Product Tips

Living History

Volume 4 / Issue 1 / Fall 2003

If you want history to come alive for your children, I recommend two excellent series of activity books. These series target elementary and middle schoolers; although some of the activities require adult supervision, the works themselves ingeniously address the child audience and provide a wide range of creative explorations.

Marco Polo for Kids, by Janis Herbert, traces the journey of the famous Venetian while interweaving the history, natural history, beliefs, cultures, languages, myths, and legends of the Middle East, the Far East, and India. The activities range from simple crafts, such as making a paper lantern and cooking Chinese stir-fry, to creating intricate geometric mosaics and staging a Chinese opera. Sidebars highlight famous artworks, architectural sites, and archaeological discoveries; indigenous flora and fauna; familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary; religious beliefs and practices; and literature, oral traditions, and native customs. The book concludes with a glossary, bibliographies of relevant historical figures, and a list of kid-friendly Web sites for further explorations. The graphics are excellent throughout, and the instructions for activities are easy to follow. Marco Polo for Kids is recommended for ages 9 and up and is an excellent choice for gifted elementary-school children and for all middle schoolers.

The Civil War for Kids, also by Herbert, follows a similar format, chronicling the war from its inception through each battle to the war’s conclusion. Interspersed through each chapter are details of camp life, strategic maps, reproductions of authentic drawings and photographs, and biographical sketches of key historical figures, including Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederate and Union generals. The activities range from making berry ink to creating a code to reenacting key battles; adult supervision is needed for many of them.

Other books in this series include Lewis and Clark for Kids and The American Revolution for Kids, which was designated a notable children’s book by the Smithsonian in 2002.

Another excellent series, Kaleidoscope Kids, is recommended for children ages 7–14. Ancient Rome, by Avery Hart and Sandra Gallagher, integrates the history, literature, language, culture, and philosophy of that civilization into a delightful narrative that encourages children to participate actively in the discovery process. In most of the activities, which range from making a Roman forum out of a pizza box to setting up a senate, children draw conclusions about the project by answering increasingly complex questions. One activity asks children to list the values, customs, behaviors, and beliefs of ancient Romans as reflected in the story of Romulus and Remus, then provides questions about sibling rivalry and problem-solving techniques that might apply to their own lives. Another activity teaches children about compression and strength by leading them through the construction of a simple Roman arch. The graphics include clever cartoons and photographs of Roman ruins and artifacts. Latin-language roots and vocabulary explorations are interspersed throughout, though some of them may be a bit advanced for younger children.

Two equally excellent books in the series are Who Really Discovered America? by Hart, and Going West, by Carol A. Johmann and Elizabeth J. Rieth. Both engage children in the discovery process by calling on the same kind of critical thinking and applied learning as Ancient Rome . All books in the series highlight kid-friendly Web sites for further exploration.
—Sarah Boone

Sarah Boone holds a master’s in teaching and certification in gifted education. She teaches at Meredith College.