Throughout this school year we’ve been celebrating Mexican holidays & doing crafts to go along with them. Recently we celebrated Cinco de Mayo.

I was really hoping we’d be able to finish off our year with a trip to Mexico. I’d love to see Chichen Itza & other Mayan ruins. But, that didn’t happen. Bummer.

But, we did create some fun crafts.

Double Headed Serpent Mosaic

Years ago we went on a cruise through the Mexican Riviera. On the ship was a version of the Double Headed Serpent. So when I saw the mosaic craft at That Artist Woman, I knew it was one we were going to do.

I cut the serpent shapes out of stiff cardboard.

The kids used tempera paint on the entire serpent. This doubled as “grout” on their mosaic.

I must admit the other thing that drew me to this craft was that it required egg shells. I’m always on the lookout for ways to use eggs. I had recently colored eggs to place in the background of a few photos of our new chicks. This was a perfect way to use up those shells.

The kids used watered down clear Elmer’s glue to adhere the colored egg shells.

Farm Girl & Farm Kid1 chose to use buttons as their eyes. Farm Kid2 cut out circles from index paper.

The mouth & teeth were cut from white index paper.

Mosaic Masterpieces

Other Crafts Inspired by Mexico:

Papel Picaco

I checked out a book from the library to look at for our papel picado craft.

We used tissue paper and scissors to create designs from the book.

We strung them all together on string & hung them in our house.

Sombrero

I saw a photo on Flickr and loved the craft. So, we put together our own version.

I created a hat template out of index paper. Then, the kids traced the template onto old file folders & cut them out.

I got out a pile of crafting goodies for the kids to use as they wanted. Farm Kid1 decided to use the shavings of a colored pencil for decoration, which I thought was an original idea.

Then they cut out an oval & drew on a nose & mouth. I love that the eyes are covered.

Fun Crafts = Fun Times

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To hold all their papers and crafts from our study of Mexico, the kids made quick and easy lapbooks.

The lapbook is made from two index folders taped together. A third index folder was cut to make pockets, which were taped to the full index folders.

We kept it pretty simple. The cover has the Mexican flag glued to it and stamped letters to spell Mexico.

Inside the lapbook holds a variety of items we worked on throughout the year, including the double headed serpent mosaic.

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Throughout the year we have been working on our Native American History Pockets. This was something all 3 of my kids could work on as a group & I loved teaching them all together.

We used construction paper & yarn to create the books. Super simple & inexpensive.

We learned about 8 different tribes throughout the US & Canada.

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The cover of Farm Kid2’s book.
It is a 12″ x 18″ piece of construction paper cut to 12″ x 12″.

We began each pocket with the kids coloring the pieces specific to the tribe we were studying, while I read the information booklet.

This book has 9 pockets, each made from 12″ x 18″ construction paper. I folded up the bottom 6″ inches of the construction paper & stapled the sides to create the pockets.

The first pocket includes a picture dictionary, a map showing the shelters from each tribe & a comparison chart.

Throughout the year I read stories about Native Americans, typically legends. The books weren’t always on the specific tribe we were studying, but they were from a nearby area. I thought this would help the kids get a visual of the types of clothes they wore & the environment they lived in. Two of the books we enjoyed were The Story of Blue Elk and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. Have I mentioned how much I love Tomie dePaola? Well, I do. I think his books are fabulous.

Each pocket had an activity or two specific to the tribe, such as this mask from the Tlingit.

It was especially fun to see real life examples of masks and other items used by the Native Americans when we visited the Portland Art Museum and the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center.

In The Seminole tribe pocket, there is a recipe to make hominy. We didn’t make it.

But, in the Navajo booklet it mentions that they ate fry bread with most meals. I did attempt making fry bread. It was delicious, but not very flat.

We tried the fry bread two ways – one with cinnamon & sugar, the other with lunch served taco style.

We worked on these pockets throughout the year. When possible we did a pocket to go along with other units of study. For example, we completed The Inuit pocket during the winter when we were reading Jan Brett’s Three Snow Bears. You can find a mural to print of The Three Snow Bears on Jan Brett’s website.

I enjoyed the freedom of homeschooling & changed things up to fit our needs a couple times.

#1: The tribe the publishers chose for the NE part of the US was The Iroquis. But, I wanted to tie this unit in with Thanksgiving, so I switched the tribe we studied to the Wampanoag. I found my own information about the Wampanoag to share with the kids, but they were still able to do The Iroquis activites.

#2: This History Pocket book was geared towards grades 1-3, so some of it was a bit easy for my 11 year old. Because of this, I came up with a few activities I thought he would enjoy. The book has a wampum craft for this pocket, but I chose to have the kids make a wampum belt instead.

Since the kids were learning about the shelters of each tribe, I wanted them to craft at least one shelter. I chose a teepee when we were studying The Sioux.

I am a fan of History Pockets, & this one did not disappoint. The tribe booklets were thorough enough that the kids learned a few key things about each tribe without being overwhelmed. I especially liked that it included the first pocket, which was a quick way to see where the various tribes lived & we could easily compare their lifestyles.

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To go along with our Native American studies we visited the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center. This was our first time exploring this museum.

I was surprised at the variety of exhibits. We were there for the Indian artifacts, but also learned about the natural history, transportation, & community of the Columbia Gorge.

FIRST PEOPLES – THE CASCADE CHINOOK

We began our tour in the section of the museum that housed the items we came to see, The Native American exhibit.

Left: Standing tall & proud in the middle of the exhibit is a replica of  Tsagaglalal: She Who Watches. She is probably the most recognizable petroglyph in our area.

Top Right: Carved totems or sticks & Shaman’s spangle or shield.

Bottom Right: Canoe anchor & net sinker

Top Left: Knife – Stone blade attached by pitch to antler handle.
Not long before we visited the museum, Farm Kid1 asked me how the Indians made knives. I had to tell him I didn’t know, but probably out of bones or stones. I was happy to see this example & an explanation of what it was made from.

Top Right: Gaming stone – rolled or kicked by teams in the “kick” game.
Holy cow, that must have hurt when you kicked it.

Bottom: Root gathering or storage bags.

Left: Ceremonial dress made from buckskin with bead & shell embellishments

Emory Strong Library
Emory Strong spent more than 40 years researching the early people of the Columbia River Basin. After his death, his family donated his collection to the museum. Walking in the library is only available by appointment, but we could see all the memorabilia & artifacts through the glass.

TURNING POINT & THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY

With Lewis & Clark exploring the area in the early 1800’s, change was certainly coming. Between 1850 and 1853 land speculators & settlers filed claims under the Donation Land Act along the north bank of the Columbia River.

Top Left: Council Fire on the Columbia by David Manuel
A bronze sculpture with Native Americans & members of the Corp of Discovery. There was a small sign encouraging us to find a few items in the sculpture like a quill pen, fishing net, & blue trade beads. I love things like that. I guarantee my kids would have took a quick glance at the sculpture and moved on. Instead, they examined the sculpture searching for the items.

Bottom Left: Model of the Clahclehlah village
Lewis & Clark visited this site in 1805 & 1806. It was excavated from 1977 -1979 during the construction of a powerhouse at Bonneville Dam. Many artifacts were found.

Right: Items typically traded by the people of Clahclehlah in the early 1800’s, such as wapato roots, salmon tails, hazelnuts, tobacco, wool blankets & dentalium shells.

EARLY CHANGES

This area focused on the pioneers moving to the area & the military forts needed to protect them from Native Americans.

1907 dry goods store front
The real Doumitt Store closed in 1957.

The store windows displayed items available at the store. I love the items from this time period.

TRANSPORTATION

A small area is dedicated to sternwheelers & the SP & S (Spokane, Portland & Seattle) Railroad. I’ll admit we didn’t spend a lot of time in this area, although I do find the changes in transportation interesting. The sternwheelers were basically put out of business once the railroad came through. I’m curious to see what, if anything, makes automobiles obsolete.

Bailey Gatzert pilot wheel
The Bailey Gatzert was a sternwheeler built in 1890. She ran up and down the Columbia River & also around Puget Sound until the 1920’s.

HARVESTING RESOURCES

A large, open area showcases the timber & fishing industries.

Top Left: Logging equipment

Top Right: 1930 Caterpillar Tractor

Bottom: 1921 Mack Log truck. Max speed is 17.2 mph

Top Left: Typical airplane to deliver air male, a 1917 Curtiss JN-4 or “Jenny” bi-plane.

Bottom Left: The Corliss Engine, a giant saw mill steam engine weighing 32 tons. This thing was huge. It was made in 1895 & provided energy to a sawmill until 1949.

Right: McCord Fishwheel Replica
I asked Farm Kid2 what he thought this huge contraption was used for. He said he thought it had something to do with catching fish. I thought he was crazy, but it turns out that he was right. The wheels were placed in the Columbia River scooping up fish & dumping them into boxes. They were very effective. By 1935 they were banned in both Oregon & Washington.

HARSH DEMANDS – BONNEVILLE DAM

It is a small section of the museum, but I found the effects of Bonneville Dam & our need for its hydro-electric power very interesting.

COMMUNITY GALLERY

Inside & around the “house” are items about the people in the community.

Left: An old scrapbook. I’m so tempted to make one of these oldies, but goodies, for my kids. It’s a much better way than an old box to hold their memorabilia.

Right: Canteen cup with WWII battle locations inscribed

JAPANESE COLLECTION

An added bonus at the museum was their Japanese collection. We had just finished studying Japan, so it was great timing to view items from that culture.

Since Japan is right across the Pacific Ocean many Japanese immigrants came to the Pacific NW in the early 1900’s. They helped build roads, railroads, & tunnels, they planted orchards & operated ranches.
Top: Kazeon-bosatsu (Goddess of Mercy)
c. 1600
The gold ball in her hand represents happiness, joy & good health

Top: Wedding kimono

Bottom Left: “Beautiful Woman Just from Bath” by Kitagawa Utamaro
wood block print. copy of 1797 original
When we went to the Portland Art Museum I was hoping to see a wood block print, which we didn’t. So, I was glad to see one here.

ROSARY COLLECTION

I am not Catholic, but this was amazing. The Don Brown Rosary Collection displays about 4000 rosaries.

OUTDOOR EXHIBITS

Court of the Cedars
Carved in 1980 by Dudley Carter at 90 years old.
Right: Primitive Woman

Top: Early logging & road building equipment
If you are someone who really likes machinery, this museum had lots of machines to admire.

Bottom: 1959 SP & S diesel locomotive
Supposedly there is a geocache hidden on that train engine, but we didn’t find it. Dang it!

I am definitely glad we went to this museum. We learned so much about the Native people & the many changes over the years in an area not far from our home.

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Throughout the year we learned a little bit about a few different Native American tribes. When we were studying the Sioux of the Great Plains the boys made teepees out of paper bags.

This project was completed in one sitting & made a great visual when learning about the Sioux. We learned that the teepees were positioned so the door flaps opened to the east, the direction of the rising sun. We learned that the designs painted or embroidered on the outside represented something significant about the family living in the teepee. They had fires & cooked in their teepees. This, of course, created smoke. The hole & flaps at the top of the teepee were there to let the smoke escape.

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I used the tipi project from this Indians of the Great Plains stencil book as a guide for our teepees.

It seems so simple, which really it was. But, it still took a little trial & error to get the template just right for the boys to trace. It’s basically a half circle with wings at the top to create smoke flaps.

The boys cut open a paper grocery bag & traced around my template onto the bag. Then they used oil pastels to decorate their teepee. Both boys chose to use one stencil from the book, as well as add a few other design elements

The boys used tape to fasten the paper bag into a cone shape. We found we needed to add tape to both the inside & outside of the teepee to keep it together. Then they taped 6 skewers on the inside to act as the long poles holding up the teepee.

Left: They folded out the smoke flaps.
Right: And, they folded out the door flaps.
They also added toothpicks to act as pins holding the teepee together.

Farm Kid1 chose to add long poles (aka skewers) to the back of his teepee through the smoke flaps. Farm Kid2 chose not to add these poles.

Farm Kid1’s teepee

Farm Kid2’s teepee. The symbols on his smoke flap represent 3 days & 3 nights.

This was definitely a fun project. I had fun seeing what designs the boys came up with. They turned out so well I currently have them displayed on our mantel.

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With letterboxing in our future, I wanted the kids to create their own stamps.

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There are only 2 things needed to carve a stamp: a carving tool & the material to carve. Forever ago I had to buy the carving tool for a college art class. I’ve never used it since, but for some crazy reason I still have the tool. I ordered the carving block from Amazon.

TRANSFERRING THE DESIGN

We were studying Japan at the time, so I chose to carve Japanese symbols for my sample stamps.

I printed symbols from the internet. Then, with the printed side facing a window, I traced the backside of the print with thick pencil lines.

I cut a piece of the carving block slightly larger than the symbol. Then placed the cut block up to a window. On top of the block I placed the paper, printed side facing me. Then, I traced the symbol with a pencil. The pencil lead on the other side of the paper transferred to the carving block where I traced.

The finished stamp needs to be a reverse of what you want the actual inked print to be. Keep this in mind when determining which side of the paper gets transferred onto the carving block.

The kids skipped this step & drew their designs right on the the carving block.

CARVING THE STAMP

Grab your carving tool & start getting rid of the areas you don’t want in your printed design. For me, this was everything outside of the pencil line.

My carving tool has a couple different sized tips. On my first stamp I used the broader tip first. I later realized it was easier to use this tip last.

Bottom Left: The smaller tip. I used this to carve the details. It seemed easier to carve the details first, then get rid of all the extra stuff with the broad tip.
Middle Right: The larger tip.
Bottom Right: My first stamp almost complete.

I prefer a polished look, so I was hoping to leave my stamp in its square shape. I quickly realized that just wasn’t going to work. All the extra stuff kept wanting to print even though I carved it away. So, I cut off the excess part of the block.

The stamp also printed much better once I mounted it to a small piece of foam core.

KIDS CAN DO IT, TOO

Top Left: I gave the kids a small piece to practice on first.
Right: Then they drew their design on the carving block & got to carving.
Bottom Left: We all jabbed ourselves with the carving tips. They are sharp. It’s a no brainer to realize you shouldn’t carve toward your fingers. But, somehow we all did it.

Left: Farm Girl’s finished star stamp. She chose to leave many of the lines outside the star.
Right: Farm Kid1 chose to make a LEGO minifig head dreaming about lego bricks.

Left: It took a few tries to get rid of most of the extra lines on the outside of his design. He’d stamp, then carve a little, then cut off a bit, then stamp again, then carve more.
Right: Eventually, he decided he carved enough & had his finished product.

This was fun not only for the kids, but also for me. I know we all want to carve more stamps. And, we will – hopefully, sooner than later.

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To go along with our Native American studies the kids made these awesome symbols out of oil pastel. The Plains Indians used both naturalistic & geometric designs in their art. We made both.

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I picked this book up at a home school group book swap. It’s a Good Year Book titled Indians of the Great Plains & comes with stencils. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the book. It describes much about the life of Plains Indians, as well as tell a few legends. Each stencil has information about why that design was important. There are also a number of great projects in the back of the book. We made the teepee & parfleche bag.

When I saw an Indian symbols craft at Art Projects for Kids I knew it would be a perfect way to use the stencils.

Using a paper bag as their canvas, they traced a stencil with pencil.

Then, they went over their pencil lines with black oil pastel.

Next, they colored inside the black line.

And finally, they made a border around the outside of the black line with white oil pastel.

Native American men typically painted naturalistic images on their belongings, such as shields & teepees.

Women used porcupine quills or beads to create geometric designs.

Left: Naturalistic Designs: Elk, Buffalo & Horse
Right: Geometric Designs: Turtle, Spider & Dragonfly

I loved this project. The kids did a great job!

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On the 5th of May the kids did not work on their regular curriculum. Instead, we had a Mexican themed party day.

I took the items in the pocket chart out and replaced them with Mexico related things. My mom gave me the map with info on it, which was a placemat from a restaurant. The photos, money, and dress up dolls came out of our North American Continent Box.

I read Tomie dePaola’s Adelita to the kids. It is a Mexican Cinderella story.

As a comparison, I also read Cinders by Jan Brett. This book is a Chicken Cinderella story, which of course, we loved. We also discussed Disney’s version of Cinderella.

This was a win, win, win conversation. I love Jan Brett, I love Tomie dePaola, and I love Disney.

For lunch we had one of my favorite meals: chicken tacos, with Spanish rice and beans. I even pulled out the hand painted dishes we bought in Mexico many moons ago.

We ate homemade churros after lunch.

Spanish bingo has been a huge hit on our Mexico days, so we played it again. Bingo prizes were leftover pencils & erasers.

The kids also made a few crafts that day.

It’s a lot of work to put together a theme day, but they are so much fun.

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To go along with our study of Mexico, we spent January 6th learning about Three Kings Day. It is 12 days after Christmas & celebrates the three wise men bringing their gifts to baby Jesus. We don’t typically celebrate this day in our family, but many Latin Americans do so we explored it.

Kings Bread

We started the morning with our version of Rosca de Reyes, or Kings’ Bread.

Making bread is easy, but I needed something even easier that day. So, I used cinnamon rolls from a tube. I placed them in a crown shape & hid an almond in one of the rolls. The almond represented baby Jesus.

Traditionally the person who finds baby Jesus in the bread is supposed to host a party on February 2nd. Instead, I gave the kid who found the almond a 3 Kings Day Bar.

Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh

Representing the gifts of frankincense & myrrh I used a scented warmer in the school room. I don’t typically use a warmer and the kids enjoyed the new smell that day.

Representing gold were chocolate coins.

Spanish Word Bingo

Just for fun we played Spanish Bingo. The template is from the Scholastic Monthly Idea books.

Silhouette Craft

The kids made a craft I found at Crayola. It is very similar to a silhouette craft we made a couple years ago.

They began by painting their background with watered down paint, then adding salt to the wet paint. The salt soaks up the color and leaves “stars” in the sky.

While the paint was drying they cut out wise men & camel shapes out of black construction paper.

Next, they painted a simple foreground. And finally, they glued their silhouette shapes to the painted paper.

This was a fun day expanding our knowledge about both Christmas & Mexico. These hands-on days are my favorite way to school my children.

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I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I love That Artist Woman. She has fabulous crafts that are made in such a way that young kids can make them & look amazing. When I saw her Steller’s Jay portrait I knew it was something we would try.

Well, we did try them & they are one of my favorite things the kids have made.

Supplies

• 12″ x 12″ Chipboard (cardboard or canvas would also work)
• Cardboard or Cardstock for the stencils
• Magazines
• Paint in various colors
• Paint Brushes
• Glue Stick

The Background

We subscribe to a couple nature magazines, so we cut pages from them & glued the pieces to the chipboard. This was the base of their artwork.

Using slightly watered down blue paint, they colored right over the magazine pieces.

Making Stencils

The kids began by picking a bird they wanted to paint. Then, we found an outline of the bird & a branch we liked online. Next, we traced them separately onto thin cardboard & cut them out.

Painting the Bird & Adding Text

The kids first used shades of brown paint to paint the branch.

After the branch dried, they moved on to paint their bird. I stressed that when they use the stencils they need to dab the paint on, not stroke back & forth. This prevents the paint (mostly) from sneaking under the stencil.

Painting the birds took several steps. They’d paint a bit, let it dry & paint again.

Lastly, they cut letters from magazines and glued those letters on their artwork to identify their bird type.

This artwork looks complicated, but even our 5 year old Farm Girl could do it with a little guidance from me. I usually held the stencil for her while she dabbed the paint.

Completed Masterpieces

This was a multi-step process & took a while to complete. But, it was worth it! They are beautiful.

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