“I Am Abraham Lincoln” Unit Study – DAY 2 Presidential Puppet, Log Cabin, & More

I Am Abraham Lincoln Unit Study Day 2

For our second day we focused on a facet of  Lincoln’s life that was not mentioned in this book, but it made for a great excuse to practice some computer skills- his Log Cabin.  While the kids don’t sit on it all day, in this day and age computer skills are becoming a necessity and I like to incorporate them into lessons when appropriate.

  If you don’t have Lincoln Logs on hand use anything you have similar, it doesn’t need to be perfect so long as they get the idea and understand what humble beginnings he started from. (you can even use craft sticks if needed)

Supply List

I am Abraham Lincoln by Brad Metzer
Lincoln Logs (or other building materials)
Wide craft sticks
a penny
White and black construction paper scraps
Black marker
glue
Peanut butter (or other non-allergen choice like sunflower butter)
pretzels

Day 2 – Building Lincoln Logs Activities

Read the book again, ask your child their favorite part, share yours.  Point out some of the differences in little Abraham Lincolns life and life now. Ask questions like – Do you think life was more difficult then or now?  Would you like to have lived at that time? Why?

Build a log cabin- while this specific book doesn’t mention his home, it is pretty well known that our 16^th president Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky.  Use your computer to look up photos of his log cabin and sit down with your child and create your own. Use Lincoln logs, craft sticks, or even sticks gathered from around your own yard.  (It is believed that Lincoln Logs were named such in honor of Abraham Lincolns birth in a log cabin) Building is a great for hand eye coordination, fine motor skills,and spacial relations, as well as just developing your child’s imagination and creativity.

Day 2 – Art

Abe Lincoln Puppet– Maybe your child already knows that Abraham Lincoln is on the penny, if not this is a great time to tell them about it. We started by coloring our craft stick black with a marker. ( You can also paint them) then glued on a penny for his head,  he was easily finished off with a basic top hat, bow tie, and shirt  from scraps of  construction paper. This made a perfect puppet and fit nicely in our Lincoln Log cabin. This project is simple and easy for kids to complete mostly on their own, and we were able to use it all week in our play based learning.

Day 2 – Snack

While we are learning a bit about log cabins what better way than to incorporate it into our snack for the day? I am not against playing with your food if there is something to be learned from it. I set out two paper plates for this snack, one with almost 2 Tbsp. of peanut butter, a handful of pretzels, and a craft stick for a spreading “knife”  the other was the base.

You may need to help your child get started until they see how you are building the log cabin!

 The kids easily jumped right into building their own cabins.  You could add graham cracker squares, gumdrops,  pieces of candy and other small food items to embellish your log cabins (our chimney is a piece of caramel).

 

Don’t miss out on our DAY 1 Abraham Lincoln Unit Study where we make a presidential Abraham Lincoln costume, snack and more!

Don’t miss out on our DAY 3 Abraham Lincoln Unit Study where we had multicultural activities, made Abraham Lincoln’s favorite dessert and more!

Don’t miss out on our DAY 4 Abraham Lincoln Unit Study where we create a homemade “chalkboard”, play Lincoln Sudoku and more!

Don’t miss out on our DAY 5 Abraham Lincoln Unit Study where we made an amazing patriotic flag canvas, included a printable writing prompt and more!

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