5 Easy & Fun Hands-on Learning Projects with Home School in the Woods

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Enjoy hands-on learning projects with Home School in the Woods!

I received the À La Carte Projects for free and was compensated for my time. All opinions are my honest opinions and I was not required to post a positive review.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, we have more than a few rainy afternoons to fill.

And I really don’t want to turn on the television just because it’s wet outside. I need easy, fun hands-on learning projects for the kids to complete!

Educational projects the kids love.

So I was delighted to discover that Home School in the Woods has come out with a series of small “bite-size” hands-on learning projects. The idea behind the easy mini-projects is that you get to pick and choose exactly what you need for your current schooling needs. Dozens are already available and many more à la carte projects are planned. How awesome is that!

And these fun projects are perfect for rainy afternoons!

Name That State!

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

My kids are learning their states and capitals this year. But chanting and memorizing states and capitals gets old fast! So I was looking for an easy and fun game to supplement their learning this year.

Name That State! was perfect. It’s a file folder game to help your kids learn their U.S. states and capitals. So you print out the pieces, glue the game board into a file folder, and play.

You even have a choice of three levels.

  • The first level uses a game board with the states written on the map.
  • The second level uses a game board with the state abbreviations written on the map.
  • The third level uses a blank game board.

Since I wanted my high school teenagers to play the game, I chose to use the hardest level of game board: the blank map!

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

You begin the game with a small number of states you want the kids to learn. As the cards pop up, the players take turns naming the states. If your child names only the state, he gets to place a colored marker on the map. If he names both the state and capital, he gets to place two markers on the map!

As you may guess, the child who ends the game with the most markers on the map wins.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

You’re not limited to state and capital. You can also add more information such as the state’s motto, state symbols, or year the state was admitted to the state. For each correct answer, the child gets to add that number of markers to the state.

Just play the game until all the states have been claimed or you’ve used up the cards you’re using for this game.

And as the kids learn the states, you can add more states to the pile until they’re using all 50 states in the game.

Memorizing the states and capitals has just become easy and fun!

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

Have you been wanting a fun and easy way to introduce your kids to artists and their works? Then the Art Gallery is just what you’ve been looking for!

The goal of the game is to teach kids not only who created the pieces of art, but the name of the artwork, the year it was done, and the medium it was done in. It’s picture study and art appreciation rolled into one!

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

Begin by requiring the kids to name the artwork. As they master that question, have them learn who created it, when it was created, and what medium it is.

Eventually, your kids will be able to identify artwork!

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

The game is simple.

Make it all around the gallery by answering the question or questions on the art card correctly. If you answer correctly, then you get to move on to the next artist. If not, then you have to remain on your artist.

The first person to make it all the way around the art gallery wins!

The Orchestra

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

The Orchestra is a file folder display of the development of the orchestra over the centuries. It takes your child through 4 eras:

  • Baroque
  • Classical
  • Romantic
  • Modern

You’re also introduced to the instruments used in the orchestra!

First, we colored the pages that made the “stage” of our display.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

Next, we added the pockets to the state. The various instruments fit into the pockets. Now the kids have a visual guide t0 where the different instruments sit in the orchestra during the different periods!

You can see the orchestra in the 20th Century above. And take a look below. There were far fewer instruments used in the Baroque Period! And no conductor. Just a harpsichord.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

The guide even includes explanations of the instruments and their roles in the orchestra.

You can see my daughter reading about the role of the conductor in the orchestra below.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

The Orchestra is a delightful hands-on learning project to introduce your kids to classical music.

Remember to pull it out before you take the kids to the symphony!

Literary Genres Lapbook

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

The Literary Genres Lapbook is a quick introduction to literary analysis by learning about the type of literature a book is or the literary genre.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

The lapbook actually includes 5 different projects.

  • Genres Card Catalog
  • Book Stack Vocabulary
  • Steps to Story Building
  • Library of Good Reads
  • Reading Tablet.

As you can see, kids not only learn about the different genres, they also learn about what goes into a story such as setting, characters, and plots.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

There’s a place for them to record some of their favorite stories as well as try their hand at writing a short story!

The Literary Genres Lapbook is perfect for introducing your kids to literary analysis!

The Art of Quilling

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

Do you know what quilling is?

It’s the beautiful 3-dimensional art of rolled papers.

People have been doing it for centuries, especially during the Renaissance and Colonial periods. This is a fabulous hands-on learning activity to do with your kids when you’re studying those time periods.

It’s also a fun project to pull out for making Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and birthday cards!

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

It’s a simple project.

First, you cut strips of colored paper as you can see my little girl doing above!

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

Then you coil the strips of paper into various shapes.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

Dip them into glue and place them on the page.

These hands-on learning projects will keep your kids busy for hours as they play, learn, and enjoy themselves. Home School in the Woods has outdone themselves by creating stand-alone mini projects for kids to enjoy. #homeschool #homeschooling #handsonlearning

The Art of Quilling includes a supply list, instructions, and the history behind this beautiful art.

And you can grab yours here!

Hands-on Learning À La Carte Projects

Homeschool is offering an awesome freebie for you to discover for yourself how wonderful à la carte projects are: a Medieval Times creative writing newspaper! This is the perfect project for writing about your studies of the Medieval era. Your kids will have a blast while they’re reading, writing, and learning.

Sign up for the Home School in the Woods newsletter and claim your freebie!

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