Learn and Play: The Stone Age

Would you like some fun activities to do with your children to help them learn about what life was like in per-historic times?   Here are some the things I did with my son to help him learn about the Stone Age.  

 

Suggested Books

First, we read the books below to build interest and learn more about what life was like in the Stone Age.   Both of these books are available at Waco Libraries, and  The First Dog is also available at the Hewitt Library. 

 The First Dog, by Jan Brett,  is a beautifully illustrated story about a boy and a wolf who befriended him, and became the first dog.   It's a wonderful piece of fiction to get kids interested in life in the stone age.   There are some great activities listed below to go with this, but I also found this  whole page of activities to use with The First Dog if you want to do more, or do something different.

 

Stone Age People is an excellent non-fiction book to explore more about this part of history.   Its part of the Make It Work series, which has a lot of crafts and projects kids can do related to the topic, as well as a lot of great historical information.  Everything is presented in the form of a model or presented by real kids dressed as ancient people.

My son was pretty young when we first read this, so I didn't read all the text.   We looked at the pictures and talked about what was happening and read some of the sections that told more about things he was interested in.   We spent a lot of time on the page below talking about what the people were doing.

 

 

Activity:  Hunter Gatherer Hike

Materials:  

• Straight branches (and something to cut them with)
• Twine
• Cardboard

For a follow-up activity we decided to do a "hunter gatherer" trek on the hiking trail behind the Carleen Bright Arboretum.   Any wild place would do though.

I made some really simple toy bows and arrows and spears.  SERIOUSLY SIMPLE.  Those are branches from our tree and some weed stalks (we have some really vigorous roadside weeds here in Waco...I suggest wild goldenrod if it lives near you). The string is just brown yarn, and the tips are cardboard.

The bows actually sort of  worked (they could shoot the "arrows" a few feet...not fast enough to hurt anyone, but far enough to be "cool."

I attached the tips of the spears by splitting the top of the branches and inserting the cardboard ...then binding yarn around to make it tighter.  If I had thought better I would have cut a "shaft" on the tips and wrapped the yarn around that.  They might have stayed on longer that way....but they worked well enough.  We invited another family to go along, and the kids enjoyed using these.

I've seen some other bow versions that may shoot a little better made from bamboo or PVC (And I love the idea of an eraser capped arrows).   If you have older kids and want to try your hand at making a really realistic primitive arrow (with bone), there's a nice tutorial here. 

After making our arrows we headed for the nature trail.  We didn't know beforehand that the trail had been decorated with funny scarecrows for Halloween, so we ad-libbed and wondered out-loud who had made these strange statues, and what they might mean.

One of the kids found snails and we talked about how that would be great in our soup that night (No, we didn't really eat them...no wild escargot for us!).

We stopped for a break of seeds and berries my friend had brought (um..."gathered earlier"), and then hiked down to a small stream.  I had hoped to find animal prints near the muddy bank...we did find one dog print (um...I mean..."wolf" print), and lots of tiny fish we pretended to catch for supper.  AND, my friend found an edible plant, purslane, which we tried, with mixed reactions (her daughter hated it so much she drank her whole water bottle to wash away the taste away...but I liked it.  It sort of tastes like lettuce.). 

Purslane

Be careful if you are trying any real "foraging."...do your research beforehand and only try things you're sure about.   Purslane actually has a poisonous doppelganger, spotted spurge, so make sure you study up on look alikes and know how to tell the difference before sampling.  There is a picture of purslane and it's poisonous look-alike at the bottom of this page on Foraging Texas, for comparison. 

Also, you want to make sure to wash anything well before you eat it (you can rinse with a water bottle), and avoid collecting anything where pesticides or herbicides might have been sprayed (our purslane was found well off the beaten path so should have been safe from those). 

Here's some other wild edibles you might find while hiking in Waco...

Blackberry

Blackberry is pretty easy to spot.  You want to only eat the dark black/purple berries.   The red ones, while they may look like raspberries, are way under-ripe.  

Dandelion

Dandelion was the first edible plant I tried.   You can eat the whole thing, from petals to root (though the root should be cooked or dried).  The leaves and petals have a peppery flavor and are something kids can try on the trail.   They are rather bitter though...so your child might not want to chomp on a whole flower. 

While dandelion has quite a few look-a-likes in Texas, all of them that I'm aware of are edible too.  There's a list at the bottom of this page. 


For learning more about edible plants in Texas I suggest browsing the Foraging Texas site.  

Activity:  Rock Art

 

Materials:
Rocks
Paint*
Pain Brushes*

(*You can also make your own paint and brushes...see notes below)

We did this rock art activity at my son's school years after our hike, but I thought it would fit well here.   You could even do this rock art using rocks and materials you find on your hike if you want to.   

The kids in my son's class were learning about the prehistoric artwork in the Lascaux caves.  Archeologists and historians call ancient rock are "petroglyphs." 

For a precursor to this activity can watch this video about the Lascausx Caves or this  shorter video about these caves here, or take a 365 degree virtual tour here (this interactive Pano on FB is also cool).  

First, I collected rocks to paint on.   Because of time we just used regular paint...but I tried to match the colors to those used in the Lascaux cave, and we talked about why they used those colors and what materials they would have made their colors with.   You can also make your own paint using minerals or gathered material, which would be really fun.  For older kids, this article has more about prehistoric paints, and they have some links toward the bottom to paint-making activities that look more at the chemistry of making paints.   You can also have kids make their own paint brushes using natural material like sticks, hair, leaves, or grass. 

Here's our rock art.   Our son really enjoyed this.

Activity:  Make Your Own Cave Book

 

After learning hunter gatherers in the stone age, children may want to make a story of their own.   Here is a cave book my son made using  cave printable here (free to download). 

You can see he made hand-prints on the cave wall, like some of the cave art we had looked at, and a wolf like the story of the The First Dog (in this version the wolf had a pup).

MORE RESOURCES

Stone Age Lapbook

Free Cartoonish Caveman and Mammoth Graphics

Stone Age Axe Out of Paper Mache


FOR HOMESCHOOLERS

If you are using Story of the World curriculum you can find info on these activities aligned to that curriculum on my other blog, Imaginative Homeschool.

Tips for Dealing With Snow

Below you will find some tips for dressing for freak winter snowstorms, and below that, how to de-ice a car.

TIPS FOR DRESSING FOR UNEXPECTED SNOW

If you can't find gloves, several layers of socks work like mittens (although, like mittens, they become freezing soggy wet after being used to make a few snowballs).

Dish gloves, though not as warm, keep out the wet.  If you are willing to sacrifice a sock, you can cut off the end of the sock to make it fingerless, and layer it under a dish glove to keep the cold off your palm at least.  You can also put dish gloves on under sock mittens.   Thin knit gloves can sometimes be used underneath large dish gloves as well, providing warmth and waterproofing.

 

No snow boots?   No problem.   While regular tennis-shoes get soaked pretty quick in even mildly deep snow, there's a solution.  PLASTIC WRAP!   Before going out in the snow wrap plastic wrap over your socks sort of like you would wrap a cast to protect it when taking a bath, then put on your shoes over it.  It really works...I have TESTED this one in snow deeper than we're ever likely to get in most of Texas.

In this picture (left...which is obviously NOT in Texas), I am actually wearing ONE snow boot and ONE thin canvas shoe with plastic wrap (cause I left a boot at home when we left for the mountains...doh).  But because of the plastic wrap, both my feet were equally warm and cozy. 

Slipperyness is a whole 'nother issue....and I don't have a good make-shift solution for that one, save for scattering salt and kitty litter on your walk.   If your kids are on a sports team and have shoes with cleats that would work too.

If you can't find any warm hats, try rummaging through your Christmas decorations.  A Santa hat will do in a pinch.  No Santa hats?   You can also wrap a scarf around your head (see picture above).  Baseball caps are also better than nothing.  

How To De-Ice Your Car

Having grown up in the California mountains, I know a thing or two about getting ice off a car...I was helping my mom de-ice the car before I could even drive. So, for those who've never had to do that...here's some tips:

1. If the snow is nice and powdery its easy to brush off.  If it's wet those dish gloves may come in handy.  You only will have a problem if it's snow that's gotten wet and then frozen.  Then the tips below will help.
   
   
2. If your car is covered in ice, it pays to sit in your car for a while with the engine running to warm it up--your car will drive better and it may make de-icing your car easier.  Or you can leave your car running while you set at trying to tackle the ice.
   
   
3. If you don't have a car ice scraper, you can use a credit card to scrape frost off your window and rear-view mirrors.  A plastic spatula works too.   If it's a thick layer you may need to do some hacking (A credit card won't help too much here.  The edge of a plastic ice scraper is ideal, but the edge of a hairbrush can sometimes work too.  Sometimes all it takes is a firm pound of your fist to break it up.  But if you're getting nowhere with these, refer to step 2.).
   
   
4. DO NOT just clear off the window and drive with a big slab of ice on top of your roof...because at some point your car is going to warm up and it will start to melt and that big ole slab will either go crashing into the car behind you, or come crashing down your windshield when you stop, blocking your view. 

Of course, taking that car out on the road is another matter.  For best practices for driving in snow, this page by Car and Drive will help.  Of course, if possible just stay home!   And enjoy the snow while it lasts! 


(Thanks to Tamari 09 on Flickr for the use of the Santa hat.  I couldn't find the picture of my kiddo decked in a Santa hat in the snow so was very grateful for the substitute.)

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