Hands on History (history and geography linkie 2)

I’m sure you won’t be too surprised to find out we’ve come to my favorite kind of hands on teaching.  I love hands on history, and coming up with ideas to make history stick with my kids.

 

Hands on history activity ideas

(these are going to be somewhat similar to science in many ways)

Act it out- Act out what what happened, raid your costume trunk and dress up in period.  If your kids are anything like mine they will be enthusiastic and willing participants.

Build it- Use Legos or building blocks and build what happened in history.  Build Stonehenge, or the Fountain of Youth.

Play it- This is slightly different than the other two because of the scale, but use your dolls and toys to play the scenes in history, this can be very effective when combined with:

Map it- Maps when done wrong are boring.  Maps done right are very interesting.  Map where the war started and how that changed everything, draw on the map, write all over it.  Put your toys on the map to represent the different factions.  Put playdough on it to show fortifications.

Draw or write it- Write a letter to President Lincoln, draw out the parts of your history lesson, make history accessible

Make a timeline- show how history interacts with their life, show how the events from 100 years earlier affects what happens now.  Why our country is still paying for the affects of the Civil War and Radical Reconstruction over 100 years later.

 

Most of the hands on history ideas you see on this blog are variations on these different activities.

 

Hands on History Supplies

{these are Amazon affiliate links}

Mini Green TOY Soldiers- I actually VASTLY prefer the ones I get at Hobby Lobby to these, BUT if you’re on Amazon anyways this looked to be the best of the lot of the 20 or so I looked at, aside from the Star Wars set I linked to above (that has the advantage of being more distinct)

LEGO Education Brick Set- If you’re going to build it, get large numbers of just plain old bricks

LEGO Education Fairytale and Historic Minifigures Set 779349 (227 Pieces, 22 Different Figures)- I like these because they are “historically inspired,” so give a feel for the time, also it’s got the British soldier looking ones I remember from being a kid.

Craft Sticks, 1000-Piece- I buy these in bulk on a regular basis, and will be ordering more soon, along with pipe cleaners

Crayola Air Dry Clay 5 Lb Bucket, White- Another one I buy in bulk because once we use them for the history project (making Hammurabi’s code or some such), they embark on their own projects

Chessex Role Playing Play Mat- Very helpful for enacting battles, VERY helpful

 

Hands on history online

Angellic Scalliwags- She’s got kids from pre-k to junior high and has some amazing hands on lessons

All Things Beautiful- Phyllis has given me some great ideas over the years for history and geography, including introducing me to many on this list, and this next one:

Junior General- These are battle scenarios and soldiers perfectly scaled for that mat up there, my boys LOVE when I pull out these scenarios.

Highhill Education- She has a great series on Ancient Greek history that I’m going to be using in the not so distant future.

And I know there’s a few others I normally go to, but I have a sick kiddo who needs cuddling, and I am done neglecting the cuddling.

 

To see the rest of the posts in the series head on over to How to Teach Using Hands on Learning

For more ideas on how people teach, visit iHomeschool Network How I Teach series.

NEXT WEEK: I want to feature Ancient Egypt posts, so if you’ve got some PLEASE link them up.