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Columbus Day activities
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Making Mayflower ships:
You may want to explain the class a little bit about the Mayflower
and settlers to the “new land” before you get started
with this Columbus
Day activity.
You will need:
Walnut shells
Playdough
Toothpicks
Small squares of white paper (for the sails)
Hole punch
First, give each child the supplies they will need for this Columbus
Day activity: half of a walnut shell, a small piece of playdough,
a toothpick and a small square of white paper for a sail.
Second, let the kids decorate their sails with crayons.
Third, help each student punch holes in his or her sail, and stick
his or her toothpick in one hole and out the other hole.
Fourth, have all of your students roll a small piece of playdough
into a ball, then put the ball of playdough in the bottom of the
walnut shell.
Fifth, have the children stick their toothpick sails into the playdough
in the center of the walnut.
Columbus Day activities such as the one above are best for younger
children. But here is one Columbus Day activity more suited for
older students:
· Columbus and his Voyage:
As I mentioned before: Columbus Day activities should be fun as
well as educational, after all—it is a Columbus Day activity
for school.
For this Columbus Day activity you will need a globe.
Trace the journey of Columbus from Spain to San Salvador.
Describe how Columbus had taken a long tiresome journey for the
100 sailors of the three ships, the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
Explain to the students that weeks passed with no sight of land.
The rations, water, and other supplies were almost gone. Most of
the sailors were restless and wanted to turn back. Columbus cheered
them by talking about the riches they would find at the end of their
journey. Finally there were signs of land. The sailors saw branches
with green leaves and red berries floating past in the water. They
knew there would be land, and at last, they saw it, filed with excitement,
on the horizon. This Columbus Day activity is mainly informative,
at first.
The actual Columbus Day activity itself is having the children draw
and/or color a picture of what they imagine that the sailors and/or
the inside of the boats looked like when they finally found land.
Then have the children describe why they drew their pictures the
way that they do. For instance: if a child draws a very thin, bearded
man smiling and walking on the shore, the child can explain that
the sailor is thin because they were running out of food, that the
sailor has a beard because he has not had a chance to shave in a
long time, but that he is smiling because they had finally found
land and were saved.
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