My 6 year old son gave me a wonderful idea last week when he brought me our Little House Cookbook and asked if we could make some of the Christmas recipes from it.
Our absolute favorite Little House book is Farmer Boy and Christmas is so descriptively protrayed in this book, I would highly recommend it as a December read aloud for any family. (Or better yet, get A Little House Christmas Treasury as a way to pull out only the Christmas stories from each of the Little House books!) My little son had not forgotten the wonderful recipes made by Almanzo and his family and he wanted to recapture those stories. I am always willing to oblige any fun that doubles as a homeschool lesson.
(My children also LOVE the Little House on the Prairie Paper Dolls they received last year for Christmas…these are fun to play with while you read.)
A few nights ago, I got to snooping around on the internet trying to find some things that revolved around the idea of a Little House on the Prairie Christmas theme. I found some really neat ideas and I wanted to share those with you. I doubt I’ll be able to do everything listed here, but I wanted to make this a good resources I could come back and reference (so, feel free to share any resources you have, so I can add them to my list!).
*Make a Handkerchief Pioneer Doll – While this isn’t the rag doll Laura received for Christmas as a child, it is still a good representation of what some children would have received during that era. In fact, a few years back, I made these for my girls for Christmas. They were much loved.
*Make Pioneer Taffy – This is one recipe I am bound and determined to try this year! I have wanted to do this for many, many years with the children, and now I have so many taffy-pullers, it ought to prove to be quite a fun project!
*Make an Old Fashioned Christmas Garland – You always read about children sitting around threading cranberries and popcorn, but I’ve never taken the time to actually do this with my children. This week we sat down and did this and then decorated the house with our creations.
*Make a Clove-Apple Pomander – I love the smell of cloves, and this craft comes right from the pages of Little House in the Big Woods!
*Make Little House on the Prairie Christmas Cakes – This is a super-easy recipe that will bring lots of smiles to little faces! I’m considering having my girls make these for Christmas morning!
*Make Hand-Dipped Candles – This is one of those “someday projects”, but at least this tutorial makes it look somewhat simple. She does say it isn’t a fast project (and I seriously hate melting wax), but surely I can manage one round of this project at some point if for no other reason than the memory.
*Try crafts from My Little House Crafts – We don’t own this book, but it would be a neat resource to have on hand. (If you do own this book, leave a comment telling me what you think of it!)
*Watch this Little House on the Prairie Christmas episode –
They don’t shy away from speaking Jesus’ name. Refreshing!
I’m pinning this to my Christmas board on Pinterest, so I don’t forget to try some of these things. Won’t you join us in a few Little House on the Prairie projects this Christmas?!
Mrs. Abella says
OOOOh I haven’t done the popcorn stringing since I was a kid! I remember mom would make a big batch of popcorn and I’d sit with a needle and thread and string them up and then we’d decorate the tree with the long strings!
THank you for reminding me–I haven’t thought of that in years! Now I need to get that done with my munchkins. 🙂
Jackie says
Great ideas!! We live about an hour from the Almanzo Wilder Farm and go there every couple if years. On our last trip, we purchased the Little House craft book. It’s WONDERFUL and I highly recommend it.
Amy says
Good to know! Thank you!
Josi says
I love the read-aloud idea. Thanks! We will probably finish our Christmas read-aloud book within a week so I requested the Little House Christmas Treasury book from our library so I have something else to continue with. I also love the idea of the Christmas episodes. I see on Amazon that you can actually buy just the Christmas episodes on DVD. It would be fun to add that in as a yearly tradition…family movie night enjoying the Ingalls family Christmas. You could even string your popcorn as you watched!
Amy says
Great ideas! 🙂
Jacie says
How funny is this….my daughter and I have JUST been getting into Little House on the Prairie! What a perfect timed post. We are going to watch the Christmas episode together right now. I wonder if i can find my daughter dolls, and other Little house themed things like you’ve featured….
Amy says
What you can’t find, make! I’ve seen your creativity. 😉
Shannon Walalce says
Thank you Amy for recongnizing LHOTP for Christmas! These are great ideas, and I was just thinking over the past few days about how I want our Christmas to reflect more of Him and more simplicity.
We are absolute LHOTP fans around here, and long to live somewhat like they did–less of the world, hard-working, and thankful for the simple life and things of it. 🙂
This past summer, we took a 4100 mile family(and dog included) road trip, and saw 3 of the 7 sites (we went to Kansas, North Dakota and Missouri). I highly recommend it! I’ve blogged about it if anyone is interested. Blessings!
Shannon Walalce says
http://wallacefamilyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html
A link to one of my post on our LHOTP road trip. Hope it’s okay with you, Amy, that I linked it on here.
Amy says
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Suanna says
This sounds like a fun idea. We are reading The Last Four Years together. My girls often play “Laura and Mary”.
homemakersjournal says
Thank you for including a link to my blog’s Handkerchief Doll tutorial. I’m a great fan of Laura Ingall’s Wilder and enjoyed sharing all things pioneer with my children when they were young homeschoolers.
Amy says
You are welcome! And thank you for such an easy to understand tutorial. 🙂
Theresa Young says
I just got season 1 and 2 of Little House for my daughter. She has been watching them non stop. She is in love and so am I. Thanks for posting this. It will be perfect stuff for us to do during Christmas break.
Megan says
How fun is this?! I love the Little House books! So much, in fact, that my eldest sons middle name is Manly. 🙂 Hope to see some pics of some of the fun things you guys get to do!
Amy says
I’ll be posting photos on Facebook when I can. 🙂
Anna @ Feminine Adventures says
What a great list! My daughter LOVED the story about Santa Claus meeting with Mr. Edwards (it opened up a great door to talk about St. Nicholaus, Santa and the true meaning of Christmas!) I was just so struck by how grateful Laura and Mary were for the little things they got.
I’m planning to make some of the molasses cookies they got in their stocking with the kiddos and LOVE your other ideas!
Rachel says
Love, love, love this! We are in the midst of our third time reading aloud the whole series. Currently we are in the middle of “On the Banks of Plum Creek” and just met Nellie Oleson again. (Farmer Boy is probably our favorite in lots of ways.) So many great lessons to be learned in these books. Thanks for sharing these!!
lauren says
The apple-clove pomander sounds like it would smell just delicious! I remember making something similar as a kid except with an orange and cloves not an apple.
Ellen Franzen says
I loved doing this when my son was young. We started when he was four with Little House in the Big Woods and did Christmas every year after that until we finished the books. We also did Little House weeks for each book featuring the foods in each book–you’d be amazed how relaxing this way of life is compared to modern times.
Thara says
Heya.
I remember. I read the books as a little child from late October of two thousand and one to Dec of two thousand and nine. I was almost 5 when I began reading the first one with my mom. I was 13 years old when I read the final novel with the help of a pen for my own note making. We used to have fun family discussions on the weekends and in the car as well about Laura and her family in those days. Best wishes and it is nice to meet you. Thank you. My mom read the first two novels to me.
My parents once gave me a complete set for my birthday. A few years back I re discovered the books once again during the first ever lockdown. And I opened them. It took me all the way back down memory lane. I still remember that cold day in late October of two thousand and one. Seriously.