Around the World: Part IX

 For our next set of countries, Adley and I "journeyed" to the United Kingdom area. We learned about Ireland in March to tie in with St. Patrick's Day. Then, we moved to Scotland. Adley had been asking to learn about that country for several weeks since she's currently on a Scotland soccer team. I was happy to oblige!

IRELAND

We kicked off Adley's Ireland learning by making the country's flag with watercolor.

Then, I showed Adley some pictures of Celtic knots on the Internet, and she chose several of her favorites to color.

Naturally, we had to do some activities with leprechauns, pots of gold, and shamrocks. This pot of gold number hunt was so fun to create and play! First, Adley helped me cut these gold "coins" with my circle cutter and numbered each one.

Then, she traced the gold coins into a pyramid and painted a rainbow over the gold.

What a beautiful picture!

The best part was using this picture to play a fun game. Adley closed her eyes in another room while I hid all 15 gold coins. Adley's job was to find the gold pieces and place them in the correct spot under the rainbow. We took turns hiding the gold from each other and played this repeatedly over the next several days. So fun!

The shamrock activity we chose was painting shamrock designs with marshmallows. Adley was particularly excited about this craft since I let her sample a couple of marshmallows before we started!

Then, Adley tried out this Leprechaun Obstacle Course. I placed 10 leprechauns around the house for her to follow. She had to stop at each one and complete the activity listed. The leprechaun cards contained a wide variety of moves for her to try.

Adley also made this cute leprechaun craft. Our favorite part was adding the beard with a painted fork!

It was all her idea to extend the craft and add the leprechaun's body, complete with a shamrock shirt! She also wanted to draw a gold coin and two shamrocks in the leprechaun's hands.

Two other things that are famous in Ireland are potatoes and Irish dancing! So, we did some potato stamping...

...and watched some clips from Riverdance.

We even found a little instructional video to try out our own Irish dancing. This didn't last too long, however, as we quicky learned how difficult it was! It was sure impressive to watch!

Finally, we talked about how castles are very prevalent in Ireland, and I cut a castle outline for Adley to decorate. Although my intention was for her to cover the castle with bricks, she asked to paint on flowers instead. Her idea definitely made the castle turn out much prettier!

 One Irish castle in particular has a very unique tradition. Visitors who kiss the special Blarney stone at Blarney Castle are, according to legend, supposed to receive the gift of eloquence. The challenge is that this stone is at an awkward location in the castle, forcing the kisser to lean backwards and upside down to properly find the Blarney Stone! Adley and I watched a few videos of tourists kissing the Blarney Stone and then decided to act it out in our own home. We set up Adley's princess castle in a prime location and had her kiss our pretend "Blarney Stone." How funny!

The cultural treat we made was Irish soda bread, dotted with raisins. I was the only member of our family who actually enjoyed this recipe. Everyone tried it, at least!

Here are the Ireland-related books we read during our studies. Adley's favorite was the Leprechaun Under the Bed.

SCOTLAND

When you think of Scotland, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Quite likely, bagpipes! The first Scotland activity Adley did was to color and create this cute TP roll bagpiper.

Then, we made some homemade bagpipes from a Ziploc bag and two noisemakers.

Here is Adley demonstrating her very own bagpipes!

We watched a little dueling bagpipe video and, not surprisingly, Adley wanted to play right along with the bagpipers.

Another day, we learned about the legend of the Loch Ness monster. First, we watched a little Disney short film, The Legend of Nessie. Adley liked it so much, we viewed it twice! We followed that up by reading a couple books about the Loch Ness monster and then making a Loch Ness craft.

I figured since we had the blue paint out, Adley should paint the Scotland flag next. After she fully completed the flag, however, Adley decided that the blue wasn't quite the right shade. She was right! So, we darkened the blue a bit until Adley decided the color was more accurate, and then she painted her flag again.

Much better! ;)

Scotland is also well-known for its kilts and family tartans. Adley came up with a pattern that she thought could be labeled as the Schleicher family tartan.

Ta-da!

A study of Scotland couldn't be complete without talking about the Highland Games. We both enjoyed watching a few videos of the unique events at these famous cultural games. Then, we held our own version of the Highland Games. First event... caber toss!

Next up, the Scottish hammer throw (our version was much safer!).

Last, we did the sheaf toss. Our beanbag substitued well for the traditional bundle of straw.

To learn a bit about Scottish culture and to see some of Scotland's landscape, we watched a Katie Morag video, a series which is set in the Isle of Struay.

We also learned that Scotland's national flower is the thistle. Adley practiced a bit of sewing to make this Scottish thistle craft. She sewed the flower's purple top and sewed on the button.

Another craft I found was to make these origami Scottish terriers. Adley wasn't interested in folding origami on this particular day, however, so this project was all me. I thought they turned out pretty cute, though, so I'm posting a photo anyway! ;)

The recipe we tried was Dundee Cake. Not bad, but not likely a recipe I'll be repeating.

Here are the books we read on Scotland.

What fun adventures in the United Kingdom area!