Pioneer Days: Discover the Past with Fun Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes (American Kids in History Series) [Paperback]

David C. King (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: American Kids in History Series

Dozens of fun, hands-on projects and activities from the days of the American pioneers

Join twelve-year-old Sam Butler and his nine-year-old sister, Liz, on the American frontier in 1843. Discover the hard work, fun, and adventure of their daily lives, and along the way learn how to play games, make toys and crafts, and perform everyday activities just like Liz and Sam.

You can make your own homemade soda pop and cook up a batch of johnnycakes. Use clay to create your own pottery and design a string of African trade beads, or learn the Native American art of sandpainting. You can even make your own holiday decorations out of dough or pinecones--if you're not too busy playing tangram, a Chinese puzzle game, or a beanbag target game.

Pioneer Days is filled with interesting bits of historical information and fun facts about growing up in days gone by. Discover how different--and how similar--life was for American kids in history.

Watch for Colonial Days the next exciting book in the American Kids in History series!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6?An interesting and unusual assortment of history, culture, crafts, and stories to teach about the daily life of the pioneers. In chapters arranged by seasons, King chronicles the life of a fictional family. The women's work and pastimes are more detailed than those of the men, leading into the instructions for a variety of objects and foodstuffs that were fashioned by mothers and daughters, such as air-dried flowers, toys and games, homemade soda pop, johnnycakes, and various holiday ornaments. The author's research is evident, and the presentation of the activities and recipes is so engaging that the book will appeal to a wide audience. Shaded sidebars offer intriguing historical data about various customs and artifacts and explain how technology changed some of the traditional methods mentioned in the narrative. Suitable caveats are given with regard to getting adult help, or picking only flowers that do not belong to others. Churning butter and making cheese are often mentioned, but directions are not given. The bibliography is excellent. Pen-and ink drawings clearly demonstrate the steps for creating the various projects. A book that's enjoyable as well as educational.?Marilyn Fairbanks, East Junior High School, Brockton, MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

This book gives children hands-on experience of the life of early settlers with over 30 activities presented in simple steps. Activities include making homemade soda pop, creating silhouettes, making whirligigs and Jumping Jacks, and much more. The story of a pioneer family in 1843 lets children identify with pioneer children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (September 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471161691
• ISBN-13: 978-0471161691
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 10.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Children's Books > History > United States > 1800s

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book brings the Pioneer life into *our* lives., May 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pioneer Days: Discover the Past with Fun Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes (American Kids in History Series) (Paperback)

PIONEER DAYS is a wonderful hands-on approach to teaching our children the pioneer lifestyle. The book follows a ficticious family thru the year 1843 and allows you to learn with your children what life on the homestead was like, including crafts, recipes, games and more. I would recommend it to homeschoolers especially as a good source for pioneer study. It has a good bibliography in the back for additional readings on the time period, including the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE series. If you are hooked with this style of learning, there are other titles in this series (AMERICAN KIDS IN HISTORY) with which you may continue your study of American History.

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Be careful with Native American activities, September 3, 2004

By 

Abracapocus "librarian, storyteller, cinephile" (southern Oregon coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneer Days: Discover the Past with Fun Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes (American Kids in History Series) (Paperback)

Apologies--I haven't read this book yet, but I had to say something about this point. While Wiley & Son's activity & craft books are generally outstanding, there is a potentially serious problem with this one. The Hopi and Navajo activities included here should be handled with extreme care.

Hopi kachina dolls and Navajo sand paintings are both sacred items in their cultural context. While they are commonly promoted as tourist items and (wrongly) as appropriate "multi-cultural" activities for children, a settler in the southwest in 1843 would most likely *not* have encountered them unless they were actively involved with the Hopi or Navajo to the extent of becoming tribal members active in the Hopi or Navajo religions.

Kachinas are deities for the Hopi, interceding between humans and higher powers along the same lines as Catholic saints. Kachina dolls are representations of the kachinas, given to children to teach them about the different spirits, what they wear and how they act. The kachina spirits spend half of each year living among the Hopi villagers in the form of costumed dancers, in a cycle of often playful but still sacred festivals.

Navajo sand paintings are sacred components of healing ceremonies, which can last several nights (the length depending on which ceremony it is). The painting is made near the beginning of the ceremony, as a map for the spiritual journey the person will undergo, and is erased at the end.

White settlers in the Southwest might have seen Hopi kachina dolls held by children, and might have witnessed Hopi kachina dances (probably from a distance); but Navajo sand paintings they would *not* have seen unless they were part of a healing ceremony.

If you use the Native American sections of this book, please do so only with the understanding of the sacred nature of these activities, with proper respect for their meaning. Do a little more research, and make sure both you and the children grasp the nature of the belief systems that Hopi kachinas and Navajo sand paintings represent. To do these activities with your kids is a little like playing at making Catholic communion bread and having a mock Eucharist ceremony.

Thanks for reading!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for, May 1, 2007

By 

Michelle Polk (Mississippi, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pioneer Days: Discover the Past with Fun Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes (American Kids in History Series) (Paperback)

homeschooling about the west. It has lots of nice crafts to do. Although, the fort they had an example did not work for us. We had to improvise with lots of hot glue.