At-Home Activities: Calling All Explorers
- Heather Martinson
- Sep 5, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 22, 2020
Workshop Class Activities
1. Craft – Make Adventure Books
2. Key Points – The Adventure Begins
3. Collaborative – Create an Explorer Flag
4. Language Arts – Explorer’s Record books
5. Math/Logic – World Map Coordinates
6. Prepare for Adventure – Welcome to the Wilderness Explorers
7. Big Activity – Go Forth And Explore!
8. Movement - Pantintero
Academics at Home
Materials
• Who Is Jane Goodall?
• Various fiction and non-fiction books that relate to exploration
• explorer’s record pages (included), print and cut apart
• journal or writing paper
• poster boards or large papers
• number tiles (included), print and cut apart
• materials for your 6-week project
Reading
Who Is Jane Goodall?
Various fiction and non-fiction books that relate to exploration
Writing
Copywork
“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J.R.R. Tolkien
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
Language arts lesson
Marco Polo is known as a great explorer. Something interesting, though, is that Marco Polo was not the first to explore Asia, he went on only one journey, and he was not even the captain of the boat he went on. Why, then, is he considered to be such a great explorer? The answer is because he made of book of his experiences. This book made Marco Polo famous and inspired many other explorers, including Christopher Columbus.
Writing Activity
Explore your own yard. Complete an explorer’s record page (above) about the things you discover there. If you don’t already have your own Adventure Journal, print several explorer’s record pages and staple them together with a front and back cover to create your journal. Take your journal with you when you explore. Complete a page in your journal for each adventure you experience.
Journaling
Write in your journal about the top five places in the world that you would like to explore, along with your reasons for choosing those places.
Math
Math Concept
To help map the world, it is divided into vertical and horizontal lines called longitude and latitude. Using this system, every place on earth can be labeled with coordinates. For information about how to find coordinates on a map, watch this video:
https://youtu.be/ztzNh4bzL_M
Math Project
Follow these instructions to find the coordinates of your home:
1. On your computer, open Google Maps.
2. Right-click your home on the map.
3. Select “What's here?”
4. At the bottom, you’ll see a card with the coordinates.
Now find the coordinates for the five places you wrote about in the journaling activity. If you have a world map, find and mark these places on the map.
Math/Logic Concept
A map key or legend is included with a map to give you the information needed for the map to make sense. Maps often use symbols or colors to represent things, and the map key explains what they mean. Map keys are often boxes in the corner of the map, and the information they give you is essential to understanding the map. Symbols in the key might be pictures or icons that represent different things on the map. Sometimes the map might by colored or shaded, and the key explains what the colors and shades mean.
Math Project
Make a map of your bedroom. The map should include a key that contains symbols or pictures of real items in the room. You can also make maps of your home, school, backyard, playground, or the neighborhood.
Mental Math
Play Grasshopper. Print the attached number tiles (above) or have your child help you to create your own on larger cards. Tape these cards around on the floor, about hopping distance apart, in no particular order. Call off a number for your child to hop on to. Next, call out a set of instructions for your child to follow, such as:
• Hop to the number that’s one less than five.
• Twirl to the number that’s one less than fifteen.
• Count backward from fourteen to seven and hop on each number as you go.
Try to make your instructions challenging but also fun. After a bit, you can have your child give instructions to you as you hop. You can adjust the instructions and the numbers on the cards to your child’s abilities.
Math games
Play “Pico Fermi Nada”: https://zenomath.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/12-Days-of-MathWays-2014-Pico-Fermi-Nada.pdf
Projects
Research and Report
Use poster board or a large newsprint to draw a map that shows places that Marco Polo visited. Include interesting things that Marco Polo saw at some of the places.
Themed Fireworks Project
Gather your own exploring supplies and put them in a backpack so you can be ready for your own adventures! Here are some items you may want to include:
• Journaling supplies
◦ Adventure Book
◦ colored pens and pencils
◦ scissors (blunt-tip so it doesn’t poke a hole in your bag)
◦ stick glue
• Sun protection
◦ sunscreen
◦ sunglasses
◦ a hat
◦ lip balm
• Snacks
• Water bottle
• Jacket
• Other possible necessities
◦ Compass
◦ Flashlight
◦ First Aid Kit (we’re making one next week)
6-week project
This week you can start working on a project that will take six weeks to work on. You can do a little each week. By the end of the project you will have:
• A written report
• An oral report
• Some kind of a display
Here are your 6-week project assignments for this week:
Choose a topic for your project. We’re studying jungles for the next few weeks, so something along these lines would be jungle plants or animals, rivers, jungle civilizations, jungle science, etc. It’s a good idea to be fairly specific. For example, choose a specific animal – not all of them.
Choose your display. A report display can be much more than a tri-fold board. You can make a garden, a stuffed animal, or even a Lego structure.
Start researching. Research can include:
reading books
Internet searches
interviews
family discussions and activities
field trips
experiments
surveys
Collect anything you come across that sounds important or interesting. Information can be gathered in many ways, including:
print interesting things from the Internet
jot things in a notebook
collect brochures
memorize things
underline passages in a book and turn down a page corner
take pictures
make sketches
copy and paste information into a word document
Go here to get more ideas on how to do a 6-week report: https://www.celebrationeducation.com/post/2016/11/02/how-to-create-great-projects-for-groups-and-individuals
Find CelebrationEducation.com out more about:
• in-person classes
• online classes
Other Ideas
A good sleeping bag is the best bedding for camping out. However, if you find yourself in a situation where a sleeping bag is not available, it may be necessary to make a bedroll to use as emergency bedding. Use a blanket, sheet, and tarp to make your own bedroll. Sleep in it!
What are the qualities of a great explorer? Create an award certificate about a fictitious explorer. Include on the certificate the reasons why the explorer deserves the award.
Make a mural that shows explorers through the ages.
Make a brochure to encourage people to visit a jungle. Include the best qualities of a jungle, a list of things visitors should do to prepare to visit a jungle, and what visitors might enjoy seeing and/or doing in a jungle.
Make a bumper sticker to let people know your feelings about jungles.
Pretend you are running a campaign to become the next president of the United States. Create a speech to share what you plan to do about deforestation.
Make a chart to show some jungle facts, such as jungle rainfall each month last year or how quickly jungles are decreasing in size.
Make a comic strip with jungle animals having a conversation.
Make a crossword puzzle about exploring.
Listen to some jungle music – dance to it!
Write down a description of what a jungle is and the type of people, animals, and plants that live in them.
Make a poster diagram of the things explorers need to have with them when they explore. Label each item.
Find the coordinates for five places in the world that you’d like to visit.
Make a video that explains the importance of being prepared for exploring and/or natural disasters.
Write an ode to jungles.
Write jokes about jungle animals.
Create a greeting card to your favorite jungle.
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