Playing The Past Activity Booklet

This activity booklet was designed to fulfill the requirements for the Junior Playing The Past badge or can be used by frontier girl leaders to earn similar badges. Great for teachers and home schooled kids as well.

This booklet will explore life on the American frontier in the 1800s, pioneer fashion, daily screen-free chores, hands-on pioneer food prep, and wagon trail survival packing. Through fun games, creative crafts, and interactive worksheets, you will learn to discover daily frontier life through card relays and personal journals, craft wearable paper plate sun bonnets and wooden Jack Straws, and practice authentic pioneer skills like milking cows, churning butter, and solving schoolhouse arithmetic. This booklet will help girls see how understanding pioneer history builds empathy, practical problem-solving skills, and a deep appreciation for modern conveniences.

Activities Include:

• Uncovering Frontier Life & Pioneer Roots – Girls race across the room in a Frontier Card Fact Match Relay, assemble and bind a personalized Pioneer Journal, and analyze their daily routine against a pioneer schedule in a Daily Life Comparison Audit.
• Pioneer Fashion, Chores & Wearable Style – Girls act out 1800s tasks in Pioneer Work & Wardrobe Charades, transform everyday paper plates into wearable Paper Plate Pioneer Sun Bonnets, and experience the effort of wash day in a Hauling Water Wash Day Relay.
• Pioneer Schoolhouse & Historic Games – Girls play classic prairie tag games (Dare Base & Chain Tag), color and play a handmade Jack Straws Tabletop Game Craft, and solve authentic 19th-century arithmetic problems in a One-Room Schoolhouse Challenge.
• Pioneer Pantry & Hands-on Food Prep – Girls race in a high-energy Milking the Cow Relay, shake fresh Heavy Cream into Butter in a Jar and Ice Cream in a Bag, and construct edible Covered Wagon Snack Crafts while exploring trail facts.
• Packing the Wagon & Pioneer Gathering – Girls test their auditory senses in a Blindman's Bluff Circle Challenge, make critical survival decisions to stay under 2,400 lbs in the Pack Your Wagon Weight Challenge, and gather around a mock campfire for a Pioneer Fireside Song Showcase.

Do you need more ideas on this topic? Gain even more free ideas to teach your girls about women from the past, click here.

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