Sunday, January 26, 2014

Greek Myths - Poppins Book Nook January + A Giveaway

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PoppinsBookNook

We are having lots of fun with the Poppins Book Nook blog series and we will be continuing that fun all throughout 2014. Be on the lookout for the 2014 themes! This month's theme was Greek Myths. We love myths of all kinds especially Greek myths. Keep reading to learn more about the Greek myth books we read, fun crafts we did and grab your FREE myth journal page too. The giveaway is at the end of the post!


Myth Journal Page:
Here is a Greek Myth Journal Page I made to go along with this months theme. Download your copy here or click the picture below. The kids had a lot of fun with this journal page...especially the drawing parts.


Books:
We read the Greek Gods and Goddesses book this month. The book included 15 stories about some of the most well know Gods and Goddesses including Zeus, Hera, Hercules, Hermes, Apollo and more. The kids learned lots of fun things like how Athens was named, how the dolphins were created and how the peacock came to be! The illustrations were quite cute as well! We really enjoyed this book and think you will too!


We also utilized some of Ancient Greece eBooks and curriculum from Heritage History. They have lots of great FREE ebooks that you can read directly off of their website as well!

Ancient Greece Classical Curriculum

Craft Projects: 
We did three fun crafty projects to go along with our mythology book!

Clay Greek Pots:
These were lots of fun to make and super easy and inexpensive. We used our cards that the Emory Michael C. Carlos Museum hands out to children, as inspiration.

Materials:
-Terracotta clay pots
-Black paint

What to do:
1. Paint your rendition of a Greek myth onto the terracotta pot.
2. Let it dry and then use your amazing creation to store your most valuable treasures in.


Medusa Hat:
Have some fun role playing the story of Medusa with these fun hats. They are quick, easy and fun to make!

Materials:
-Paper plate
-Pipe cleaners
-String

What to do:
1. Poke holes into the paper plate.
2. Put pipe cleaners into the holes and on the underside twist the pipe cleaner into a little knot to secure it. You can also add a dab of hot glue.
3. Attach a string to each side of the paper plate and tie under your child's chin


Handmade Clay Figures and Coins:
My kids love working with clay. For this project they made their own ancient Greek tetradrachm coins and mythical creature statues.

-Clay - we love the crayola air dry clay
-Various tools (plastic fork, knife, toothpicks, etc)
-Acrylic paint

What to do:
1. Have your child decide what they want to create. Each of my children made a Greek coin. And Gwyn made Pegasus one of her favorite mythical creatures.
2. Start with a lump of clay and mold it with your hands or carve and etch using various tools.
3. Let the creations dry for the recommended time, generally about 1-2 days.
4. Paint the creations with acrylic paint.


More Resources:
-We studied mythology for over entire month last year so be sure to check out all those posts for more resources and fun craft ideas.


-Ancient Greece lapbook from A Journey Through Learning

Ancient Greece Lapbook with Study Guide --4.50

-Greek and Roman Mythology lapbook from In The Hands of a Child

Greek & Roman Mythology Lapbook

-Greek Mythology Scholastic Activity Book on CurrClick

Greek Mythology Activities



Fieltrip Fun:
We got in one little fieldtrip to the HIGH Museum of art to see the Louvre exhibit. There were several really great Greek statues. Gwyn and Rowyns favorite was Hercules batting the serpent. I enjoyed the fauns and nymphs.


Here is a list of the wonderful bloggers participating in the Poppins Book Nook be sure to visit them for more fun pet and animal themed ideas:
NEW! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky winner will win a copy of D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. The winner must reside within the United States. Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:



4 comments:

Ashley Moore said...

Looks like you all had a great time with this topic! Lots of fun projects too!

Jill said...

Love the clay pot craft! You have pulled together so many great resources and crafts Kathy. Looks like the kids had a wonderful time :-)

Carla said...

I love that you were able to go on a field trip too!! And the clay pots are *awesome*!!

Natalie F said...

Excellent suggestions, and I also love your clay pot craft and your clay coins. We read this book too, and I thought that it is a great introduction to most common themes in Greek mythology.

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