Christmas Around the World

It is hard to believe that it is almost Christmas already! It seems like the school year is just flying by.
This year I wanted to do something different with the kids, we have never done a Christmas around the world study, so I figured it was time to try it! We only have a week left so we are only doing five countries, my hope is to continue this next year with five new countries!

Below I am linking all the recipes, blogs, printables, and books we are using with our study.

My biggest inspiration for this week came from this blog. There is a lot of great ideas on it! I recommend checking it out.

We are doing this over the course of five days, studying five countries. Each day will have a recipe, craft, lesson, book, and video.

If you are unable to find books, several of these are available as read alouds on youtube.

AustraliaLesson from - Why Christmas

Recipe - Annettes Pudding

Books ( we will be taking a library trip to find as many of these as we can )
Santa's Aussie Holiday by Maria Farrer
An Aussie Night Before Christmas adapted by Yvonne Morrison
Christmas Wombat by Jackie French
Santa Koala by Colin Buchanan
Santa's Secret by Mike Dumbleton

Craft - Color Santa

Video - Christmas in Australia

France Lesson from - Why Christmas
Recipe - Parisian Hot Chocolate Books ( we will be taking a library trip to find as many of these as we can )

Christmas in France by Jack Manning
Madeline's Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans ( this is an animated show as well )
Babar and Father Christmas by Jean De Bruhnhoff ( this is an animated show as well )

Craft - Yule logVideo - How is French Christmas different?

Russia
Lesson from - Why Christmas
Recipe - Slovak sweet bread

Books ( we will be taking a library trip to find as many of these as we can
Here is a link to one of them to read online - https://familychristmasonline.com/stories_other/baboushka/babouscka.htm )

The Tale of Baboushka by Elena Pasaquali
Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Rollins
The Miraculous Child : A Christmas Folktale from Old Russia by Alvin Aleski Currier
The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers

Craft - Russian bells
Video - Christmas in Russia

Germany Lesson from - Why Christmas

Recipe - Egg nog

Books - ( we will be taking a trip to the library to find as many of these as we can )
The Gingerbread boy by Paul Galdone
Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo
Waiting for Christmas by Kathleen Long Bostrom

Craft - Ginger bread man coloring page

Video - Christmas in Germany

Italy
Lesson from - Why Christmas

Recipe - Italian Ricotta Cookies

Books -  ( we will be taking a trip to the library to find as many of these as we can )
The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePeola
Merry Christmas, Strega Nona by Tomie de Peaola
Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing by Amy Welborn
Nonna, Tell Me a Story: Lidia's Christmas Kitchen by Lidia Bastianich

Craft - Book and craft

Video - Christmas in Italy

Teaching Our Children Old Skills - Foraging

Chris and I recently started teaching our children an old skill, something that really isn't taught anymore, foraging. We already have been teaching the kids how important healthy food is, organic gardening skills, and why what we put into our body has a life long influence, so foraging seemed like a natural step to take in their education.

It has been a really great experience so far. I myself have learned a lot, we have been able to connect with nature as a family, and made some really interesting things.

We started doing this in spring, our very first foraging experience was learning what all we could eat from a very common spring flower, the dandelion. We tried it raw first, the kids really were not a fan of them at that. Next we gathered as many as we could find and we made dandelion jelly. They were skeptical at first, once they tasted it ( think of jelly that tastes like honey ) however, they were hooked.

Next on our list of things to try was dandelion bread. Word of warning, this bread is very dense. We tried it fresh from the oven, I did not care for it at all. The next morning though, it made the perfect breakfast

After learning about some other yummy things we could make from dandelion, we moved on to other edibles we had growing  in our yard. Violet syrup was the next adventure! Which we added to sparkling water and made our own sodas, so tasty! We also made violet lemonade.






We made two other flower jellies as well. Lilac jelly and red clover jelly.




Next up in our new learning adventure was plantain. Wild plantain is an amazing plant, and it grows all over our yard. We made some into a medicinal salve and the other we ate in a soup ( it was a lot like eating spinach ).




I really enjoyed doing this class with my kids. We didn't get as much done as I wanted this year but I already have plans in the works for new things next year! Be watching for more posts.