Lazy Mom's Guide to Story of the World Activities, Part 1

We love Story of the World, we really do...even just eight weeks into Volume 1...but one HAS to admit that the projects are just a bit daunting to say the least!! Which is why I posted the following on Facebook as we finished up the third week:

Well, I guess that person is ME...lol!! I posted about our first few weeks on Facebook and there was some interest so I am just going to share here what we have been doing...probably in four week chunks so as not to overwhelm (because even with our simplified projects I don't want to make my posts too incredibly long)!! So here we go!!

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WEEK 1: Introduction

Suggested activities-
*Make a History of My Family book (with interviews and photographs of family members)
*Make a This is My Life timeline (with pictures and dates of things like first tooth, first time crawling, etc)
*Do an archaeological dig (with items that represent our civilization..using garden trowel and sifting sieve)

What we actually did-
*Simple family tree going back three generations...written on a whiteboard
*A "dig" in our cloud dough and kinetic sand for things like toy cars, Pokemon figurines, etc.

WEEK 2: Chapter One

Suggested activities-
*Make a Cave Painting (with paper grocery sacks and black/beige/reddish-brown acrylic paints)
*Make a Prehistoric Hunter's Game Bag (with animal print fabric and thin rope)
*Build your Own Hut (in the backyard out of sticks, branches, leaves, grass, animal print fabric, etc. Bonus if you camp out in it that night)!!

What we actually did-
*Made a cave painting with paper grocery bags and the tempera paints we have on hand...just mixing them a bit to get the right colors
*Made a "hut" using a table and a floral sheet (what we had on hand)...and the kids played in it for a while as if they were prehistoric people

WEEK 3: Chapter Two

Suggested activities-
*Make a Model Nile (with clay pyramids on the banks and grass "reed" boats floating in it...with grass seeds to grow after flooding it)
*Make the White Crown of Upper Egypt (out of waxed paper and paper)
*Make the Shepherd's Crook of the Pharaohs (out of a tube, newspaper, masking tape, and paint) Bonus if you make a switch to match

What we actually did-
*Made a river Nile...very basic (without even a real delta at one end) but it turned out pretty awesome in any case!!

WEEK 4: Chapter Three

Suggested activities-
*Make Cuneiform Tablets (out of clay that needs to be dried)
*Make a Hieroglyphic Scroll (with computer banner paper or papyrus paper from craft store)
*Experiment to see which of the two projects hold up better by dunking them in water, leaving them out in the sun, and baking them in the oven!!

What we actually did--
*Made "clay tablets" out of playdoh and created cuneiform and hieroglyphs in the playdoh (and then cleaned it all up afterwards)

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So there ya go!! The first four weeks of simplified and doable projects...for the mamas who want to do SOME projects, but not at the expense of their sanity or budget!! Hope this helps other mamas like me!!