Playing Little House on the Prairie...

[Aubrey]

We're reading the books together, have started a garden, have requested the LH Cookbook from the library, are making butter, etc.

 

I'm thinking about putting away the dishes & clothes & assigning one of everything to everbody. It would make clean-up simpler & give them a taste of the simplicity & work--they're excited about the thought, so I'm not sure what it could hurt.

 

I'd like to make bonnets & aprons, but I'm not in the mood to sew this summer, which is pretty unfortunate, if we're playing LHP, lol!

 

Anyway, we're going to do what we can & *imagine* the rest--for ex, we're not eating bear meat or making bonnets by hand. I might try to stop using electric lights after dark--that could be fun.

 

Assuming nothing too complicated--just a slightly educational game of imagination extended over the whole summer, what else?

[Jami]

You need to go over to Log Cabin Village, girl! They have a whole play cabin with costumes that's a wonderful way to spend a few hours. My kids LOVED that place.

 

Click on "Offers" here and there's a printable coupon:

http://www.fortworth.com/listings/index.cfm?action=display&listingID=2392

Edited June 10, 2010 by Jami

[TXMomof4]

Could you have them help you do some hand work on a quilt? Maybe work on a doll quilt? Playing old fiddle music in the evenings instead of watching tv or whatever? Go on a treasure hunt to make necklaces (thinking the Indian beads they found in Little House on the Prairie). Get a little bit of whole grain and grind it in the coffee grinder to make bread (The Long Winter).

 

I love Little House. We're 3 hours from the site of their home in Kansas on the Prairie and I'm trying to convince DH that we HAVE to go visit.

[Aubrey]

You need to go over to Log Cabin Village, girl! They have a whole play cabin with costumes that's a wonderful way to spend a few hours. My kids LOVED that place.

 

Click on "Offers" here and there's a printable coupon:

http://www.fortworth.com/listings/index.cfm?action=display&listingID=2392

 

Thanks, Jami! Yes, we went a few yrs ago & have been meaning to go back since. This yr, the bigs are big enough to do one of the longer events. I forget what it is, but there's something this month that looks really great.

[Aubrey]

Could you have them help you do some hand work on a quilt? Maybe work on a doll quilt? Playing old fiddle music in the evenings instead of watching tv or whatever? Go on a treasure hunt to make necklaces (thinking the Indian beads they found in Little House on the Prairie). Get a little bit of whole grain and grind it in the coffee grinder to make bread (The Long Winter).

 

I love Little House. We're 3 hours from the site of their home in Kansas on the Prairie and I'm trying to convince DH that we HAVE to go visit.

 

Not a fiddle, but dh plays his guitar in the evenings sometimes. We'll have to do more of that.

 

I'm not sure about wheat in the coffee grinder--will that ruin the machine? Dh tried to grind almonds in it once, & that about killed me & it both. :lol:

 

Quilting might be a good idea. They're not very good at that sort of thing, but I haven't tried much in a yr or so, so...maybe they've grown. ;)

[hillfarm]

You can make a very easy apron by taking a ruffled edge, white curtain and running a wide ribbon through the casing that would normally hold the rod. If you want, you can take a few quick stitches at each side where the ribbon enters the curtain just to keep it from sliding off the ribbon later. You can tie it in the back, or for a cute look, can buy ribbon long enough to wrap around the back and tie in front. (often easier for kids to keep tied)

 

You can also make a quick prairie style skirt with one of the cheap dust ruffles normally for a bed. Measure the length from a few inches above the floor (a bit shorter makes it easier to walk, climb stairs, etc.) to the child's waist. Add three inches to your measurement to turn under and make a waist casing. Measure in from the long edge of the dust ruffle to the middle and then cut. Discard (or save for something else) the ruffle from across the "foot" end of the dust ruffle, so you have a long rectangle with a ruffle along one long side of it. Seam the sides together to make a tube with the already hemmed ruffle at the bottom and a raw edge at the top.

 

Fold over the casing and machine or hand stitch--this is just a straight line and would be easy practice if you have preironed a 1/4 inch fold at the edge and then a 1 1/2 inch fold to form the casing. You could safety pin it in place for young sewers to follow. Once made, run 1 inch elastic through the casing, stitch it together to hold the skirt up, and you're in business! This is actually much easier to do than to describe and only involves a couple of cuts, two straight seams, and running the elastic to finish the waist band. HTH

[Aubrey]

You can make a very easy apron by taking a ruffled edge, white curtain and running a wide ribbon through the casing that would normally hold the rod. If you want, you can take a few quick stitches at each side where the ribbon enters the curtain just to keep it from sliding off the ribbon later. You can tie it in the back, or for a cute look, can buy ribbon long enough to wrap around the back and tie in front. (often easier for kids to keep tied)

 

You can also make a quick prairie style skirt with one of the cheap dust ruffles normally for a bed. Measure the length from a few inches above the floor (a bit shorter makes it easier to walk, climb stairs, etc.) to the child's waist. Add three inches to your measurement to turn under and make a waist casing. Measure in from the long edge of the dust ruffle to the middle and then cut. Discard (or save for something else) the ruffle from across the "foot" end of the dust ruffle, so you have a long rectangle with a ruffle along one long side of it. Seam the sides together to make a tube with the already hemmed ruffle at the bottom and a raw edge at the top.

 

Fold over the casing and machine or hand stitch--this is just a straight line and would be easy practice if you have preironed a 1/4 inch fold at the edge and then a 1 1/2 inch fold to form the casing. You could safety pin it in place for young sewers to follow. Once made, run 1 inch elastic through the casing, stitch it together to hold the skirt up, and you're in business! This is actually much easier to do than to describe and only involves a couple of cuts, two straight seams, and running the elastic to finish the waist band. HTH

 

Oh, they all have homemade aprons & things close enough. I've just had grander visions in the yrs leading up to this than I have energy for right now. I'm weird w/ my hobbies--I go full force, like start-your-own-business full force w/ something for about 3 mos. Then I crash hard & do something else. Mostly, I rotate between sewing, scrapbooking, & writing. I've been really trying to *just* focus on writing this yr so I can start publishing for real, & I guess it's knowing that once I sit down to the machine, I won't write until autumn that's off-putting for me.

 

Does that even make sense? I guess if I had impulse control, it'd be ok, lol, but I've got a pile of mending that's making ugly faces at me as it is. If I start something new...:leaving:

[Jan in SC]

I'm sure you are following the books, but it would be really fun to let them roll down a hill like in the opening of the tv show!

[simka2]

Oh, they all have homemade aprons & things close enough. I've just had grander visions in the yrs leading up to this than I have energy for right now. I'm weird w/ my hobbies--I go full force, like start-your-own-business full force w/ something for about 3 mos. Then I crash hard & do something else. Mostly, I rotate between sewing, scrapbooking, & writing. I've been really trying to *just* focus on writing this yr so I can start publishing for real, & I guess it's knowing that once I sit down to the machine, I won't write until autumn that's off-putting for me.

 

Does that even make sense? I guess if I had impulse control, it'd be ok, lol, but I've got a pile of mending that's making ugly faces at me as it is. If I start something new...:leaving:

 

 

I completely relate!!!! For me its all art based though...right now it's poylmer clay, then it will be mixed media, then crochet, then painting....All at a breakneck pace, and then a rest :)

[fairfarmhand]

I completely relate!!!! For me its all art based though...right now it's poylmer clay, then it will be mixed media, then crochet, then painting....All at a breakneck pace, and then a rest :)

 

 

I do this too! Nothing but sewing for months then I won't pick it up for a couple months while I'm drawing. Then I'll write like crazy....

[Aubrey]

I completely relate!!!! For me its all art based though...right now it's poylmer clay, then it will be mixed media, then crochet, then painting....All at a breakneck pace, and then a rest :)

 

 

Mmmm...art, I'd forgotten about that one. I've got a table sitting in the living rm that I started painting a game board on for dh for Christmas, chalk pastels scattered thr every rm, paints sitting w/in toddler reach (because I haven't learned my lesson yet), & too. many. ideas. :lol:

 

Right now I want to make potato prints on canvas of different veggies for the kitchen, along w/ recipes, so I don't have to look them up. And I want to frame all the different apples the kids & I have drawn together into one big collage. And I want to start a nature journal, but not if I have to go outside. I wonder if India ink dries up after 10-20 yrs? :lol:

[lmrich]

My daughter and her best friends LOVE playing Little House. For her birthday party we went to a log cabin for the day with her friends all dressed in prairie costumes and in bonnets my mom made. I got slates for the girls and had a wonderful time. She still likes to use her slate during school time.

[buddhabelly]

Just don't get carried away with the realism and send dh to "town" eight miles away in a snowstorm on foot. I don't remember the distance, but I do remember worrying about him getting home! (I kind of knew that Laura Ingalls Wilder would not kill off a main character, though.)

 

Julie

[everlastingstarflower]

Several years ago the kids and I saved our gift money to purchase all 10 Seasons of Little House on the Prairie. We've watched about 2 seasons (we are sparing about allowing the dc to watch TV). My dd especially loves to watch and now she's reading the series. We live near Amish country and a friend had purchased a bonnet for my dd two years ago. She still wears the bonnet and plays LHP with her ds. She has bonnets for her dolls and they play away....although not as realistically as your family is. lol

 

Our local library has LHP DVDs/videos that can be checked out, which is what we did before we had our money saved to buy the set ourselves. Maybe after you're ready to turn the electric lights back on, you could treat yourselves to a 21st century luxury of watching some LHP DVDs? Sounds like you're having a great time. Enjoy!

[HRAAB]

Do you play the piano? Get the Little House music book and CD. My girls would dress up in their prairie dresses and bonnets (we actually took a trip through all the LH sites and bought bonnets in Mansfield, MO) and dance around the house to Pop Goes the Weasel and others. They loved playing hand clapping (??) games likes Pease Porridge Hot and such. We made paper dolls out of paper sacks and dolls out of corn husks. The girls called their dad 'Pa' and me 'Ma'. Oh, I'd put my handprint on the cornbread. They played school with my McGuffey readers and Ray's math books. Oh, and read the books in the evening with only a kerosene lantern.

 

I've been through three phases of LH with my girls, and they were absolutely obsessed with it. We planned lunch so we could watch the shows on TV. Lots of wonderful memories.