A great accompanying activity, especially if you are travelling the states during the summer is Make a State Activity which is part of Activity-Paks series by Home School in the Woods, which we get to review for you today!
On top of the Make a State, which is what I am reviewing, they also do Time Traveler American, Lap-Paks, Timeline Trio and Activity-Paks. So there is a lot of they this company does. They are a hands on history company that aims to provide an alternative way to learn about our own history.
I will start off by saying I wish there was a way to do Washington D.C. as a state on the map itself, even if it technically is not since we live here in Washington DC. I noticed this on the US games map for the Eastern half of the country. That being said, when they did the facts sheet, they did a great job about including Washington DC including facts like L'enfant who helped design the lay out of the nation's capitol, which most people don't know.
One thing I can say that I like and appreciate about it is having kids learn about quick facts about each state, including but not limited to, their acronyms, their flower, bird, ranking, fun facts, history, timeline facts, etc. This is important because if you ever visited each state, knowing it is an extra plus.
We were supposed to travel this month to California. So I may have the kids do California.
These are perfect for travelling in different states and I really like that they can do something that doesn't take too much energy to be able to do.
There is the hope that the state pages can include a map as well as part of the individual states but you do get that with the games in the beginning.
This is great for a summertime activity because it is light in nature.
As far as the actual download, it was one of the more intuitive and easy to use packets to be able to print and use.
Your kids may be like mine and adamantly against doing a lot of school work during the summer. I mean, there is Minecraft in this house after all (hehe). So the chance of being able to get the kids to sit down and do something productive has to mean that it has to be easy going and laid back during the summer.
This does make me debate starting them early on school so they can get a head start on it this fall. Especially with a child that is hitting middle school.
My son, who is going into 6th grade, (wow), is choosing Wyoming.
My daughter, who is going into 4th grade, (again, wow), is choosing California.
The goal for me was to have them get creative with reading and showing what they learned because I couldn't print out, but was not to let that stop me. I had the kids read it online and do a facts poster that they can share!
My daughter struggled with it because she wanted to make sure she had things perfect but I told her it was okay to get creative with this one. I told her that it was great because it keeps our minds going throughout the summer. We must always be open to learning. It's like exercise for the brain and is a great thing.
My older son actually liked doing it and got it done pretty quickly. So I know the kids can have a lot of fun doing this especially during times where we can travel and have a good time journaling as we travel.
I suggest this for all ages in the family-- everyone in every grade level would be able to do this pretty easily.
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