We are finishing up our studies of South Dakota with an introduction to Laura Ingalls Wilder. At the age of twelve, Laura Ingalls and her family moved to DeSmet, South Dakota. You can actually visit their homestead. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society preserves a collection of over 2000 original artifacts and three historic structures where the Ingalls family lived and studied. The Surveyors' House was the Ingalls' family's first home in "By the Shores of Silver Lake", The First School of De Smet was attended by Laura and her sister Carrie in "Little Town on the Prairie", and the Ingalls Home was built by Pa shortly after Laura was married. Tours off all of these buildings are available year round and begin at the gift shop located 1 block east of the court house.
To introduce C and R to Wilder's books, we began with a few of the books from the My First Little House series. I wanted to see if they had any interest in these before we began the longer, original chapter books. Well, they both really enjoyed them and now we are working our way through the first Little House book.
I couldn't resist the My Little House Crafts Book by Carolyn Storm Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson. There are eighteen different pioneer crafts in this book, including Ma's Button Lamp, Mary's Beaded Bracelet, Laura's Corncob Doll, and more. Before the directions for each craft, there is a quote from the book that mentioned the craft. The craft we chose was mentioned in the book, Little Town on the Prairie, when napkins were folded like flowers for a birthday party that Laura attended. In the craft book, there is a little background about the napkin flowers followed by directions to make them. C, R, and I had no problem following the directions to make our own napkin flowers.
I recommend the book for Little House fans, or for anyone looking for frontier crafts. I would like to try more of the crafts as we read the books mentioned. I also think we will be making these "Little Town Party Napkins" again!
Stay tuned for a post about My First Little House Books My Little House Cookbook in my Cookbooks for Kids Series.
Also, if you have older children, you may be interested in The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker. This cookbook features frontier foods from Wilder's classic stories; it looks wonderful, but the recipes and the text are a bit advanced for my little ones.
I am so excited to share Little House with my children; I have such fond memories of the books and the television show.
13 comments:
I just got the Little House Traveler and can't wait. The napkins look easy...and FUN!!
oo those turned out super cute!! Good job!
I think I actually had some of those from when I was teaching. The napkins turned out very cute.
That crafts book looks great! Love your napkins!
I love, love, LOVE this craft! Anything "Wilder" rocks in this household...
That's great! We've had the cookbook, but never tried the craft book. Generally The Farmer Boy makes me want to cook, more than Little House - but wouldn't it be fun to visit the actual places where they lived!
Your too much fun! I can't think any kid who wouldn't want to fold pretty napkins! Love it! =)
Napkin folding looks like fun. Looks like you are going to have fancy tables settings now.
I had no idea about the crafts book. Little House is one of Anna's favorite books, so we might look into extensions. Thanks for sharing these ideas!
What a cool book! We are studying the states this coming school year, so I'll have to bookmark this.
This is great! We love the Little House books here at our house, plus we've been watching the TV shows on DVD. We have "The Little House Cookbook". My girls REALLY want to take a tour of the homesteads. The Wilder farm isn't too far from us and we might visit there this summer.
Those napkins are cool. I have those cookbooks. I am so looking forward to having a full wall of bookcases so I can access all our books with ease.
I have fond memories of Little House too. I may have to get a few of these books you posted.
LOVE these pictures!
I've always thought visiting their homestead would be so much fun.
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