This week we started a new thematic unit on Scandinavia. We haven't covered this area before, except during general European studies. It will cover geography, history, culture, art, bush craft, nature and geology.
Sweden
We began with a Ray Mears documentary on bush craft in Sweden. The kiddies answered questions which I had prepared as they went along. Their feedback on the documentary was full of positives and a desire to watch more, learn more bushcraft, move to Sweden and hang out with huskies.
We began a unit book, similar to a lapbook, which we plan to fill with our work over the coming weeks.
The Dala horse is a Swedish traditional craft from the Dala region. We didn't realise we owned one and it's been sitting in the Native American box for years!
The kiddies made some smashing Dala horses of their own.
We ended one of our study mornings with a bit of fun making tiny snowflakes to go in reindeer pots. As you do. After which we made a tiny reindeer herd. North Sweden is known as Swedish Lapland where the Sami tend to huge reindeer herds.
We also made some lovely Swedish hearts...
...
...And the Northern lights in a beautiful Swedish landscape.
We had some silly time making reindeer out of footprints.
And we spent a whole morning learning about Swedish wildlife (elk, reindeer, sea eagles, hedgehogs, brown bears, ptarmigan, wolves and seals).
Measuring the wingspan of a sea eagle - 2.5m
We went on a Scandinavia book hunt at the library.
And The Boy did a little work on the Vikings
