Great Pioneer Projects You Can Build Yourself

For ages 9-12. Build-it activities connect readers to the people who built their homes and communities on the frontier, enhancing this first-hand look at the history of the American West and pioneers. Readers will discover their own mapmaking skills while learning how and why people travelled west and will replicate the tough chore of building a house when creating a log cabin out of edible materials. Other projects that help kids better understand the hardships of life on the frontier include typesetting newspapers with alphabet pasta, making models of covered wagons and prairie bonnets, and making the quilts and candles that would have turned a house in the wilderness into a home.

Rachel Dickinson is a travel, nature, and science writer whose articles have been published in Audubon, The Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic Traveler, and USA Weekend. She is the author of Tools of the Ancient Romans, Tools of Navigation and The Witch's Handbook. She lives in Freeville, New York.