balloon (size of your head or larger when inflated), 1/3 cup gluey water ( ½ glue and ½ water), torn newspaper pieces, paint, yarn. Blow up balloon to size of your head. Dip pieces of newspaper into gluey dip and layer over the one side of the balloon. Don't cover the entire balloon-remember this is a mask. After balloon and newspaper pieces have dried, pop balloon and gently pull away from mask. Carefully cut out two eyeholes and a mouth. Paint mask and add yarn for hair. Wk 14: Mayan Sun Stone and Tortillas The Maya measured time using a calendar with a year of 260 days. Sun Stone: You will need: pencil, scissors, thick cardboard, modeling tool, rolling pin, masking tape, PVA glue, water-based paints. Cut out a circle about 25cm in diameter from the thick cardboard. Roll out the clay and cut out a circle, using the cardboard as a guide. Place the clay circle on the cardboard one. With the modeling tool, mark a small circle in the center of the clay circle. Use a roll of masking tape as a guide. Do not cut through the clay. Carve the sun's eyes, mouth and teeth in the clay. Roll out more clay and cut out some sun's rays, a tongue and eyebrows. Glue them to the clay circle. This will give the sun stone a 3-D aspect. Smooth the edges with water and let dry. Cover the clay circle with a thin coat of dark brown paint. Let it dry. Then add a thin coat of white paint to make the circle look like weathered stone. Paint the Sun Stone with a layer of PVA glue to seal and varnish it. Tortillas: You will need: scale, 225g plain or maize flour, 1 tsp. salt, bowl, 40g butter, 120 ml cold water, rolling pin, pastry board, butter or oil for frying. Weigh out the ingredients, If you cannot find maize flour, use plain flour instead. Mayan cooks had to grind their own flour. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Rub the butter into the mixture with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then pour in the water. Use your hands to mix everything together until you have a loose ball of dough. Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes until it is smooth. If the dough or your hands gets too sticky, add a little plain flour to the bowl. Tip the dough out of the bowl on to a floured pastry board. Divide it into egg-sized balls, using your hands or a knife. You should have about 12 balls. Sprinkle the board and rolling pin with a little plain flour to stop the dough from sticking. Then roll each ball of dough into a thin pancake shape. Fry the tortillas using a non-stick frying pan. Fry each tortilla for one minute per side. Wk 15: Build a Volcano (Vesuvius) We did this experiment last year and I can't find the exact measurements-just "tweek" the baking soda and vinegar to get as much action as you want! You will need: Baking soda, vinegar, sand, red food coloring, dish soap, 9X13 pan. Place about ¼ to ½ cup baking soda in a small glass cup. Place cup in center of the 9X13 pan and build a volcano around the cup with sand and or mud. (Be sure to leave the mouth of the volcano open so you can access the cup inside) In another cup, mix about 1 cup of vinegar with a few drops of red food coloring and 2-4 drops of dish soap. Pour the vinegar mixture into the baking soda and watch Mount Vesuvius erupt! Wk 16: Make a Toga and Wreath of Honour Toga: You will need: old white sheet, tape measure, scissors, double-sided sticky tape, purple ribbon, long T-shirt cord. Fold the sheet in half along its length. Cut the ends to make rounded corners at each end. Use double-sided tape to stick the ribbon along the long edge. Put on a long white T-shirt tied at the waist with a cord. Have mom hold the long, straight edge of fabric behind you. Drape about a quarter of the toga over your left arm and shoulder. Bring the rest of the toga around to the front, passing it under your right arm. Hook the toga up by tucking a few folds of material securely into the cord around your waist. Wreath of Honour: You will need: tape measure, garden wire, pliers, scissors, clear tape, green ribbon, bay or laurel leaves (real or fake) Measure around your head with the tape measure. Cut some wire the same length, so the wreath will fit your head. Bend the wire into a circle and wrap the ribbon around it tightly and secure. Start to tape the leaves by their stems onto the wire. Work your way around to the middle of the wire, fanning out the leaves as you go. Then reverse the direction of the leaves and work your way around the rest of the wire. Fit the finished wreath on your head. Wk 17: Silver Dig and Minting Coins Use silver spray paint to paint some trinkets you have around the house or find at a garage sale. Then bury these "treasures" in the garden or sandbox and have your child look for them. Minting Coins: Use the left over self hardening clay from previous projects to make little Roman coins. Set them aside to dry. The Romans coated their coins with silver to make them look like more valuable coins. Spray these "bronze" coins with the silver paint. Wk 18: Mosaic You will need: rough paper, pencil, ruler, scissors, large sheet of cardboard, self-drying clay, rolling pin, modeling knife, acrylic paints, clear varnish, plaster paste, spreader, muslin rag. Sketch out your mosaic design on rough paper. Cut the paper so it measures about 25 cm by 10 cm. Roll out the clay and measure out small squares on the clay. Cut them with the modeling knife. Leave the squares to dry. These will be your "tesserae". Paint the pieces in batches of different colors. When the paint is dry, coat them with a clear varnish. Leave to dry. Spread the plaster paste on the cardboard, a small part at a time. While it is wet, press in your tesserae following the design. When the mosaic is dry, use the muslin rag to polish up the surface.