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Movement and Learning: Our Backyard History Timeline

This has been a tough week for us.

Like whoa.

So tough in fact, I almost gave up and did not plan an activity (not just for the blog, but honestly, for my son as well).

It’s exactly why I wanted to do this year’s 52 Weeks of Activities in the first place. I know that when things get difficult, I tend to put my head down to get through, and overlook the simple things that seem hard at first, but in actuality, make things easier.

A fun activity is my son’s love language. Quality time mixed with movement calms him like nothing else. The truth is, my commitment to do this once a week is exactly what we both needed.

Movement and Learning: Our Backyard History Timeline #handsonlearning #kidsactivities #homeschoolhistory

Friday Fun-Days: 52 Weeks of Easy Hands-On Activities

I didn’t have a lot of energy or brain power left to create anything super fancy this week. I barely had enough energy left for the activity itself! So, I decided to incorporate movement into an ongoing project we have been working on. Once we got started, it was easy to keep going and really make it a Fun Friday.

If you saw my post yesterday, you know that part of our history lessons include The Giant American Timeline books. Because we had the timeline complete, but were still working on comprehension and retention of the learning itself, I decided to use this week’s Friday Fun-Day to help reinforce all that he has been learning.

Our Backyard History Timeline

What you will need for this activity:

Painters or Masking Tape

Sidewalk Chalk

Your Child

That’s It!

Movement and Learning

Step One: Create a long line with the tape.

Step Two: Cross over the long line in several points with smaller pieces of tape. These will mark your dates in history, and create a large, interactive timeline.

Step Three: Using chalk, write in the years you are reviewing.

Step Four: Ask your child to jump to the year or decade in which an historic event occurred. (For example, I called out “The Civil War” and he jumped to the 1860’s.)

Step Five: Keep going until your child is too tired to jump anymore.

I know I said I would be keeping these activities super easy for mom, but the truth is, this one required so little, I am almost embarrassed to be sharing it.

Almost..but I am sharing it.

I am sharing this activity because no matter how simple it was, my son loved it. (He thought it was so fun, he asked my husband to quiz him on history again when he got home from work!)

I am sharing it because we all have weeks where even the smallest task seems daunting.

I am sharing it because it ended up being the highlight of our learning this week.

Looking for more easy, hands-on activities?

Learning With Nerf Guns (seven ideas for hands-on activities)

Harry Potter Solar System Activity (with free bonus printable)

100 Sensory Activities For All Ages

 

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One Comment

  1. I love this idea! So fun. I’m glad it was an easy homerun in a week you needed one!

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