Here are some interesting facts about Canada:
1/3 of the world’s fresh water is in its lakes
has more pine and spruce trees than any other place in the world
is home to the Inuit people who have lived in the Arctic for 1,000s of years
2nd largest country in the world….by land
And here I thought it was just a land of maple trees…..not really. We are really learning some fascinating things about this huge country filled with tundras, glaciers, rocky mountains and thriving cities.
Today, our activity centered around the Inuit peoples. These people live in one of the coldest places on earth and have so much to teach us about working hard and making the most of what we’ve been given. They dig through layers of ice in the winter just to find fresh water. They build igloos from ice to sleep in during long hunting trips and build towns on top of ice. And I complain when its 50* outside. Wow!
So, we decided to attempt making one of these chilly abodes. I found a sugar cube igloo craft from Familyfun.com and we gave it a try. Here’s our progress so far.
step 1: the kids followed a pre-drawn circle with sugar cubes
step 2: using a powdered sugar/egg white paste, we layered the next row like bricks
spreading the paste-our friends Jack and Ben helped today
step 3: after laying five rows we let the igloo dry and went out to play
step 4: Brian helped the kids add the upper rows, bringing in the circumference a bit
oops, we ran out of sugar cubes!
Guess we’ll have to finish tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Today’s Canada facts were found in, A First Atlas and Scholastic Atlas of the World.
so much fun. we made stuff like that in j-high history class.