On day 2 of our Thanksgiving kid's activities plan we focused on the Mayflower voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. As we continued reading If You Sailed on The Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern, we discussed travel conditions on board the ship.
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| The Mayflower II in Plymouth, Massachusetts |
We imagined traveling for weeks in a space about the size of our home but crammed with over 100 people and all their belongings. How crowded, cold, wet, and bored the Pilgrim children must have been!
We learned that the cargo ship Mayflower was never meant to carry passengers so the Pilgrims built platforms for beds and storage.
Unfortunately, some people had to sleep on the floor. Not a fun place to be when water came pouring down from the deck above during a storm!
After reading about and discussing the Pilgrim's Mayflower journey we pulled out our kids' Thanksgiving journals. First we drew a picture of the Mayflower using Draw. Write. Now Book 3 for inspiration.
Then finished the writing prompt: If I sailed to a New World I would take with me... My children realized their toys weren't really necessary if taking them meant you had no clothes to wear or tools to build a house. But they also felt one chest just wasn't enough luggage!
As we study the history of Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims I am developing a whole new level of respect for the sacrifices they made. And we are all a little more thankful for how easy our lifestyle is!
How would you complete our writing prompt: If I sailed to a New World I would take with me...?
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2 comments:
What ship were you on?
We're on the Mayflower II, a full size replica of the Mayflower. It is part of the Plimoth Plantation museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts. You can tour both the ship and the replica village from March/April (?) to Thanksgiving.
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