Fun-Schooling With The Boxcar Children!
This past week we have been reading the Boxcar Children. One of mine and the kiddos favorite things to do is learn along side the book. This book has proven especially enjoyable! We have gotten to spend many hours together playing, learning and creating! Here is a glimpse at our fun week:
When we started the book, it didn't take long to realize that I am not very good with keeping voices straight while reading. This make it to where the kiddos were having a hard time following all the dialogue. I decided the best way to fix this was to make puppets of the characters. I got online and Goggled "free printable Boxcar Children paper dolls" and this is what I found. I cut them out and attached them to popsicle sticks to make them easier to use while reading. They worked beautifully!
The children became really captivated by the story of these 4 young orphans. Popper was heart broken when he thought that poor young Benny might end up in the children's home. Brother Bear said that Benny was his favorite character, and Sister loved that the girls made the boxcar into a home.
In the beginning of the book the children, Jessie, Henry, Violet, and Benny, eat brown bread for the majority of their meals until Henry finds work and is able to bring home meat and vegetables. Then they have a beef stew with their bread.
We decided that we were going to eat like the children some this week. We made 'brown bread' and homemade beef stew. What better way to make the book come to life for the kiddos than letting them do what the Children were doing! The kiddos loved helping make the bread. I let them each add 2 ingredients to the bread machine. Then they watched as the machine began to mix it all into a round ball of dough. There were cheers of joy when the timer finally beeped announcing that the bread was finished!
Next, we used turnips, carrots, celery and beef to make a yummy beef stew just like the Boxcar Children. We let it boil for a long time, just like in the book. The smells that went through the house were amazing! It all turned out really yummy!
The kiddos love getting in the kitchen to help and this made it even more fun.
In the book, Jessie, Benny and Violet find a blueberry bush and pick blueberries to surprise Henry with when he gets home from work. Since blueberries are a favorite in our house, Daddy T and I started searching. A gentleman from our church told us about a great place that lets you pick the blueberries and keep every 3rd one. We planned the trip for that Saturday when Daddy T was off work. It was neat to be able to pick our own fresh from the bushes. I am pretty sure there were several that made it into little tummies and not the buckets. We were there about an hour and came home with almost 2 pounds of blueberries! We all had a blast! The kiddos are already asking if we can go back next week!
We had a really great time learning together this week! I enjoyed getting to have new experiences right along side my kiddos! I love the way they look forward to our reading time each night. I can see a love for reading building in each one of my kiddos. That makes me a very happy momma!
This week we will finish up book 1 and move on to book number 2. We can't to see where the Boxcar Children take us next.
When we started the book, it didn't take long to realize that I am not very good with keeping voices straight while reading. This make it to where the kiddos were having a hard time following all the dialogue. I decided the best way to fix this was to make puppets of the characters. I got online and Goggled "free printable Boxcar Children paper dolls" and this is what I found. I cut them out and attached them to popsicle sticks to make them easier to use while reading. They worked beautifully!
The children became really captivated by the story of these 4 young orphans. Popper was heart broken when he thought that poor young Benny might end up in the children's home. Brother Bear said that Benny was his favorite character, and Sister loved that the girls made the boxcar into a home.
In the beginning of the book the children, Jessie, Henry, Violet, and Benny, eat brown bread for the majority of their meals until Henry finds work and is able to bring home meat and vegetables. Then they have a beef stew with their bread.
We decided that we were going to eat like the children some this week. We made 'brown bread' and homemade beef stew. What better way to make the book come to life for the kiddos than letting them do what the Children were doing! The kiddos loved helping make the bread. I let them each add 2 ingredients to the bread machine. Then they watched as the machine began to mix it all into a round ball of dough. There were cheers of joy when the timer finally beeped announcing that the bread was finished!
Next, we used turnips, carrots, celery and beef to make a yummy beef stew just like the Boxcar Children. We let it boil for a long time, just like in the book. The smells that went through the house were amazing! It all turned out really yummy!
The kiddos love getting in the kitchen to help and this made it even more fun.
In the book, Jessie, Benny and Violet find a blueberry bush and pick blueberries to surprise Henry with when he gets home from work. Since blueberries are a favorite in our house, Daddy T and I started searching. A gentleman from our church told us about a great place that lets you pick the blueberries and keep every 3rd one. We planned the trip for that Saturday when Daddy T was off work. It was neat to be able to pick our own fresh from the bushes. I am pretty sure there were several that made it into little tummies and not the buckets. We were there about an hour and came home with almost 2 pounds of blueberries! We all had a blast! The kiddos are already asking if we can go back next week!
We had a really great time learning together this week! I enjoyed getting to have new experiences right along side my kiddos! I love the way they look forward to our reading time each night. I can see a love for reading building in each one of my kiddos. That makes me a very happy momma!
This week we will finish up book 1 and move on to book number 2. We can't to see where the Boxcar Children take us next.
Sounds like fun! I used to love the Boxcar Children.
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