Our family is studying pirates right now, so for book club the girls read “Mystery on Skull Island,” an American Girl History Mystery book. It takes place in Charles Town, South Carolina, in the 1720s, just after pirates went from being popular to scary. We learned a lot about colonial life from this story and decided to interact with that in our book club party.
We started, of course, by summarizing the book and discussing it. We all decided that pirates were really not fun people and that the girls in the story didn’t always make the best choices, though they did have good intentions.
Then we made mob caps. Mob caps were ruffled hats that covered a girl’s head and were very common during colonial times. Ours were not true to history, as we made them out of white t-shirts, but since that knit fabric doesn’t fray, this simplified the process greatly. We cut large circles out of old white shirts and then used a large running stitch to sew about an inch in from the edge. Each girl then gathered the cap and we tied off the thread. They were excited to wear their new caps and each chose to do so a bit differently.
The girls love to bake, too, so we made Grandma’s Biscuits. They worked together well, as always, and ate the finished product with honey and jellies.
After developing their own pirate names and designing their own necklaces out of string and plastic beads, it was time for the girls to head home. We had a great time in the colonial era!
What are your kids reading right now? How can you connect with it?
* This post was shared at: Home to 4 Kiddos
I just love the caps and the biscuit making– what great, hands-on learning! Thanks for linking up with “My Week in Review.” I hope you can join us again this week. http://our4kiddos.blogspot.com/2014/09/my-week-in-review-4.html