Australia!

As a grand finale to our "school year" at home, I decided to put together a unit on Australia. My parents are visiting there this summer and it is certainly on my top 10 list of places to visit! I thought Scott would enjoy learning about the continent and country and then hearing the stories of Nana and Pop's visit when they return. Now that we are finished with the lesson, I think I'll enjoy the pictures and stories as much as he will!

Some of the favorite things that we have learned are:

The money is so beautiful. We've requested Nana and Pop to bring back some coins for us to see. Scroll down on the linked page to see the coins.

The lyrebird has the most fantastic songs. Check out this video on YouTube.

The kangaroo can jump up to 40 feet (another book said 12 feet.)

The great barrier reef has over 100 kinds of sharks. Scott is really excited about the possiblity of Nana and Pop seeing sharks. I doubt they are as excited about that possiblity.

We spent Friday at a friend's house working on Australia crafts and made Damper bread with them - a traditional quick bread. Here are some pictures from the day:

We began the day by mixing and kneeding damper bread. I realize that I did not get any pictures of that endeavor. Too bad - it was quite an adventure trying to add and mix ingredients with four helpers. The little boys were just as interested in baking as the older boys and they all wanted space at the counter.

The boys painting cardboard boomerangs in traditional Aboriginal color (or just about as close as we could get with washable paint.)


After painting (and some much needed outdoor playtime,) we went inside to eat our damper bread. Then, we made little cardboard animals, using toilet paper rolls as our base. If the picture were bigger, you could see that the two older boys painted their faces with the markers like the Aboriginal warriors we had seen in books.


In all, it was quite a fun day. We still have a few books from the library, so we are continuning to read about the country. We'll return them tomorrow, as Tuesday is our "library day." Tomorrow starts our Summer Reading adventure!