Stonehenge - Simple Machine Activity for Kids

We learned about Stonehenge and made a simple machine similar to the type which may have been used to move the enormous blocks to Stonehenge.

Although the exact purpose of Stonehenge and how it was built remains a mystery, there is much that is known. Chapter 11 of Our Island Story (a narrative book for children on the history of England) both peaked our interest and left us with many questions about Stonehenge so we turned to the documentary Secrets of Stonehenge for more information.

Built around the year 3000 BC by stone age people living in Brittan, Stonehenge is aligned with the sun during the winter and summer solstices. In ancient times, stone was a symbol of the dead and wood was a symbol of life. Henges (circular structures) were built of both. While nothing but the post holes remain of the wooden henges, the remains of many stone henges can still be seen in the British Isles today. It's likely that the henges were locations where special religious ceremonies took place.

Coincidentally, hundreds of carved stone balls which date to the same time period in which Stonehenge was constructed have been discovered in Scotland. Historians have puzzled for years over the function of the balls. Recently, one researcher noticed that nearly all of the balls were constructed to a precise diameter of 2.75 inches and proposed a theory that they functioned as bearings in simple machines.

Based upon this theory, historians constructed a replica system which could have been used to move the large stones at Stonehenge. Although we may never know for sure how they were transported, we made a much simpler version of the simple machine using tennis balls, and pieces of wood.

Since the carved stone balls are similar in size to tennis balls, we placed several tennis balls between two channels of narrow wooden beams.

Next we placed a folded up table on top of the tennis balls as a platform and tested the system to see if the table could be easily moved.

It worked, so weight (one child) was added to the table and she was easily moved along the track.

Further testing revealed that heavier weights could be moved by persons with less strength.

To see our other projects which involved simple machines, please visit our Science Page.





Check out these great blogs full of educational activity ideas.

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
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History Co-op Writing Assignments - Celts

A writing assignment was given most weeks of the Celtic history co-op.

1. Invent your own Celtic character and write about him/her. Where did he/she live? What was his/her job? What was his/her name? (Historical Fiction)
2. Write about, draw a picture of or list Celtic buildings and structures.
3. Illustrate a beginning, middle and end to a myth. Write the story to go along with your illustrations.
4. Write instructions to make a sword, shoes or other useful thing the Celts used and made.
5. Write a poem that describes how you would like to be remembered.
6. Write an interview with a local Celtic craftsman or artist.
7. Make a Celtic recipe or menu.


To read more about our history activities click on one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

Celtic history co-op. Books

The Celts lived in Northern Europe and didn't have a written language until they had increased contact with other cultures. Therefore, Celtic history from the Celtic point of view is sparse. Luckily history books covering the lands of Germany and Brittan often contain sections dedicated to the Celts.

The initial chapters of Our Island Story often refer to the Celts as do The History of Germany by HE Marshall. Both books are free on the internet.

Celtic mythology is filled with leprechauns, fairies, gobblins and luck. Many myths have been written down and the following two books are great places to start.



Tales from Celtic Lands by Caitlin Matthews - This book was great for my third grader. It had beautiful illustrations. Many of the stories involved a peasent or a prince.

Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs - This book is free on Librivox and also free on the Baldwin Project. The stories in this book were a bit longer and better for my fifth grader. My daughter liked the Talking Egg Shell fairy tale best. It was about a troll who switched human kids with gobblin kids.

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Celtic history co-op. Week 9: Feast

Week 9: Each family prepared a Celtic dish to share at a feast.

Bread made from oats, barley, rye and wheat was enjoyed by the Celts and by us today.

Celts ate a northern grain called millet. This dish contained millet mixed with vegetables such as carrots, peas and onions and herbs such as salt, pepper and garlic which were available to the Celts.

A stew of beef, barley and vegetables such as beans an carrots was shared.

 Bread, cheese and apples were available to the Celts.

Oats, raisins, honey and nuts could have been mixed together to form deserts. Grapes would have come from the Greeks and Romans in the south. Although they do grow in Northern Europe, they were not native and wouldn't have been a common food.

Apples and oats were commonly eaten.

To read more about our hands-on history activities please visit our History Page.

Celtic history co-op. Week 8: Food

Week 8: We made oat cakes in the Celtic style.

The Celts lived in Northern Europe and ate foods similar to the Vikings. Since barley, oats, millet and rye grains grow well in cold weather they were available. Vegetables such as onions, beans, leeks, carrots and cabbage and fruits such as apples, pear and berries were eaten. Wild boar and deer were hunted, and trout and salmon were caught in rivers. Milk, butter and cheese was produced from cows. A weak beer was a favorite drink. These foods were often eating plain, or mixed together to create cakes, breads and soups.

Interestingly enough, many of these foods are enjoyed today by the Germans which are descended from the Celts. Although some new foods such as potatoes have been introduced, soups made from beans, vegetables and lentils as well as breads made from rye, wheat and barley are very common.

The first step in creating oat cakes was grinding the grain. In the time of the Celts this was done by hand, but later improvements in technology lead to the mill.

Our barley and wheat grains were ground using cleaned paving stones and washed rocks.

The ground grains were mixed with honey, rolled oats, salt and water and then pressed flat into cakes. Then the flat cakes were fried on the stove-top.

Apples were chopped and mixed with honey, apple leaves and berries and then boiled for a sweet drink to accompany the cakes. The drink was served hot.

Berries and apples were mashed with a mortar and pestle to make a jam for the top of the oat cakes.

After enjoying the Celtic food, the kids began experimenting with improved methods for grinding grain. They found that by using two paving stones instead of a rock and stone, a much greater yield was produced.


Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

Celtic history co-op. Week 7: Clothing (Card Weaving)

Week 7: We wove belts using the card weaving technique.

Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tommie de Paola is a picture book which entertains children and teaches about the cloth making process. It is one of my personal favorite children's books. The text makes the process sound so simple as it clearly breaks down the steps.

Celts often wore long shirts or robes tied at the waist with a belt. The edges of much of their clothing contained decorative woven strips. Both the belts and the decorative trims were made using the card weaving technique.

Card weaving is done using bone, bark, or rock as a tool for creating patterns. Typically the cards were square with four holes, but occasionally they contained a different number of sides.

We used old playing cards to create our cards and constructed a simple backstrap loom by tying (orange) yarn around the waist. Shuttles were constructed from scrap styrofoam.

The projects were set-up following patterns (see links below) which required a lot of assistance from parents.

Written Instructions

Youtube tutorial

Patterns

Then the belts were woven. I was extremely impressed with the boys. They were all completely engaged in the entire process and did a wonderful job. The goal during the three hour session was to get the project explained and underway so that the belts could be finished  during the week at home.

The belts turned out beautiful.

To read more about our history activities please visit our History Page or click on one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China 

This post is linked to:
Around the Kamp Fire

Celtic history co-op. Week 6: Runes

Week 6: We made runes.

The Celts had a rich tradition of oral storytelling. The history of their land and people was preserved from generation to generation through druids who were expert story tellers. Once the Celts came into contact with other cultures a system of runic writing developed. There were several different runic alphabets used by northern European people.

We got the chance to make our own runes using air dry clay, toothpicks and other dough type tools.

A sample alphabet was printed so the kids had something to decode.

To read more about our homeschool history co-op activities one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

This post is linked to: 
Reading Confetti
Hearts for Home

Celtic history co-op. Week 5: Weapons

Week 5: We made Celtic shields.

Warring Celts painted themselves blue and wore very little clothing during battle. Prior to battles it was customary to brush hair and groom oneself. Although men were the primary warriors, the women sometimes fought alongside their men. Boudica is one famous Celtic warrior.

One way to identify the origin of an ancient shield is by the shape. Viking shields were round, Roman shields were cylindrical and Celtic shields had an oblong shape with rounded ends. Celtic shields were constructed from metal and contained raised designs.

Our Celtic shields were made from recycled pizza boxes, caulk and paint. After decorating shields with caulk they were spray painted.

To read more about our homeschool history co-op activities click on one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China

Celtic history co-op. Week 4: Beliefs

Week 4: We made Celtic robes.

The Celts were in tune with nature and worshiped many Gods. Stories were told by the Druids which served as a historical record and as a way to teach life and moral lessons. In later years when the Romans had contact with the Celts, many of the legends were written down.


Tales from Celtic Lands by Caitlin Matthews - This book was great for my third grader. It had beautiful illustrations. Many of the stories involved a peasent or a prince.

Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs - This book is free on Librivox and also free on the Baldwin Project. The stories in this book were a bit longer and better for my fifth grader. My daughter liked the Talking Egg Shell fairy tale best. It was about a troll who switched human kids with gobblin kids.

Celtic clothing was made primarily of wool. Robes were often worn over tighter fitting clothing to keep out the cold. Our Celtic robes were made from old sheets.

First a hole was cut for the head near the middle of the sheet. Next, the length was trimmed depending on the height of the child. Finally, the shoulder pins constructed from the previous co-op were added to the robes.

To read more about our history activities, click on one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China 

Celtic history co-op. Week 3: Jewelry

Week 3: We made Celtic fibulas (shoulder pins).

Celts didn't have safety pins or buttons. Instead, their clothes were held together at the shoulder with pins called fibulas.

The first step in creating fibulas is to create or purchase a jig. Ours were constructed by placing pegs into holes in wooden blocks.  Artistic Wire Deluxe Jig Kit are not too expensive and can be purchased at Amazon.

Next, a 25 inch long piece of copper wire was wrapped with the fingers in circular patterns around the jig.

Once the wire was wrapped, it was removed from the jig and pounded with a hammer into a sharp point on the ends. This was done with the help of an adult.

Since each jig was a little different, each of the fibulas were different.  They turned out very nice. Both of my daughters enjoyed it so much we went home with all the scraps, tools, Celtic Jewelry book and a jewelry making kit.

To read more about our history activities, click on one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China