Laura Ingalls Wilder Family Tree, Activities, and Quilt Craft

We've been using the Little House on the Prairie books this year as read-alouds and to help my kids to understand some differences between people living in the past and in our present times.

I've created a product (for free at the time of this posting) on Teachers Pay Teachers that I hope will be helpful to other teachers and homeschooling parents who are working on the same things. You can download it on TPT by clicking here.

The first few pages show the Ingalls/Wilder family tree with their photographs.  I included a blank family tree for kids to illustrate their own family.  My kids were curious about the "real" Laura, as so many books we read about children from the past are fiction.  It was helpful to them to look at Laura and her family to discover ways that people looked and behaved differently.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

For instance:  here is Laura's Picture as an adult below.  Does it surprise you?  Does her picture remind you of the Laura from the books?  Why is she not smiling?  Is her hair short or long?  What kind of clothes is she wearing?  Why is the picture not in color?  How fascinating it was for my children to just see the pictures of all the family.

Another page is of some common things from the past:  a spinning wheel, a covered wagon, a butter churn, a one room schoolhouse, and a log cabin.  We have been finding opportunities to see vintage and replica items of the past to get a better understanding of how far we have come.  (And we complain about how busy we are now!)  It felt important to me to compare these things to things today.  What of these do we use now?  Why did they need a spinning wheel?  Isn't mommy's mini-van like a covered wagon?

Also included in the download are some pages to help make a nine square quilt craft like these below.  There is a more difficult pattern for older kids, too.

Pumpkin Crafting

[ My Laura Ingalls Wilder Book Club friends, I'll be providing all of the materials to complete this craft at the next meeting.]
Preparation:  cut squares of paper 2" x 2" in different colors.  I used leftover paper from scrap-booking projects that were 12" x12".  I found it a handy size to cut as I use it all without having to waste unlike 8 1/2" x 11."  A little thing, I know, but it made me happy.

Print quilt pattern pages and locate glue sticks.

For a more detailed "quilt," you can cut paper squares 1/2" x 1/2" and print out the paper with smaller squares.

Or... skip the paper all together and just use colored pencils or crayons.

Before handing out glue sticks,  have the kids experiment with patterns and colors.  They can arrange the squares how they'd like, then glue them in place.

While kids are putting together designs (or before) show them a real quilt or pictures of quilts.  Talk about how Laura & Mary made nine patch quilt squares out of scraps of cloth from the time they could hold a needle.  Explain how all the squares would then be sewn together with a backing to make a blanket for the family.

There are many sites online that show images of nine patch quilts.  Quilting In America has a page on the nine patch design and variations.

A simple google search can help you find images of quilts like some of these below:

quilt picture from skalabara.com

quilt picture from imperamagna.blogspot.com

quilt picture from imperamagna.blogspot.com

Do we know how to sew?  When we need a new blanket for our family, what do we do?  Do we make it ourselves or buy one?  Why wouldn't people of Laura's time use new cloth for a blanket?

I hope this description helps you plan your own activities!

Enjoy,

Rosanna