History Fair

About a month ago Peter and Elsie participated in a history fair.  Elsie is currently in an American Girls club and they were just finishing up Kaya, a Nez Perce Indian in the 1760s.  I was amazed at how much Elsie learned about the Nez Perce.  Since I read the books out-loud, my other children learned lots as well.  In the club, she made a parflech, an abalone necklace, corn-husk dolls, an herbal medicinal spray. and a weaving project. 
I mentioned to the kids I thought it would be fun to create dioramas of something they were learning about.  Elsie immediately thought of the Nez Perce Indians.  She built a teepee, a horse out of clay along with a travois, a fire, salmon, baskets, and every detail she could think of.  She even had me hard-at-work making these little toothpick worry dolls I remembered making when I was a young girl.  It's a group effort keeping-up with this girl sometimes!

 Peter did his history project on Hideyoshi, the Japanese leader previous to all the shew-guns.  He was really intrigued by the ships the Japanese had and the ships the Koreans had when Japan attacked Korea.  He built models of those.  Originally, he had big plans to build little stick people hanging out of the boats and drowning in the water, but the logistics were much easier said than done, and he simplified his design.  He learned a lot not only about Japan's history, but also about good engineering.

 This was everyone's first history fair.  I think we all learned a lot.  I have a better idea of what a presentation could look like, and know better how to help my children as well.  The kids learned about planning, presenting, researching, and creating.